What is Okumas Chinese Wu-Long Tea?
Oolong (Traditional Chinese: 烏龍; pinyin: wūlóng) is a traditional Chinese tea somewhere between green and black in oxidation. It ranges from 10% to 70% oxidation. The word oolong means “black dragon” in Chinese; various legends describe the origin of this curious name. In one legend, the owner of a tea plantation was scared away from his drying tea leaves by the appearance of a black serpent; when he cautiously returned several days later, the leaves had been oxidized by the sun and gave a delightful brew. Another tale tells of a man named Wu Liang (later corrupted to Wu Long, or Oolong) who discovered oolong tea by accident when he was distracted by a deer after a hard day’s tea-picking, and by the time he remembered about the tea it had already started to oxidize. Others say that the tea is called “oolong” because the leaves look like little black dragons that wake when hot water is poured on them.
