Oolong: The Tea for Tea People
Photograph from geekgirlunveiled on Flickr
One summer I worked in the tea industry, and remember learning that oolong was held in high esteem. When referencing the semi-oxidized tea (somewhere between green and black), people usually looked at me funny. "Oo-who?" Jane Black at the Washington Post investigates the stigma against oolong.
Part of oolong's lack of wide acceptance can be traced to a fear factor. Unlike green and black teas, which require one steeping, oolongs benefit from multiple infusions. That is because the leaves are picked when they are bigger and thicker, and multiple rounds of hot water help the flavors blossom and intensify. As a result, the Chinese and the Taiwanese like to drink oolongs gong-fu style. The words, which are sometimes written as "kung fu" (like the martial art), mean a skill acquired through practice.
You heard of oolong? Ever drink it?
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17 Comments:
I love oolong! It's the perfect iced tea fodder, soft and does not require sugar in order to appreciate it. I wish it was carried by more retailers. I've always found black too acrid for my tastes, and green and white really are more aromatic than flavorful.
Jikuu at 9:30AM on 11/14/08
Here in Japan, Oolong tea (or "oolong-cha" in Japanese) is extremely popular, especially iced. People I've met here have been surprised to learn that my main experience with Oolong was drinking it hot at Chinese restaurants in the states (and even more shocking to them: the vast quantities of sugar that my little brother adds before he'll touch his tea cup).
sanbiki at 9:32AM on 11/14/08
What?! I love oo-long! Most of my teas are Asian-based though, so that might explain it. Oo-long for me is my "black" tea, since I don't take tea very strongly. So I've mastered my own technique for multi-steeping. Everything else I have in my tea cabinet is green tea-based, like genmaicha. Or barley tea...mmm..love barley tea.
uninorth at 10:11AM on 11/14/08
Yeah, oolong is oxidized somewhere between a green and a black, which I think is the best way to describe it.
I'm not the biggest oolong fan personally, but I have a Ti Kuan Yin and a Jasmine (Yes, jasmine is technically an oolong) as a part of my rotation.
lawofmurphy at 10:22AM on 11/14/08
But what is the exact method for this gong-fu style? You explain the words but then not the technique...
I grew up drinking this stuff, but I'm Asian-American, so... yeah. I didn't even realize it was between black & green tea - I thought it was black. Haha. My parents kept it in the house and I never really noticed a difference in how they steep it. However, at dim sum restaurants, I know that you get tea leaves in a teapot, and when you're out of tea, they refill hot water, but not more leaves or anything, and we still drank the first pot or two which tend to be light in color. The 3rd, 4th, 5th pot (depending on how long we're there)... those tended to be a little too dark for me.
PS sanbiki - growing up, I always added tons of sugar as well before I'd drink it. Now I drink it straight, but back then, the "bitter" taste didn't sit well with my tongue.
feistyfoodie at 10:24AM on 11/14/08
I drink my oolongs tiger-style.
Adam Kuban at 10:47AM on 11/14/08
Does anyone know of a place that does "kung-fu" tea in NYC?
pookguy at 11:19AM on 11/14/08
I was introduced to oolong by Bill at Todd and Hollands (a fantastic mail order tea supplier outside of Chicago) when I lived near their brick and mortar shop. I haven't looked back. I still love a great cup of strong milky black tea, the less vegetal greens and most whites but oolongs are my favorites even though I am now reduced to mail ordering my teas.
Gong-fu is where you fill a very small pot with leaves (amounts vary depending on who you ask) and then steep them for very short periods of time so that you only get a little tea at a time. The lengths of time for each brew have to increase as you progress and the flavor changes with each. You really don't want to leave the leaves in the water for an extended period of time.
rudbeckia at 11:25AM on 11/14/08
My husband has been searching for an oolong tea he had at PF Chang's..."Dragon Eye" oolong. Any mail order/online sources??
akk328 at 1:27PM on 11/14/08
akk328: I believe that's made by Revolution.
My boyfriend's a major tea snob, and he would like to point out that while oolong is awesome and his probably his favorite tea, a true tea drinker knows what pu-erh is.
(I think both oolong and pu-erh are awesome as well.)
Jitterro at 1:37PM on 11/14/08
Oolong teas are my favorite and have at least 10 varieties from Harney & Sons. I'm surprised to read they're not more popular.
schnitzel at 2:16PM on 11/14/08
The photo accompanying this piece gets us off to a rather bad start: If we're talking about capturing the essence of oolong tea, the vessel we have in mind probably isn't a glazed English-style porcelain cup with a dainty handle.
Gongfu tea (also called "laoren-" or "old man"-style) makes use of the Lilliputian Yixing-type unglazed pots that most Westerners, when they see them in a store, assume are merely decorative. The tiny pot is more or less filled with leaves (at least it ends up full once they've steeped and swollen), and the first batch of water is actually a rinse, to be discarded and not drunk. After that come repeated steepings, each poured into and drunk from correspondingly miniature cups. Sometimes there's a second set of taller cups, whose function is to capture the tea's fragrance (which in the case of a good-quality oolong is bold and spectacular).
It's important to note that gongfu cha, by contrast with Japan's cha-do, is a technique and not a ritual, meant to accompany relaxed socializing and chitchat. If you meet anyone who tries to surround it with an aura of rarefication or spirituality, run as fast as you can in the opposite direction!
Barry Foy at 3:20PM on 11/14/08
I'm not a huge oolong drinker, but I do have a favorite Jasmine tea that I drink sometimes. I love to use a beautiful handmade tea cup that my brother and his wife brought back from Korea for me.
My daily tea is flavored black tea. Jasmine tea and herbal teas are my "I don't feel good and need comfort" teas. I'm not big on green tea most of the time.
cmtigger at 8:47PM on 11/14/08
I am not a hot beverage drinker, but I do enjoy Iced Tea. Turkey Hill Iced Tea numbers among its flavors an oolong blueberry tea that I enjoy greatly.
http://www.turkeyhill.com/products/flavor-search.asp?dpas=2&dpcf=2&dpff=2&dpgf=2&dpsf=2&fi=oolong&processid=1
MrProven3 at 2:48PM on 11/15/08
Here's a video about Gongfu cha and Tieguanyin tea from Xiamen in China. It shows what Barry Foy talks about above.. http://www.talkingoffood.com/watch/1-video-content/23-tieguanyin-tea.html
zee at 5:32AM on 11/17/08
I have had oolong tea once, in cold canned form. It was made by the same people who make my favorite cold canned unsweetened green tea so I thought I would love it but I could not even finish the can! It was TERRIBLE. I'll have to give the hot version a try before I pass any official judgment but boy did that canned oolong tea leave a bad taste in my mouth.
Hillary
Chew on That
Chew on That at 2:33PM on 11/17/08
oolong tea is what i drank at home growing up in a traditional chinese household. we drank it cool in the summer times and warm in the winter. multilpe additions of hot water all day long. its somewhat strong for non-tea drinkers, but i have always found it pleasant. no need to be a tea-snob, be adventurous and curious, and have a open mind and palate.
C Chin at 9:54PM on 11/17/08