A brief introduction to Oolong tea

One day, when I put my oolong clay teapot back on the shelf, my hand and a part of me felt empty. The cozy feeling of touching and belonging coming from the silent teapot beckoned me to hold my teapot again until my heart calmed down. This feeling of connectedness has been becoming stronger and stronger and this is because of the magic of the tea. The beauty of the tea art brings more meaning and color into my life and the taste of nature satisfies my desire.

Oolong is one of the teas that I most appreciate. I would like to say that she is like a young, attractive, elegant lady. She graduated from university and has some life experience and charming maturity. The character of oolong tea is between green tea and black tea: it not only contains the fresh, brisk and sweet aftertaste of green tea, but also has the dense, thick and mellow taste of black tea, and additionally the delicate floral fragrance of flower tea.

Oolong tea was created at the end of the Ming Dynasty about 400 years ago and is produced mainly in Fujian, Guangdong and Taiwan. Oolong tea leaves typically are processed in two different forms. Oolong tea from southern Fujian is rolled into a shape like a ball or dragonfly head; in northern Fujian and Guangdong oolong teas are long and twisted. Taiwan produces both forms of tea. In recent years, Sichuan, Hunan and a few other provinces have also begun a small amount of production.

Oolong consists of several dozens of kinds of leaves that have different flavors and aromas due to differences in the leaves, location, and harvest time. The process of oolong tea is a combination of green tea (non-fermentation) and black tea (full fermentation). which means it is a semi-fermented tea. It ranges from 10% to 70% oxidation. The favor of a lightly oxidized oolong (e.g. Tie Guanyin) is closer to green tea, whereas a heavy oxidized oolong (e.g. the Wuyi Cliff Tea Dahongpao) is closer to black tea.

Famous oolong teas are Fujian's Tie Guanyin, Taiwanese teas (Dongding, Alishan, Li Shan, Dayuling, Wenshan Baozhong, Oriental (Eastern) Beauty, etc.), Fujian's Wuyi Cliff teas (Dahongpao, Tieluohan, Baijiguan, Rougui, etc.) and Guangdong's Phoenix Dancong.

Yes, I've tried all these teas, and each has its own beauty. There's a lot that can be said about oolong teas, about their production, preparation, history, etc. but I can't write everything in one post. I'm too busy drinking tea :P

Preparation of Green Tea

Some people who have tried Chinese or other green teas have expressed to me that they found green tea bitter, rough and astringent. Well, green tea is not supposed to taste like that. The right taste should be fresh, clean and delicate with a sweet aftertaste.

Green tea needs more care and cautiousness to prepare than other teas. Why? A good quality loose green tea must be picked by hand in early spring. The tea leaves are very young, tender and consist of either one baby bud or one bud and one or two baby leaves. This means that green tea is a delicate, fresh product, and that proper preparation is essential to savor the tea.

Here are the details regarding preparation:

1. Tea implements:

Glassware (glass cup, glass pot) for high-quality, young, tiny and tender loose tea. The transparency of glass also invites you to enjoy the graceful tea dancing. A porcelain cup with a lid (gaiwan) is also suitable.

TIP: After filling the cup, pot or gaiwan with hot water, do not cover it - let the tea breathe. Otherwise, too much heat will overcook the tea.

2. Water temperature:

175-185°F for loose green tea (even cooler [140-150°F] for a powdered tea like matcha).
If the water temperature is too high, the tea will be overcooked, which means it will be bitter, heavy and astringent. This will also affect any subsequent brews, so the flavor of the tea has been effectively ruined. Conversely, if the water temperature is too low, the taste will be too thin and light.

3. Quantity of tea leaves:

A generous amount would be 2 full teaspoons per cup. However, this is also based on individual taste. If too much tea is added, the taste is likely to be bitter, heavy and a waste of tea leaves. If too little tea is added, the flavor will be too light and thin. Either way, the full taste of natural green tea has been lost. As you can imagine, a little practice is necessary before you can brew a perfect cup of any given variety of green tea - or any other tea, for that matter.

4. Steeping time:

In general, a single cup of tea should be brewed for about one minute; the time for a gaiwan is about 30 seconds for the first brew, extended by 5 to 10 seconds for each subsequent infusion.

TIP: if you brew green tea in a drinking glass, do not let the tea sit in the water too long, otherwise it will become bitter. This problem can be easily addressed through the use of a strainer or filter to remove the tea leaves. However, the taste of metal or plastic can leach into the tea, so be careful!

5. How to add water for multiple steepings:

As green tea is typically composed of young leaves, they can be steeped only 3-4 times. The second infusion generally has the best taste.
When brewing tea in a glass, some water should be left in the bottom so the tea is never left entirely dry; this water is allowed to cool down, and helps protect the tea from the heat of subsequent infusions. However, when brewing with a gaiwan, the tea water should be poured off completely with each infusion.

One more TIP: spring water is the best for infusion, don't boil the same water over and over.

In summary, the key to prepare a tasty green tea is to control the water temperature and not to steep the tea too long.

Hope that was helpful. Next I'll write something about oolong tea.

How to choose a good green tea

When we consider another person, we might base our assessment either on the person’s outer qualities or inner qualities, or perhaps both – which is what one does to identify the quality of tea: consider both appearance and character.

Let’s start with appearance first.

The most basic requirement is that the tea leaf must be a whole leaf. The appearance of a given kind of tea should have a standard pattern. No matter what its particular shape, size and color happen to be, they should all be consistent. The maturity of tea leaves should be even. The color should be vivid. If the general appearance is bright, the size, thickness and length are even, it means it is a superior fresh green tea; if the tea leaf is dry, dull and dark, its appearance is not uniform, uneven and perhaps even has been mixed together with tea stems or tea seeds, this is a poor quality tea.
Typically, a tiny, tight, wiry shape with many baby buds indicates that a tea is young and tender. Coarse, loose, broken and/or old leaves (no tea buds or baby tea leaves) show that the tea is too mature (太平猴魁 Taiping Houkui and 六安瓜片 Liuan Guapian are notable exceptions).

To appreciate a tea's inner qualities, you have to brew the tea, smell the aroma, observe the liquor color, inspect the infused leaves, and of course to taste the tea.

Aroma: A floral, delicate aroma is best, with a young, fresh, clean fragrance; nutty and/or fruity notes also indicate excellence; an aroma that is weak, stale, dull, flat, heavy or harsh indicates poor quality; a burnt, musty or otherwise unpleasant odor clearly indicates that a tea has either been improperly processed, stored, or both.

Liquor (or, if you prefer, infusion): The color should be light green or light yellow green, clear and bright; color that is too yellow, deep, dull or turbid indicates a poor quality tea.

Taste: A green tea should have a fresh, mellow, sweet taste, and a superior tea will also have a similar aftertaste; a thin, bitter, rough, astringent taste or aftertaste indicates either an inferior tea, or perhaps improper preparation, in some cases.

Infused leaf: A green tea should have tender leaves with many buds, which should be thick, soft, even and neat; leaves that are rough to the touch, visibly uneven, old, hard and/or thin show that both the raw material and processing are mediocre.

Some people have asked me whether the fresher green tea is means the better it is. The answer is that it depends on time of the year. The best green tea is plucked in early spring and the worst is harvested in summer (I use the word "harvested" instead of "plucked" because summer teas are typically harvested with machines rather than by hand, as the locals won't drink them; they're used for cheap tea sold overseas). There is an old Chinese saying: "Tea around Qingming (清明, on 04 April) is treasure, tea after Guyu (谷雨, on 20 April) is grass." This is absolutely right. Basically, if green tea is picked and processed after Guyu, close to Lixia (立夏, 05 May) or the beginning of summer is the poorest quality tea.

Of course, even if you have a superior green tea, you won't appreciate its inner beauty if you don't know how to prepare it properly. I'll write something simple about that in my next post.

Hope this was interesting. If there's anything in particular you'd like to know about, please let me know!

What is Green Tea?

Green tea also called unfermented tea. It originates from China and is not only the earliest tea in Chinese history but has also become associated with many cultures in Asia from Japan to the Middle East. 70% of all tea produced in China is Green tea. There are tea gardens in more than 1000 cities and towns. Green tea makes up about 23% of the world tea market and more than 70% of all green tea produced internationally comes from China.

There are many different varieties of green tea. Different tea cultivars, environments (terroir) and different production processes create different types of green tea. It is estimated that there are currently more than 900 kinds of green tea in China.

Green tea is the type of tea closest to nature. After the tea leaves are picked, they are processed with only three steps: 1) a brief exposure to heat in order to keep the leaf green by preventing oxidation, then 2) rolling or twisting the leaf to break its cell walls and provide shape and finally 3) drying to remove most - but not all - of the moisture and determine a given tea's distinctive aroma. A process with only three steps might seem simple, but the result depends on the details.

After this process is complete, a tea with a particular personality emerges, just like you and me. Some leaves are long and some are short; some are flat and some are twisted; some are shaped to look like a sparrow's tongue, others to look like an orchid. The basic taste of green tea is clear, fresh and brisk, like the feeling after the rain. A well-made green tea isn't bitter, rough or astringent. Some are nutty, some are flowery and all have a slightly sweet aftertaste.

In my next post, I'll write a little about how to select a high-quality green tea. I know these first few posts are too simple for some of you who already know about tea, but I think it's good to start with the basics; then we can have a more detailed conversation.

Enjoy your tea!

One step closer to tea

Tea has been in my life since I was born, but we didn't become really close friends until I met the man who would become my husband. Since then, I have tried to open a window of my heart to understand more about tea. The more I learn about her, the more beauty I discover and more desire I have; the more space I give her, the bigger my world becomes and the more joy fills my life. I can't resist the beauty of tea any more. Everything about her has entirely convinced me to be close and connected.


Tea is not only a drink: her qualities are so bright and illuminate my life. She is an intimate part of a number of rich cultures; she contributes to both physical and mental health, enriches art, music and literature; she connects me to a peaceful, beautiful world and its many wonderful people.

It's important to have the right relationship with tea. When treated properly, she dances with serene grace; when treated poorly, she withholds her many benefits. As I build a relationship with her, the more she can read my mind and the more her natural beauty embraces me. I am so attracted by her. Her appearance is so distinctive, her aroma so fragrant, her touch so warm, her dance so graceful, her pose so elegant, her smile so sweet, her energy so vibrant and her vitality so unique and powerful. Her beauty extends beyond my vision or feeling: the beauty in every drop, the pleasure in every scent, in every sip. Her spirit inspires me to expand my strengths. Every gift I receive from her adds more color and meaning in my life.