Whenever you get tired or you feel lazy, a cup of tea can really change your mood and arouse the stimuli inside you. Don’t blame it on your DNA; it’s the tea and its contents that arouse your temptation.  Well! Whether you get tempted or charged up by a cup of tea is the outcome of caffeine the stimulating agent present in tea. Apart from this stimulating agent there are vital elements which are beneficial to the human body. Tea contains fluoride and tea is the only natural source of fluoride. Another beneficial element present in tea is an antioxidant. An antioxidant is an element that curbs the reactions which are caused by Oxygen or Peroxides. Antioxidant vitamins like vitamin C and E are present there in each leaf of tea. The varieties of tea available differ by the processing methods and these processing methods are solely responsible for the difference in the presence of various beneficial elements like antioxidants, polyphenols etc.  Green is the best tea from this point of view, since it is the least processed tea among all. The next best tea after green tea is oolong tea which is also known as black dragon tea traditionally. Oolong tea differs from green tea only in taste and not in the composition of antioxidants. Oolong tea is somehow in between black and green tea. But a cup of oolong tea gives the taste of a higher quality than black or green tea and this is the reason why most of the tea chains and tea cafeterias in China serve mostly oolong tea.

Oolong tea has derived its name into English language from the traditional name in Min Nan Chinese language. The name oolong tea according to the Qing Dynasty poems is believed to be derived from its origin of production in Wuyi mountain of China. Oolong tea is also called Black Dragon Tea because of its leaves which resemble the look of a dragon. The oolong tea leaves are mostly curly, black and long.

Oolong tea is processed by using two different methods. In the first method the tea leaves are rolled into a spherical shape. This method of processing of oolong tea is also seen in case of gunpowder tea, namely Pearl Tea or Zhu Cha. The processing method of gunpowder forms the shape of little pellets resembling bullets and hence this tea is named gunpowder. Gunpowder tea like pearl tea or Zhu Cha differs from the oolong tea in sizes of the rolls. The next method of processing of oolong tea is rolling the long tea leaves into a simple roll.

Oolong tea has different varieties country wise. China has the most number of varieties of oolong tea. The second position goes to Taiwan, who produces a good amount of this tea per year. And these two countries China and Taiwan meet the 73% of oolong tea requirement across the world. Chinese varieties of this tea are Da Hong Pao, Si Da Ming Kong, Golden water turtle, Iron Arhat, Rou Gui or Cinamon in Chinese, Water sprite, Ti Kuan Yin, Dan Kong etc. You can find a long list of oolong varieties with the online tea stores in China like the one I know ‘The Golden Tea House’.

So, enjoy sipping a cup of Black Dragon Tea.