Oolong Tea is between Green & Black Tea. Through repeated and complicated steps the tea leaves are partially oxidized, whereas green tea is not oxidized at all and black tea is fully oxidized. Light in the cup with haunting aromas, Oolong teas will richly reward those that explore them. Perhaps most interesting about the Oolongs, is the wide range of colors.

Oolongs likely first appeared within the last three to four hundred years in China's Fujian province, in the Wuyi Mountains. Presumably frustrated with the quality of their green teas, tea makers there found something to catch the attention of the emperor's tribute board when they decided not to fix their green teas but to let them wither and darken to black tea. Later, they figured out how to halt the oxidation by degrees, making the new teas ever lighter in color. As you will taste, the results were magical. As this new tea's reputation spread, so too did its growing techniques. Oolong making spread south to the mountians in Guangdong province. Oolong makers from Fujian also began immigrating to Taiwan. (Taiwan lies directly across the Taiwan Strait from Fujian, and most of its residents speak the same Fujian dialect of Chinese. ) Today, the best oolongs still come from China and Taiwan.