To truly understand what oolong tea is about, we visited the Nantou region in Taiwan. Taiwan is the heart and source of oolong tea. The Nantou area is rich with small scale tea farms. For this visit, our tea partners hosted us, with whom we source some of our best oolong tea. Luckily, we were able to stay at their tea farm and explore. However, their farm was not under production at the time, and we were able to visit a factory in the drying stages of oolong manufacture.

The aroma as we entered the factory was like no other – roasty and creamy, fresh warm oolong. Oolong tea is the most difficult to process. Two rolling dryers, three round dryers and rolling are required. This entire process is then replicated twenty times to produce oolong tea for this particular farm. Christine, our host, reminded us that there were many other specific steps that had taken the day before, including picking the tea. The oolong process would complete later that evening. Once the oolong production starts, it doesn’t stop until the tea is finished.

As you might expect, the laborious processes oolong production require produces complex flavor in the cup. Keep these thoughts in mind as you sip oolong tea. All the twists and rolls that went into the development of the tea in your cup is revealed in its taste!