Okay, so I’ve been getting into teas lately, and I kept hearing about oolong tea. I mean, I knew about black tea, I knew about green tea, but oolong was this kind of mysterious thing in between. So, I did what any curious person would do – I decided to dive in and figure it out myself.

First things first, I got my hands on some oolong tea leaves. I went to this little tea shop downtown. The owner, a really nice lady who knows way too much about tea, helped me pick out a good one. She said it was a “lightly oxidized” oolong. I had no clue what that meant at the time, but I just nodded along like I was some kind of tea expert.

Then came the brewing part. This is where I usually mess things up. I’m not great at following instructions, especially when it comes to water temperature and steeping times. But, I was determined to get this right. I heated up some water, trying to guess the right temperature – not boiling, but pretty hot. I think it was like 190-ish Fahrenheit but you know I didn’t use the thermometer.

• First attempt: I poured the hot water over the leaves and let it steep for what I thought was a good amount of time. It ended up being too weak, kind of like drinking hot water with a hint of something.
• Second try: I used hotter water and let it steep a little longer. This time it was too bitter, like I’d left the leaves in there all day.
• Third time’s the charm: I finally got it right! I used water that was hot, but not boiling, and I steeped it for just the right amount of time. The tea was this beautiful golden color, and it smelled amazing. It had some of the green tea notes I am familiar with.

The taste? That’s when I really started to understand oolong. It was like a mix of both green and black tea. It had the freshness of green tea, but also some of the richer flavors of black tea. It was kind of like the best of both worlds.

My Oolong Tea Takeaway

So, after all that, I figured out that oolong tea isn’t just green or black, it’s its own thing. It’s like a spectrum, and depending on how it’s made, it can lean more towards green tea or more towards black tea. This “lightly oxidized” one I tried was closer to green tea, but I’ve heard there are some that are almost like black tea.

It was a fun little experiment, and now I’m hooked on oolong. I’ve been trying different kinds, and it’s amazing how different they can all taste. Who knew tea could be so complicated, right? I feel like I am the expert now, haha.