What
is Oolong Tea?
Oolong
tea is nothing more than the leaves of the camellia sinensis
that have been processed a certain way. It is one of the four
types of teas (white, green,
oolong, and black).
Oolong
teas are the most difficult of the four types of teas to process.
The best way to describe oolong tea is that they are somewhere
in between green and black tea. This is because they are only
partially oxidized during the processing.
What
is Tea Processing?
Processing tea is generally considered the art of tea. It
is where many of the subtleties in taste, body, and overall
character are created.
In
its most basic form, it is taking the raw green leaves and
deciding whether or not, and how much oxidation (or fermentation)
should take place before drying them out.
Tea
leaves have enzymes in their veins. When the leaf is broken,
bruised, or crushed, the enzymes are exposed to oxygen resulting
in oxidation. The amount of oxidation depends upon how much
of the enzymes are exposed and for how long.
The
Processing of Oolong Tea:
The processing of oolong tea requires only a partial oxidation
of the leaves. After the leaves are plucked, they are laid
out to wither for about 8 to 24 hours. This lets most of the
water evaporate.
Then
the leaves are tossed in baskets in order to bruise the edges
of the leaves. This bruising only causes the leaves to partially
oxidize because only a portion of the enzymes are exposed
to air.
Next, the leaves steamed in order to neutralize the enzymes
and stop any oxidation. Oolong tea can have varying degrees
of oxidation. Some are closer to black teas, and some are
closer to green.
After
that, a final drying takes place. From there, it goes off
to be sorted, graded, and packaged.
My
Suggestions:
Here
is a quality oolong tea with the soothing scent of jasmine
from Adagio Teas!
If
you are new to oolong teas and would like to try a few different
examples, try this oolong tea sampler.
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