Wuyi Oolong Tea

There has been a lot of buzz about Wuyi Oolong tea lately. It is said that Wuyi Oolong tea, as an “efficient fat burner”, has been featured in Oprah’s show, and is a “top secret” of Hollywood stars to keep fit. As a native Chinese who has been drinking Wuyi Oolong tea for years, I feel I am obliged to share with you some basic knowledge about this tea, and hopefully can help you make better choice regarding Oolong tea.

Name Confusion

First let us clear things up about the names.

Let’s be crystal clear that so called Oolong tea, Wu Long tea, Wulong tea and Wu-Long tea is exactly the same thing. Oolong and Wulong are different ways of English pronunciation of its Chinese name. These things happen all the time.

What about Wuyi? What is Wuyi Oolong tea? In one sentence, Wuyi Oolong tea is just a kind of Oolong tea, just like Java coffee to coffee in general.

Wuyi got its name from the Wuyi Mountain, where highest quality Oolong tea is produced. Wuyi is also agreed, by majority, to be the origin place of Oolong tea.

Oolong Tea Basics

Let’s get back to the basics of Oolong tea. Oolong tea, or Wu long tea, is a traditional Chinese tea. Wu long tea and green tea are produced from the same kind of tea plant, but Wu Long tea is semi-oxidized, making it darker in color and stronger in taste. Wu Long tea’s unique processing creates a tea that has special attributes.

Fresh tea leaves contain a compound catechin, a type of antioxidant. When tea leaves are semi-oxidized, part of the contained catechin is transformed into other types of antioxidant. These components are believed to offer many health benefits to human.

Health Benefits

Oolong tea in general, including Wuyi Oolong of cause, is considered to be a very healthy drink by Chinese. Research about benefits of Oolong tea has been conducted by Chinese and Japanese scientists for years, and the results have mostly indicated there are positive effects of drinking Oolong tea. I would not go too deep into the health benefit here, more importantly, let’s just clear up the myth about Wuyi Oolong tea.

Now we are not talking about Science, we are talking about Common Sense. Wuyi Oolong tea, as a high quality Oolong, is still Oolong tea. So IF Oolong tea can help lose weight in a score of 100 points, Wuyi Oolong tea can’t help you achieve 200 points, it may be a bit better. So if Oolong tea is not a miracle savior for weight control, neither would be Wuyi Oolong tea.

Conclusion

The bottom line is, Oolong tea is positively associated with many health benefits to human body, that’s for sure. But believe me nothing can happen over night. Loosing weight is a numbers game; it is about burning more calories than you take, in a healthy and sustainable way. There is no short cut. For myself, a guy who is now in the process of trying to lose a bit weight, my goal is, I want my flat belly back, in One year, because I know it took me 6 years of unbalanced living to get the extra fat in my belly. Unless you cut it away, there is really no other ways that you can get rid of it in a week.

Last I want to talk about a little bit about Wuyi Mountain, because it is really a special place. Wuyi Mountain is one of the most bio-diverse conservation zones in China, and is one of the most beautiful places in China. In 1999, Wuyi Mountain got listed in UNESCO (United Nation’s Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization)’s list of World Heritage Sites, because of “its outstanding cultural and natural importance to the common heritage of humanity”. All the hype apart, Wuyi Oolong tea is still something that is worth trying.

Tags: oolong, tea, wu long, wu yi, wulong, wuyi