Oolong tea

Shortly before and after the downfall of the Ming Dynasty, oolong tea which is a briefly oxidized green tea was produced in China for the often hungry peasants in the South as a calorie-preserving beverage in about 1650 AD. As the society turmoil in China led to repeated famines, the poor peasants learned quickly that they should avoid drinking green tea which is an irritant to an empty stomach, and depletes the body fat badly needed for survival. The fat-depleting effect of green tea was only recently re-discovered in medical research. The terms of oolong tea and black tea (red tea in Chinese) were introduced to the Chinese vocabulary in the mid 1600’s AD. Now numerous kinds of oolong tea are produced for their special flavors or fragrance, which are largely dependent on the proprietary “fermentation” processes of the brands, similar to the smells of different kinds of cheese. In general, oolong teas contain less catechins (antioxidants, especially EGCG) than the green teas, and are less irritant to an empty stomach. The Chinese living in southern China, Hong Kong included, and the early Chinese immigrants in the USA, prefer oolong tea to green tea because of the influence of their peasant ancestors.