Tea of the day: oolong

Today I will be talking about my personal favorite kind of tea: oolong. I tried oolong for the first time a few weeks ago and fell in love. But what's so great about it, really? Well, for starters let me talk about the number one reason I drink oolong daily...

The taste! It's very light and flowery with a tiny citrus endnote. Well, that's my take on it. It's reminiscent of a green tea kind of taste, but with a way more delicious after taste. I'm not a huge fan of green tea, actually. However oolong is made from the same plant as green tea and black tea, what's different is the processing.

Health benefits are a big reason some people drink tea, but there's a lot of research to still be done and let's face it-I'm no doctor. However there is one study I've found about oolong and it took place in Japan. The study showed that drinking oolong tea can help rid the body of inflammatory skin conditions such as eczema. Along with that study, I've found that drinking tea is good for you strictly because it helps with hydration. A lot of people don't drink enough water per day and tea is water treated with tea. So drink more tea and you will become more hydrated.

When it comes to oolong, less is more. This, unsteeped:

Becomes this, after steeping:

Steeping: oolong can be steeped more than once, so that can save you money. Just take the leaves out and let them sit on a plate or somewhere dry and use them again. Just know that if steeping a second time, it won't have as much caffeine as the first steeping. Also, it is noteworthy that when it comes to oolong teas, they get better as you steep them. So the second, third or fourth time you brew oolong, it will taste even better each time. When making oolong you shouldn't use water that has been boiled, but water that is just about to become boiled. So if you have a kettle, make sure it's hot but not entirely boiling. Sometimes I'll let it boil and then just let it cool for a few minutes. Then you can steep it from 3-10 minutes. If you're particular about the taste, try it every 30 seconds and stop steeping once you're satisfied with the taste!

Beauty: I love the shade of oolong tea and the beautiful leaves. The leaves look small and clustered before they come in contact with hot water, but it's fun to watch them grow in size as they steep. The leaves are considerably bigger than those of black tea, for example. A lot of times you'll see the leaves on a mini branch, even. See below, the beautiful coloring of oolong:

So why not give oolong a try? As soon as I did, I couldn't stop drinking it. It's not an unhealthy tea to drink! Oh, and for those of you who are wondering, sugar is never necessary in oolong. However, some people add sugar to all teas. Whatever floats your boat! Or should I say, floats your tea leaves! Oh wow, that was a bad joke.

Happy Friday,

Leah

Coconut Oolong by David's Tea

Coconut Oolong

Oolong

Rating: 4/5

Order online here at the David's Tea website

My cousin Emily sent me 4 different kinds of David's Tea and I've decided to review this one first. I was mostly intrigued by the looks of the tea. Very green, with flecks of coconut inside and it came in a little tin the size of a lip balm container. Here, I took a photo for you:

Isn't the little mini tin cute? I also picked this tea because as it turns out, I've never reviewed an oolong. However, that's mainly because I've never had oolong tea. I'm mostly a black or fruit tea kind of gal, but that doesn't ever keep me from trying new things. Oh, and this is the first review where I use my new tea infusing mug that my partner recently got me. Thank you, Ollie. Anyways, I got down to business and took a scoop of this coconut tea and got a close up for you. I put more than what I scooped into the mug, but I didn't want the leaves to be overflowing for the photo. Here's the close up:

So those yellow looking bits are flakes of coconut. The lighting in my kitchen makes the coconut have a yellow tint, but really the little flakes are a light green. Also, please ignore my adorable koala bear slippers. But while you're noticing them, aren't they cute? What I love about this tea is that the leaves are giant and therefore I won't have to deal with little floaters in my tea that have escaped the infuser/filter. Speaking of, how about I show you what the tea looks like after I've poured boiling water over it?

Now you can tell that the flakes of the coconut are green and not yellow. See the tea leaves? They're big and almost salad like. Lovely. You'll want to let this steep for 4-7 minutes. I did mine for 5 minutes.  For those of you that are black tea drinkers, don't be alarmed by the light coloring of the tea when it's been 5 minutes and the tea hasn't changed much in coloring. This tea, when steeped, is a beautiful light yellow color.

If you don't like the astringency of black teas, then you might try an oolong. It's very light and crisp, a very smooth drink. There is still caffeine in oolong teas, however not nearly as much as black tea. If you're interested in drinking oolong, but you stick to herbal teas because they don't have caffeine, have no fear. I have a solution. If you brew the tea once, dispose of the water and reuse the leaves, then you get rid of most of the caffeine. The reason I bring this up is because the taste of this oolong reminds me of the taste of herbal teas, non-offensive and light. Also, there are hints of lemongrass in the taste of this tea because there are also flakes of lemongrass in it. I've just done a little a research because I tasted a hint of citrus.

Anyways, why did I give this tea 4/5 stars? I did so because it tastes wonderful, I love coconuts and they are prominent in the taste of this tea. If you don't like coconuts then there's not a reason you should really give this tea a try, but if you do-you'll go nuts for it. Ha, get it?

I would explain the taste of this oolong as a fresh and mild with a sweet finish. It's just good. It loses a star because of one reason. I think it smells funny before you brew it. I'm not entirely sure how to describe the smell of the tea before it's brewed, but it just smelled strange. Now my entire kitchen smells of funky tea. Other than that, not much to complain about. I will drink this tea again for sure.


Leah