Why do you start drinking Oolong tea?

[Chih Ting]

Why do you start drinking Oolong?

I love tea, especially Oolong.
my first cup of oolong was made by my mom. She usually had a cup of tea to warm up her day. When i was a little girl, i always wonder that was inside and always want to try it. I thought what if i have a cup of that and I may act like mom beauty and mature. All the imagination makes oolong to become a power of magic. Indeed, once i learn how to appreciate oolong, the beauty of tea is even stronger.

[Proinsias]

I had tried, and loved, green tea and black tea. Oolong being somewhere in between seemed an obvious choice.

Which oolong(s) do you enjoy.? I love lots of them but the dark roasted Wuyi oolongs have been a long time favourite.

[Herb_Master]

A visit to a Malaysian Teashop 4 years ago.

I was served a couple of greens a la Long Jing and a couple of Puerhs and a couple of cheap wuyis including aDa Hong Pao.

Da Hong Pao won the day, and I have never looked back, Oolong rules in my tea cupboard.

My favouritism is split between top grade Dan Congs and majestic powerful Yan Chas like tie Luo Han.

[Chih Ting]

I enjoy Taiwan Li Shan Oolong a lot. The taste of tea is sweet and smooth mouth. flower aroma remains in my mouth in the long time.

[jaderabbit]

I've only had DongDing oolong. But it smells so GOOD, makes me feel intoxicated...teadrunk as it were.

[debunix]

When I first realized I enjoyed the tea served with the meals at Chinese restaurants (so different from the horrid Lipton iced tea Mom made occasionally), my Dad shared his favorite Ti Kuan Yin with me. I liked it so well I might have continued drinking almost no other tea but that one except for a temporary inability to obtain the one red-label SeaDyke TKY that I'd always bought. I tried a few other random teas, most of which were horrid, but one was a lovely pouchong--green, floral, summery. Imagine my surprise when I realized BOTH were oolong teas!

And soon after that, I was busy exploring the world of tea in earnest, but still and always more oolongs--new style and traditional, Dan Cong and TGY, Yancha and Korean and Hawaiian.

[tea-awed]

When I was 16 I ate in a restaurant in NYC Chinatown. The tea to me seemed absolutely amazing. I asked about it and was told that it was a Shui Xian and that they had some for sale.
After that there was no looking back. I was initiated to the wonderful world of Oolong tea.

[Alex]

Drank just white tea for 5 years and nothing else. Knew I was missing out and started trying oolongs.....Didnt like them probably due to my lack of skill or maybe just poor oolongs. So another year of just drinking white tea and got set up on this site. I think a good green TGY transformed my world. Now I'm 95% oolong and 90% green oolong although I do like a little shot of yan cha from time to time. Love it!

[rabbit]

I love your story! I started drinking oolong about 6 years ago, I was new to loose tea and I wanted to try everything, my first oolong was wuyi, it tasted so good I was blown away! Then I tried tie guan yin and I realized that I liked the more green oolongs even more! They are still my favorites.

[brad4419]

Rishi tea made a mistake with one of my orders and when they corrected it by sending me another package, they included a sample of bao zhong oolong. It was the first oolong I ever had and loved it. From their I sampled oolongs from jingteashop where I found wuyi. Wuyi is my favorite tea.

[BioHorn]

Rishi tea made a mistake with one of my orders and when they corrected it by sending me another package, they included a sample of bao zhong oolong. It was the first oolong I ever had and loved it. From their I sampled oolongs from jingteashop where I found wuyi. Wuyi is my favorite tea.

Nice story Brad. I like the random aspect to it.

[Oni]

I started drinking green teas, japanese greens, after that I tried some chinese greens, and I ordered a pack of TGY, I read that it is a good step for the green tea drinker to try some oolong, and indeed it is a good choice, I drank a few kilos of TGY from diffrent vendors, in the meantime I tried some entry level Wu Yu oolong, and a few Taiwanese oolongs, mainly last year I had around a 800 grams of Taiwanese oolongs, only high mountain, and some Dong Ding.
Dancong and Yancha are my next step, but they are 3 times more expensive as other oolongs, to buy a top quality TGY you need 35 $, for Da Yu Ling around 40 $, but for a great Wu Yi or Dancong you need at least 100$ per 100 grams, and i need to use 6 grams for a session with a 100 - 120 ml teaware.

[chrl42]

A visit to one Yixing store in Seoul 4 years ago. I was searching for Zhuni for TGY. The owner calmly looked at me as if a newbie. Said, "Have you ever drunk Da Hong Pao? I'll show you what the best Oolong is"

And Oolong has been ruling me ever since, sometimes I visit his shops in Seoul and China, now this stuck-up seller still says things like "I only drink 30yr+ Sheng"

[Annabelle]

I guess my interest in Oolong stems from my love of black tea and green tea, and seeing Oolong described as somewhere between the two. I feel somehow that I'm not a proper tea aficionado without having sampled more types of tea, too.

Also, at the risk of sounding silly . . . I think the name "Oolong" sounds beautiful! And the leaves, after infusion, are so pretty.

So there's the aesthetic angle for me, as well.

[Herb_Master]

Also, at the risk of sounding silly . . . I think the name "Oolong" sounds beautiful! And the leaves, after infusion, are so pretty.

So there's the aesthetic angle for me, as well.

And when you start tasting good quality Oolong from all 4 major production areas, you may well be in heaven!