Oolong tea is easily among the best teas in Asian culture.
Brewing it requires skill, as it uses an ancient brewing technique. I suggest oolong tea to anyone who wants to get totally immersed in the tea culture. This tea has great taste, and anyone with real taste buds will appreciate this great tea.
Brew oolong tea to relieve your body of day-to-day troubles.
But all this will not be important if you do not brew oolong tea correctly. For a great cup of oolong tea, I recommend you use one teaspoon of balled leaves. For every six ounces of boiling water, two tablespoons of loose oolong leaf could be added.
Each oolong tea brew is unique and gives you several health benefits you will not get with other tea types.
Oolong Tea: What Is It?
Oolong tea is a special embodiment of Chinese tea, coming from a plant called Camellia sinensis, which is mostly found in parts of Asia like Taiwan and China.
We have several oolong tea varieties you can enjoy!
You can find green, black, or light oolong varieties. What’s special is that each oolong tea has a distinct aroma. No variety of oolong tea is the same; hence, you will get the best tea experience with this tea type.
Oolong can manage several flavor profiles and varieties because it comes in black and green variations. However, it is neither purely green tea nor purely black tea. It is kind of in the middle. Every tea lover can find a flavor profile that is unique to the tea-loving community.
You can always find whole oolong tea leaves that are available for sale as loose tea leaves.
They are also available in tea bags. Most of the oolong tea leaves are curled and rolled, as you must have seen if you’ve been brewing it for a while. Since the tea comes in both green and black teas, you will always enjoy variation.
Each tea has different properties, with novel flavors and intriguing aromas.
This tea type provides a breathtaking experience that is unique every single time. It does not matter if you have been brewing tea all your life; a sip of oolong tea done right hits differently every time.
4 Types of Oolong Teas
Oolong tea varies in color and chemical properties. You can get oolong varieties that range from orange to light gold and even deep brown.
It all depends on the tea’s oxidation levels. Oolong tea also has different flavor profiles, but you will mostly find oolong tea that is fruity, vegetal, or nutty.
Additionally, they also have very pleasing floral aromas. Below is a quick rundown of the varieties that are most common on the market:
- Hong Pao (Chinese): highly oxidized with a rich earthy flavor
- Tung Ting: nutty flavor and smooth
- Taiwanese Bai Ho has clean and fruity flavor profiles
- Wuyi oolong: this variety is the most expensive of all oolong varieties on the market. Although, if you are patient enough, you can get cheaper varieties of this flavor profile.
How Should You Prepare a Cup of Oolong Tea?
There are oolong tea flavors and varieties to consider. Thus, there is no one standardized way to brew oolong tea.
But remember, things like oxidation levels or even the shape of oolong leaves have a great impact on its brewing method and the time you need to steep your oolong tea.
Trust me, we know how frustrating it is to get the right taste you are looking for in your tea.
As a result, in the parts that follow, you will learn the general steps for brewing tea.
Albeit, you should note that since this is a general brewing method
, it may not be best for your specific oolong tea variety. Thus, I suggest you search for the brewing method for your specific tea type.
S-1: Choose a Teapot
Although the most popular way of brewing oolongs is using traditional Chinese methods and techniques, you can also use the Western technique. You can opt for Western teapots and cups.
However, the Chinese technique offers the full spectrum of what oolong tea is capable of.
But if you are a newbie to oolong tea, using a regular old teapot is totally okay.
S-2: Prepare the Tea Leaves
Are you searching for the right oolong tea flavor? I recommend you use the loose tea leaf to develop a proper flavor profile.
But you can also try using the tea bags if you prefer them. However, the flavor and quality you will get from tea bags will be inferior to those from loose oolong leaves.
S-3: Prepare Your Boiling Water
If you want to get the full texture of oolong tea, the importance of high-quality water cannot be exaggerated enough.
- Filtered water or spring water is the best water to use while brewing tea because it does not make your tea taste flat.
- But if you cannot get access to filtered or spring water, you can opt for distilled water. However, distilled water still contains some chemicals that may interfere with the quality of your tea.
- We strongly advise that you do not allow your water to boil completely. Watch the water surface, and when it is almost boiling, take it off your stove.
If you are using a kettle with a thermostat, you can set the water to heat between 180 and 200 Fahrenheit. You can also dip a thermometer into the water to watch its temperature closely.
- Once the water reaches those temperatures, take it off the stove and pour it into your teapot. Ensure your teapot is only half full; shake it, and then put away the water.
Discarding the water cleanses your tea leaves and makes them ready for brewing tea.
S-4: Steep Your Tea
- Fill up your teapot with water and let it steep. An agreeable steeping time for oolong tea is between one and five minutes.
However, do note that the longer you steep your tea, the heavier the tea’s contents. For instance, if you steep your tea for up to five minutes, you will have a lot more coffee content than if you steep it for only one.
- But for the best-brewed tea experience, I suggest you allow your tea to steep for at least one minute.
While the Chinese consume oolong tea smoking hot, we do it differently in Europe.
- You can choose to add some ice and drink your tea as iced tea. You can enjoy iced tea by following the instructions I gave above.
- However, do not brew your tea using cold water because you cannot extract all the juice from your tea at such temperatures.
Hence, you can proceed to drink tea and start your mornings well. Brewing tea might require some advanced techniques.
But if you follow these instructions, you should have a steamy hot cup of oolong tea ready in no time.
What Health Benefits Does Oolong Tea Have?
Let’s be real: if you’re looking for a reliable way to step up your life game, then drinking a cup of this highly concentrated tea each and every single day is your best bet.
Interestingly, oolong tea has something special in it that makes brewing it one of your top health priorities!
- It’s loaded with those powerful antioxidants we all know are hidden away in teas.
Wow, oolong tea is incredibly potent!
- Studies indicate that just five to six cups a day of this wonder drink can vastly reduce your risk for heart disease and diabetes type II.
- It’s all due to its high antioxidant content and anti-inflammatory properties that protect you from potential life-threatening events such as a heart attack or blood clot.
Who would’ve thought something so small could make such an impact on your well-being? It’s a definite must-have in our diet!
- And that is not all; oolong tea also reduces inflammation in your blood vessels and arteries. Hence, your blood pressure drops; this feature is extremely important for people who suffer from excessive blood pressure.
- Overall, oolong tea is a great protector of heart health. What better way to keep your heart healthy than to consume oolong tea?
But wait! The list does not end here.
- You can also regulate your body’s cholesterol levels by drinking the right amount of oolong tea daily.
- Additionally, if you take oolong tea in the right amounts, it can also regulate blood sugar.
- You can also prevent the common flu and cold if you drink oolong tea regularly.
- Oolong tea has a high concentration of vitamins and minerals because it is an herbal tea. It houses some of the most important vitamins for humans, including the C vitamin, which is responsible for improving your overall health.
However, you must take oolong tea with the right proportions of caffeine so that moderating this is easy. Your caffeine intake should be just right. And for you to do that, your tea should have less caffeine in it.
When Shouldn’t You Drink Oolong Tea?
Here are some situations when you should avoid drinking oolong tea:
Caffeine-Sensitive Individuals
If your body’s sensitive to caffeine, oolong tea might not be the best for you.
However, you can regulate the amount of caffeine you get in your oolong tea cup. If you steep your oolong tea for a minute, the caffeine will be less. The average amount in the tea is like half a regular coffee cup.
Drinking too much oolong can cause an irregular heartbeat, stomach upset, or irritability.
Breast-Feeding Mothers
For a breastfeeding mother, I suggest you do not take more than two cups of tea per day.
The caffeine content in oolong tea can cause dizziness and nausea, which is bad for babies.
Conclusion
Oolong tea is one of the most popular tea types in the world. It is increasingly becoming one of the world’s favorite beverages.
It has several tea profiles you can enjoy; its color is kind of in the middle of green and black tea.
Oolong tea is a unique tea with an exquisite aroma and taste that are second to none. Enjoy the benefits of two tea types by drinking one with oolong tea!