What is oolong tea? The tea between green and black
Green tea is not oxidised. Black tea is fully oxidised. Oolong is everything in between, which is why one oolong can taste like a flowery green and another like a toasty black. It is the most varied family of tea and, for a lot of people, the most interesting. Here is how it works.
How oolong is made
After picking, the leaf is withered and then bruised by shaking or rolling, which breaks the cell walls at the edges of the leaf and lets it start to oxidise, the same browning that happens to a cut apple. The maker stops that process with heat at the point they want, anywhere from about 10 percent oxidised to about 80. Then the leaf is rolled, often into tight balls, and dried, and sometimes roasted. Every one of those choices changes the cup. It is the most skilled kind of tea making.
What it tastes like
Lightly oxidised oolongs are green gold in the cup, floral, creamy and sweet. Milk Oolong is this style. More oxidised oolongs are amber, fruitier and fuller, and roasted ones are nutty and warm. Across the range there is a smoothness and a long finish that neither green nor black tea quite has. If you like white wine, start light. If you like a malty black tea, start dark.
Our two oolongs
Milk Oolong is the light, creamy, buttery one with nothing added. Orange Oolong is a smooth oolong lifted with dried orange and a little jasmine petal, lighter and brighter, easy to drink and a bit more approachable if you are new to the style. It is the one I would hand to a black tea drinker first.
How to brew it
Water at about 90°C, so boiled and left a minute. One heaped teaspoon per 200ml, three to four minutes. Rolled leaf needs room to open, so use a basket infuser or a pot rather than a small ball. No milk.
Why you can steep it so many times
Rolled oolong unfurls slowly, so the first steep only gets part of the way into the leaf. The second and third keep going. Three or four cups from one spoon is normal, with a minute added each time. It changes the price too. It is the best value tea on the shelf once you count the cups.