Many people in the west are now familiar with Chinese green tea, perhaps knowing it originally from health food stores, but now seeing it in regular supermarkets marketed as a healthier alternative to traditional black teas. And indeed, green tea offers many health benefits, deriving these principally from the antioxidant polyphenols with which it is packed.
The problem is that the taste is simply not to everyone’s liking, and the reason for this lies in the method of production. Green tea, like the lesser known white tea, is made by steaming the young leaves of the camellia sinensis plant, from which all true teas are derived, allowing a minimum of oxidation. Whilst this process is excellent for protecting the natural antioxidant power of the plant, it does not allow for the development of the flavours characteristic of the black teas which have been so popular over the centuries. To its detractors, in fact, green tea at its worst may be highly unpalatable with an almost grassy taste.
Traditional black teas, by contrast, are produced by allowing the leaves of the tea plants to ferment (ie oxidise) before they are dried to produce the final product. The process produces the refreshing astringency and bitterness, as well as the more subtle flavours, for which black teas are prized, but, as the term implies, the oxidation necessarily destroys much of the antioxidant power of the original leaves.
It may seem a tough choice, but luckily there is no need to sacrifice health promoting qualities for flavour, or vice versa. Oolong teas (Wu Long in Chinese) are produced by a process of partial oxidation which preserves much of the antioxidant potential of green and white teas whilst allowing for the creation of a wide range of subtle and delicate flavours. Typically, oolongs may be anywhere between 10 and 70% oxidised, and display a correspondingly wide range of characteristics. There are also notable geographical variations in these teas, the famous WuYi oolong, being produced in the WuYi mountains of China’s Fujian province.
The process of fully drying the partially oxidised leaves locks in both flavour and antioxidants and, for reasons not fully understood, appears to endow these teas with health promoting benefits even in excess of those provided by green tea. Research in Shanghai, for example, an area known for a very high per capita consumption of oolong, has suggested that this region of China enjoys a significantly lower than usual incidence of certain cancers. The research is far from definitive, but to the extent that cancer is commonly a degenerative disease caused at least in part by long-term free radical damage to cells, it may well be that the antioxidant properties of oolong tea may offer some protection.
Like green tea, oolongs are also known as powerful boosters to the general metabolism, more so than would be suggested by the teas’ caffeine content alone (oolong, by the way, is significantly lower in caffeine than regular black tea). As such, wuyi oolong has recently attracted a great deal of attention as a natural and side-effect free fat-burner, of great potential in any weight loss program. The antioxidant polyphenols in wuyi oolong, moreover, are also known to help reduce cholesterol and other blood fats, thereby protecting against the hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis) which may be a precursor of more serious cardiovascular disease and even heart attack or stroke.
Among the other health benefits claimed for oolong teas are a general anti-ageing effect, in particular the preservation of a more youthful skin; the strengthening of the immune system, and the improvement of cognitive function. While the more skeptical may doubt some of these claims, there is no disputing the powerful health benefits of a regular supply of natural antioxidants, and it is clear that green and oolong teas can be a very convenient and concentrated yet easily absorbed source of these. The fact that WuYi oolong also provides them in the form of a delicious and soothing drink can only add to its attractions, and it is therefore no surprise that WuYi products are gaining rapidly in popularity.
Steve Smith is a writer and marketer with a particular interest in health and nutrition.
