Oolong Tea

Oolong tea is semi-oxidised and has an oxidisation level which falls somewhere between green and black tea.  Oolong teas are planted at high altitudes, offer the most complex flavours of any tea and are a hit with first timers and connoisseurs alike.  We are proud of our oolong tea range and are sure you'll love it too.

Our top recommendations in this category are:

• Organic Oriental Beauty
• Milk Oolong

Listed prices are for 50 grams, for other amounts or to learn more please click on the tea.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Oolong Tea?

Oolong Tea and Health
Oolong Tea and Eczema
Oolong Tea and Weightloss
Which Oolong Tea is Best for Weightloss

What is Oolong tea?

Oolong tea is also known as wulong tea, black dragon or blue tea.

All tea comes from the camellia sinensis plant.  It is how the tea is processed that sets it apart.  Green and white teas are unfermented teas and have oxidisation levels below 8%.  Black tea is classed as fully fermented with oxisidation levels of above 85%.  Oolong tea is also known as semi fermented tea and refers to tea levels between 8-84%.  Oolong tea consequently has the widest range of qualities and flavour profiles.  To cater for this wide range in flavour profiles and levels of oxidisation oolong tea are broken into three different caterogories by the Taiwanese.  These are as follows:

• Jade Oolong- 10-20%Oxidisation these teas have flavour profile that are similar to those of green tea but with none of the vegetal flavours.  Many jade oolongs have a light slightly sweet flavour profile.  Chah’s Milk Oolong is a fine example of one such tea.
• Amber Oolong- 30% oxidisation, these teas tend to have a heavier flavour profile and a more roasted flavour than Jade Oolongs.  Tie Guan Yin and  Four Seasons oolongs are fine examples of these teas.
• Champagne Oolong- Typically around 60% oxidised, these teas have a richer flavour with none of the bitterness associated with black teas.  Champagne oolongs are also usually in open leaf form and not rolled up like many other oolong tea.  White tipped or oriental beauty is excellent example of this tea.

Oolong tea and Eczema

There have been many studies that have shown the positive effect of oolong tea in the treatment of eczema.  A study in Japan (Uehara 2001) found that oolong tea was not only effective in suppressing type I and IV allergic reactions but also in cases of recalcitrant AD skin lesions where standard treatment had failed.  They found that in a study of 121 patients, 63% showed marked to moderate improvement within one to two weeks of treatment.  The scientist concluded that the therapeutic efficacy of oolong tea in recalcitrated AD was most likely the result of the antiallergic properties of tea polyphenols which are found in high concentration in oolong teas. You can read more about this study at here.  At Chah we have customers who use oolong tea for this purpose and claim to have experienced beneficial effect both from drinking and from bathing in oolong tea.

Oolong Tea and Weightloss

There are many facts and myths out there with regard to the oolong tea (wu-long),as it’s commonly called, by many of the companies trying to make their oolongs seems rarer or more special than your everyday tea.  Oolong tea has properties that can help you loose weight, but no more so than green or white tea.

Wuyi Tea is usually the tea that weight-loss companies claim to have the weigh shedding properties.  This is a dark or champagne oolong tea there is no reason that this tea should have no mote benefit than tea grown elsewhere, in the same way that an orange from Spain is any better for you than one from Portugual.  Many of these online companies claim that this tea is rare and unusual when the reality is that it really isn’t.  Wuyi Cliff Oolong isn’t all that rare; we tried several different kinds of it before deciding on the kind that we felt was best for you our customers.  Furthermore, the finest teas have long waiting list to get hold of them and given the Chinese passion and growing market for high quality tea it is highly unlikely that any tea of any real note would be combined with other ingredients and not just enjoyed on it’s own merits.  It’s a bit like waiting on an incredible, rare and expensive whisky and then mixing it with coke. There are whiskys that serve this purpose just fine but a purest would question the wisdom of using the finest and rarest single malt. 

WuYi tea’s weight losing properties should not, however, be dismissed out right; we’re just reluctant to say they are tea specific. It is still true that tea from the Wuyi region in China is typically champagne oolong, and oolong teas prepared in this way would typically have a higher amount of polyphenols than other oolong teas and therefore have more weight loss properties than a lesser oxidised oolong tea.

Tea is unlikely to help you loose weight in significant quantities. It does improve your metabolism, but only by something in the region of 4% which equates to somewhere in the region of KG a year.
A study in Japan  (Han L-k 1999)  found evidence to suggest that oolong tea could be an mildly effective yet crude drug for the treatment of a fatty liver caused by a high-fat diet when drunk as part of a balanced diet.

A study in Konatsu in 2003 compared the difference in energy expenditure amoung healthy young women who consumered green or oolong tea.  They found that energy expenditure was increased by 10% in oolong tea as opposed to 4% in green tea.  They concluded that this increased energy expenidure was due to the high levels of polyphenols found in oolong tea.

There are also many tea blends and herbal concoctions online that claim to offer miricale weightloss, we’d suggest you stay away from many of these as their weight loss properties may as a result of the the diuretic and laxative action of the herbs.  During the time we spent in China, we heard of cases where the side effects caused by even the main stream “weight loss teas” were detremental and in the most extreme cases of misuse, resulted in death.

Which Oolong is Best for Weight Loss?

Much of the weight-loss hype is centred around tea from the WuYi Mountains in FuJian.  In China, it has been believed for centuries that this tea has weight loss properties.  Oolongs from this region are typically champagne oolong (medium to high level of oxidisation) and therefore have a higher caffeine content than other oolongs, this caffeine level would explain at least in part the reason this oolong tea is cited as good for weight loss.