Like black, white and green teas, oolong tea is made from the leaves of the camellia sinensis or tea plant. Oolong tea is partially oxidized before the leaves are dried, and is said to combine the best qualities of both black and green teas. Properly brewed Oolong tea has a smooth, aromatic nature and almost no bitterness at all. How deeply you want to involve yourself in the ceremony and tradition of brewing this ancient tea is, ultimately, up to you. The following procedure will get you started with the most commonly accepted method of brewing oolong tea.
Step 1
Dump out any water that has been sitting in the kettle and refill it with cold filtered or distilled water. Heat the kettle until the water boils. Perform the next two steps as the water is coming to a boil.
Step 2
Use a measuring spoon to scoop out a tablespoon of oolong tea leaves for every 5 to 8 ounces of water. In other words, you want about a tablespoon of oolong leaves per western-sized tea mug. If your particular brand of oolong tea comes with different proportion suggestions, you may want to use those. Pour the oolong leaves into a mesh tea strainer, tea ball or infuser basket.
Step 3
Fill the teapot with hot or warm water while the water in the kettle is still boiling. Once the water in the kettle comes to a boil, turn the kettle or stove off and leave the water in the kettle to cool for two to three minutes.
Step 4
Dump the warm water out of the teapot. Place the infuser basket, tea ball or tea strainer inside the teapot. You can simply drop a tea ball into the pot; however, a tea basket or strainer should be of the appropriate size to sit at the mouth of the pot and not fall in.
Step 5
Pour the just-boiled water into the teapot, through or over the tea leaves. Let the tea steep for four minutes, then remove the tea ball, strainer or basket. Pour the tea into cups and serve.
Tips and Warnings
- Culinary Teas recommends using a traditional tea-brewing style known as Gong Fu Cha. This style is very similar to the procedure outlined above, except that as soon as you pour the boiling water over the tea leaves for the first time, you should pour out the resulting infusion and discard it. Refill the pot with more hot water and serve this after only 10 seconds of steeping. You can re-steep the same tea leaves for this same short duration at least seven times.
Things You'll Need
- Teakettle
- Cold, filtered or distilled water
- Measuring spoon
- Oolong tea leaves
- Tea strainer, tea ball or infuser basket
- Teapot
- Warm water
- Teacups
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