If you are new to Oolong tea, you should try it. Oolong teas are aromatic and fragrant, with a more complex flavor than many other teas.

Oolong tea appeared in China, but today Taiwan is second only to China in the amount of tea produced each year.

Oolong tea is a semi-fermented tea that is a cross between green and black teas. Oolong tea is fermented like black tea, but for a much shorter period of time. It is believed that oolong tea was accidentally discovered by a Chinese tea gardener named Wu Liang. According to Chinese legend, Wu Liang was busy collecting and processing tea leaves to make green tea when he spotted a river deer. He stopped to kill and cook a deer, and this interrupted his tea processing for the whole day, and it forgot to dry the leaves. He remembered the tea a day later, but by this time it had begun to change color, and Wu Liang was afraid that it had deteriorated, but still decided to finish drying it. After completing the drying process, he made himself a cup and discovered that he had created a very aromatic and fragrant tea, and thus, oolong was born.

Depending on the duration of fermentation, oolong teas may be closer to green teas in color and taste, or closer to black teas. In addition, oolong tea is traditionally made from larger leaves of a tea plant. These are leaves that grow further along with the tea plant, and not along with the upper leaves. Some Oolong Formosa teas, known as pouchong teas, are only 15% fermented.

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