What is so unique about the Chinese Oolong tea

Chinese Oolong tea

Many tea drinkers now are quite aware of green teas, and black teas have been consumed in the west for quite some time, but what is Oolong tea?

Understand Oolong tea from the tea categorisation and production

Teas are categorised based on the degree of the fermentation during their processing. Oolong tea is a class of Chinese teas that are semi-fermented, between the unfermented green teas and fully fermented black teas. Oolong tea is a family of teas and is exclusively Chinese. It originated from the Fu Jian Province, South-east of China. There are currently three major areas in China that produce almost all Oolong teas in the world: the Fu Jian Province, the Guang Dong Province and Taiwan.

Oolong tea is believed to have originated in the Wu-Yi area of the Fu Jian Province. The translation of Oolong into English is Dark Dragon.

Oolong tea is a family of teas

Like all other classes of Chinese teas, Oolong tea is a family of teas. The degree of fermentation varies depending on the tea type, some are lightly fermented (eg Tie Guan Yin / Iron Buddha) and the others are substantially more fermented (eg Da Hong Pao and Phoenix Single Bush). Due to it semi-fermented nature, Oolong teas possess green tea’s refreshing properties and black tea’s smooth texture. The individual teas also have their individual unique aroma produced through their highly skilful processing techniques. Oolong teas have been long loved by tea lovers in China and worldwide. I will provide some detail description of individual/sub-group Oolong teas in the subsequent blog posts to assist the tea lovers to have a closer look and taste of the individual varieties, which are vastly different in many aspects.