Basic Facts Of Oolong Tea You Should Know


I guess you have heard oolong tea before, from your good friend, TV show or newspaper, and you might somehow know that oolong tea may benefit your state of health, but you're not that positive about it. So, for everybody new at all to oolong, this article is for your needs.

What Is Oolong Tea?

Tea is gaining quite a lot of traction lately outside of China, particularly western nations. It has three major groups: green tea, oolong tea, and black tea. And oolong tea is really special, which is a semi-fermented tea. But you might try to ask, what on earth is semi-fermented tea? Mainly because, the producing process is quite intricate, I'm going to put in such a way that you may understand very easily (I'll discuss more info later on this page):

You must try green tea before, which is intensely well-liked worldwide, perfect for weight loss. The green tea will never be fermented in any way, which implies right after the tea leaves are reaped, they will be roasted right away, retaining the ingredients of tea as it is.

The black tea is actually quite contrary, entirely fermented, which means chemical changes have taken place for a long time, then the fundamental natural ingredients are already transformed into a new form; therefore, the quality of black tea is totally distinctive from green tea. But, the oolong tea won't go that far. It will be somewhere between green tea and black tea, getting highly distinct tastes as well as some added health benefits.

Etymology for Oolong Tea

This Chinese tea was actually originally known as Beiyuan Tea, which was a tribute tea. What was a tribute tea? It was a specific tea given to royals or an emperor, like a tribute to them.In fact, Beiyuan is a place within the north area of Fujian province (home of oolong tea). Then the tea farmers of An-xi county, south part of Fujian, considerably improved the typical tea making techniques, for that reason the Beiyuan Tea was developed into a whole new category. It is known that the name of first person who accidentally obtained this specific tea producing skill was pronounced as "oolong", and so in order to memorize him, this later popular tea was termed as "oolong tea".

In many other places, oolong tea is also interpreted as "Wu long", precisely the same pronunciation, having said that I need to clarify here since it befuddles lots of people. The reason behind different spelling is related to two distinctive transliteration methods: the Wades Giles method gives us Oolong, and the Chinese Pinyin system gives us Wu long. But sometimes(rarely), oolong tea has other names, such as brown tea(named after its color) and rock tea(some varieties of excellent oolong tea actually grow over the rocks/cliffs).

So, when you read this far, you might get the idea of oolong tea now. But I am not going to stop here. Like I said, I'll uncover the production process, which is more interesting and revealing, so you're able to understand this tea much more deeply. So, please bear with me.

The Production Process In Detail

This rather complex manufacturing process has 7 important steps.

1. The Withering Step - Leaves are spread out, typically under the sun, with the purpose of removing wetness, softening the leaf cell wall and starting the natural enzymatic fermentation.

2. The Turning Over Step - Specifically designed systems are widely used to break down the leaves, increasing oxidation and allowing the chemical factors, within the stems, to blend with the leaves. This step contributes a lot towards the balance of quality in the finished product.

3. The Oxidization Step - The leaves are now given time to rest as natural fermentation process moves on. Throughout this step, leaves can change coloring, often into darker green because cell structure further disintegrates. And now the tea is growing an intense flavor.

4. The Kill Green Step - This step stops the natural fermentation process whilst allowing the leaves undamaged.

5. The Rolling Step - To further boost the amazing taste and give shape to the leaves, hot or cold rollers (occasionally both) are employed to disintegrate the leaves.

6. The Drying Step - Approaches such as hot air, sun or pan drying are being used at this moment. The flavor and aroma are further intensified, whilst the step also serves the purpose of controlling the growth of mold and eliminating any grassy taste that remains.

7. The Firing Step - At last, to provide the needed smoky flavor the leaves will be roasted.

Places Where Oolong Tea Grows

Oolong tea grows primarily in northern Fujian Province, southern Fujian Province (the best place producing one of the best oolong, i.e. An-xi county), Canton and Taiwan. The 4 major areas yield the most of oolong tea in China, if not in the entire world.

Moreover, oolong tea has been found transplanted out of China, which include Thailand and India.

How Can You Reap The Benefits Of Having Oolong Tea?

You may be tired of water (like me), perhaps you are tired of green tea (like me before bored with water) or other types of tea, perhaps your friend told you that oolong tea is often very good for your quality of life due to the high poly-phenol antioxidant properties, having said that you can still have concerns in your head, that's OK.

You don't have to push yourself, you can just click on the hyperlinks at the bottom of the post, go straight to the topic which ever makes you wonder if you need to give oolong tea a shot or not. Right now, I'll just list the benefits here.

-Skyrocket Weight Reduction

-Resist the Signs of Aging

-Minimize Chance of Heart Related Illnesses

-Protect against Cancer

-Maintain Diabetic issues

-Minimize Emotional stress

-Minimize Pain

-Reduce Cholesterol

By David Xiaottout

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