Formosa Oolong Tea

Formosa Oolong Tea

Ingredients: 100% Oolong Tea from Formosa Island (camellia sinensis).

Trying a real Formosa tea for the first time is an experience no tea drinker will ever forget. The intense scent of dry Oriental Beauty leaves, sweetness, creaminess, and lightness of high mountain teas, and the unique strong honey flavour of the Oolong may surpass every expectation you ever had for one tea, and turn you into a tea lover for life. Taiwan is producing some of the most fragrant and beautiful oolong teas in the world. Learn what is Formosa tea and how to brew it.

Beauty: Super Fancy

Leaf: One bud, two leaves, young twisted leaves

Cup: Bronze

Character: Full-bodied, complex, flowery.

What is Formosa tea?

In wider meaning, Formosa tea is all tea from Taiwan. About 500 years ago Portuguese named the main island of Taiwan – Formosa – or the beautiful island. As the main tea produced in Taiwan was and still is oolong, the term is almost always related to oolong tea. It first appeared in the 19th century when the Scottish tea merchant started selling tea made on the island of Taiwan.

Although the name is for use for a specific type, today it may be used for many oolong teas, as long as they come from Taiwan. When the name of the tea is not specified, it will mostly describe a more oxidized tea with twisted leaves, more or less broken, that give a rich and darker infusion.

Any other oolong tea from Taiwan can be called a Formosa tea too. However, specific types like high mountain teas, or dong ding, or Taiwanese Ti Kwan Yin will rarely be sold under that name and will often include the real name of the tea instead.

Water temperature: 80º

Infusion time: 2–3 minutes.

Recommended quantity: 1 teaspoon of tea per person. 14grs / Litre.

Benefits of drinking Formosa oolong tea

Oolong teas are made from the Camellia sinensis plant, the same as all other real teas – white, yellow, green, black, or pu’erh. Depending on their processing method, they will be closer to green teas or closer to black teas. The caffeine content of oolong tea is generally lower than in black tea and around the same as in green tea. However, every tea is different. One research showed that a high mountain oolong from a Taiwanese Li Shan mountain had double the amount of caffeine than all other tested black teas. Mostly, except around 20-30 mg of caffeine per cup of tea.

Oolong tea contains L-theanine, an amino acid responsible for a calming effect. It mostly has less L-theanine than green tea, but more than black tea. It contains EGCG too, catechin is linked to many potential health benefits – from weight loss to fighting cancer, lowering cholesterol, reducing the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, lowering high blood pressure, and protecting the heart and brain.