Oolong tea

wūlóng · 乌龙茶

Oolong lives in the wide country between green and red — partly oxidised, then often roasted, with the leaf bruised at its edges and shaped by hand. It is the most varied and the most virtuosic of the seven classes.

Oxidation · Partly oxidised — anywhere from 10% to 80%

Oolong is not a point but a spectrum. By choosing how far to let the leaf oxidise — and whether and how hard to roast it — the maker can land anywhere from a pale, lilac-floral cup to a dark, roasted, almost-red one. No other class asks so much of the hands that make it.

The defining step is bruising: the leaves are tumbled so their edges break and oxidise while the centres stay green, then fixed mid-way to lock the balance. The two great homelands are the Wuyi cliffs of Fujian (dark, mineral yánchá “rock tea”) and Anxi (the green, orchid-floral Tieguanyin), with Taiwan adding its own high-mountain lineage.

Two poles, one class

At one pole: a green Tieguanyin or a Taiwanese Alishan — light, floral, creamy, brewed many short times in a tiny pot. At the other: a roasted Wuyi Da Hong Pao — dark, mineral, toasty, with a finish the Chinese call yányùn, “rock rhyme”. Both are oolong; that is the wonder of the class.

Varieties in this class