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Benefits of
Drinking Tea
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Oolong
Tea |
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Oolong (Traditional Chinese:;
Pinyin: wūlóng),
also known as wu-long, is a traditional Chinese tea
somewhere between green and black in oxidation. It ranges
from 10% to 70% oxidation.
In Chinese tea culture, semi-oxidized
oolong teas are collectively grouped as qīngchá
(Chinese: 青茶; literally
"blue-green tea"). Oolong has a taste more akin to green
tea than to black tea: it lacks the rosy, sweet aroma
of black tea but it does not have the stridently grassy
vegetal notes that typify green tea. The best Oolong
has a nuanced flavor profile. It is commonly brewed
to be strong, with the bitterness leaving a sweet and
pleasant aftertaste. Oolongs produced in the Wuyi Mountains
of Fujian Province and in the Central Mountains of Taiwan,
are world famous.
Oolong tea leaves are often processed
and rolled into long curly leaves or into ball-like
form similar to gunpowder tea. It is commonly served
in Chinese restaurants, to accompany dim sum and other
Chinese food.
Etymology
The word oolong means "black
dragon" in Chinese; various legends describe the origin
of this curious name. In one legend, the owner of a
tea plantation was scared away from his drying tea leaves
by the appearance of a black serpent; when he cautiously
returned several days later, the leaves had been oxidized
by the sun and gave a delightful brew. Another tale
tells of a man named Wu Liang (later corrupted to Wu
Long, or Oolong) who discovered oolong tea by accident
when he was distracted by a deer after a hard day's
tea-picking, and by the time he remembered about the
tea it had already started to oxidize. Others say that
the tea is called "oolong" because the leaves look like
little black dragons that wake when hot water is poured
on them.
Processing
of Oolong
Oolong tea undergoes a few delicate
processes in order to produce the unique aroma and taste.
Typical Oolong tea is processed according to the following
steps:
-
Wilting (pinyin: wěidiāo):
Sun dry or air dry to remove some moisture.
-
Yaoqing (pinyin: yáoqīng):
To bruise the edge of the tea leaf to create more
contacting surface for oxidation.
-
Rouqing (pinyin: róuqīng):
The tea leaves are tumbled or rubbed for the next
stage.
-
Shaqing (pinyin: shāqīng):
Process to stop further oxidation. Depending on the
quality of the leaves, they will be dried in a large
pan over heat and stirred by hand (for premium tea)
or by machinery.
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Cooling:
-
Drying: To remove excessive
moisture.
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Grading
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Packaging
Classification
and grade
Tea connoisseurs classify the tea by
its aroma (often fragrant or flowery), taste and aftertaste
(often melony). Oolongs comes in either roasted
or light. While most oolongs can be consumed
immediately postproduction, like pu-erh tea, many oolong
can benefit from long aging with regular light roasting
with a low charcoal fire (烘培, pinyin:hōngpeì, literally:
bake cultivation or 焙火, pinyin:peìhǔo, dry roasting
by fire). Before roasting, Oolong tea leaves are necessitated
through cracking the cells in the leaves and left to
a ratio between 1% and 99% "oxidized". The process of
roasting removes unwanted odours from the tea and reduces
any sour or astringent tastes; in addition, the process
is believed to make the oolong tea more gentle on the
stomach.
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