Oolong tea is an unfashionable tea in the Western mainstream. It tastes different, although it is a black tea. I drink so much tea I should be growing bark from the tannins alone. I have drunk oolong many times before, but never before has it made quite this much of an impression.
I bought some Heavenly Dragon Fujian loose-leaf oolong tea from Amazon. Doesn’t sound too impressive so far, does it? Fujian tea is supposed to have some significant health benefits (see highly equivocal but worth reading Healthline article here) and I also knew it’s a good palate-cleanser, good for freshening up the mouth. I like it.
The first thing I noticed was that this tea was chunky. It looked like it was in pieces of tea leaves, solid, nothing like Western black tea. That’s quite unusual for loose-leaf tea. I used an infuser for the tea and was more than a bit surprised to suddenly get a mug full of very dark tea. It smelled just slightly of mushrooms.
I didn’t add sugar, out of a sudden desire to taste the authentic flavor as it’s supposed to be drunk. My 40 years of studying Chinese culture wanted to get a word in, and did. The Chinese have a bit of a thing about how tea is drunk, and most of the time they’re right.
Kaboom.
Kaboom and a half.
The first mouthful of this tea cleaned out any lingering tastes in my mouth very effectively and completely freshened up the palate. It’s very slightly bitter, but that seemed to help. It’s a likable sort of bitter, not sour. As any sort of black tea, this was already in a much higher league.
The second mouthful would have done credit to any black tea on Earth. The oolong made a point out of being a very strong black tea, which is an Australian tradition, and also a very good drink as a refresher.
The third mouthful reinforced the first two. I’d drunk the entire mug in three and a bit drinks. That was when the title of this article occurred to me.
What a great drink! I’ve never tasted oolong anything like as good as that before. It was one of the nicest cups of tea I’ve ever had, bar none. This was good honest tea, exactly what you’d hope for from a cuppa.
The health benefits of oolong are clearly and inexcusably under-researched. This tea does contain calcium fluoride, which is good for bones, teeth, and even piles. Read the Healthline article for a summary.
Now, back to the tea…
