Wu Yi Tea Preparation

July 22, 2008 on 4:55 pm | In wu yi tea | 63 Comments

While preparing your Wu YI tea or green tea you should always use filtered water that has been chilled. Bring the cold, filtered water to a boil, then allow the water to cool to a temperature anywhere between 150-180 degrees before you pour the water over the Wu Yi tea leaves. The boiled water normally takes between 2-5 minutes to cool to the desired temperature. Warning: You should never use boiling water to prepare your Wu Yi or Wu Long tea because the water at this temperature will kill the tea leaves. The boiling water will distort the taste of the Wu Yi Tea leaves which makes the wu yi have a bitter taste to it which also has a terrible after taste.

How Much Wu YI Tea Should I Use?

The amount of Wu Yi tea you need is probably less than most people would expect to use. Anywhere between two to three grams of Wu Yi Tea will make the best tasting cup of tea. Make sure you always rinse out the cup or wu yi tea pot with hot water to heat your vessel. After you wash or rinse out the Wu YI tea pot measure your 2-3 grams of wu yi tea leaves and put them in. If you are concerned with the amount of caffeine you can pour in enough water to just barely cover the wu yi tea leaves. This will ensure that the water doesn’t absorb as much caffeine from the Wu Yi tea leaves and this will minimize the negative effects of the caffeine. After that step cover the tea leaves with the right amount of water to make a nice cup of Wu Yi tea or pot of wu yi tea. Next allow the wu yi tea to steep for your desired amount of time. If you are planning on drinking green tea allow the tea to steep for about 3 minutes. For white tea steep for 4-10 minutes with the white tea leaves completely soaked into the chilled, filtered water. Remember that when drinking white tea the smell of the white tea is almost as important as the taste so while steeping your white tea make sure every couple of minutes or so smell the white tea. If the white tea doesn’t taste the way you would like adjust the steeping time of the white tea to your likings. Also don’t forget you can re-use the white tea leaves up to four times without losing the same great taste. If you plan on making additional white tea cups of tea increase the steeping time to 120 seconds.

After you pour water over the tea leaves the will start to lose their curls. The tea leaves will become large pieces of tea that will most likely float to the top of your wu yi tea pot or cup. Some wu yi tea’s are more dense than other’s so make sure you experiment with the amount of wu yi tea you use and the amount of time that you steep the wu yi tea.

How Much Wu Long Tea Should I Drink

July 15, 2008 on 5:12 pm | In wu long tea | No Comments

Drinking a cup of Wu Yi tea everyday is a very popular thing to do in today’s world especially if you are trying to reap the benefits of the tea. But the lingering question still remains: How Much Green Chinese Tea should you drink?

To tackle this question we must realize that there are no right or wrong answer as to how much tea you should be drinking daily and as we speak there are even researches investigating this issue. Extensive research is being conducted as to how much tea is “optimal” to drink so you can maximize the health benefits of Chinese tea such as green tea and Wu Yi tea. A study conducted by Herbs For Health Magazine found that in Japanese cities; people who drank 5-10 cups of tea per day remained cancer-free longer than men who drank less than three cups per day. This research also found that there were fewer happenings of breast cancer within women and if there happened to be breast cancer the disease spread slower while drinking at least 5 cups of Wu Yi tea per day.

Also a study conducted at a University in California concluded that you can easily attain the desired levels of polyphenols by drinking merely two cups of Wu Long tea per day. This study also found that Green tea and Wu Long tea had the same health benefits as the Wu Yi tea however Wu Yi tea was optimal for attaining the desired levels. To reach the maximum health benefits 10 cups of Wu Yi tea per day was required in these studies.

So after reviewing these studies how can you decide which is the best way to decide on how much Wu Yi tea would be optimal for your body? Considering the conflicting evidence I would say to be on the safe side 5 cups of day seems to be a good amount to drink. In all of the studies 5 was the minimum and in some cases 5 cups of Wu Yi tea was more than enough. To get the desired levels of polyphenols 5 cups of tea will do the trick. As I said in my earlier posts drinking tea is more beneficial than drinking water so there is absolutely NO HARM in drinking 10 or more cups of fat burning Chinese Slimming Wu Yi tea every day but drinking that much could possibly get tedious. There is no right or wrong way to drink your tea. If you are looking to reap the health benefits of Wu Yi tea then drink as much as you can…10 cups of tea per day will easily get the job done. If you are just a casual tea drinker then drink as much as you want…1 cup per day, 1 cup of tea per week. It doesn’t matter how much tea you drink, just enjoy!

Wu Long Tea Drinking Customs

July 9, 2008 on 2:27 pm | In wu long tea | 2 Comments

Wu Long tea is prepared and consumed on several different occasions within the Chinese Tea society. Here is a list of special circumstances in which the Chinese enjoy their beverage of Wu Yi tea:

  • Consuming Wu Long tea is a sign of respect to family, friends, and co-workers. The younger-aged population pay their respects to the older generation by offering a cup of Chinese Slimming Weight Loss Wu Long tea. During the holiday season paying for a nice meal and offering tea at the meal is tradition within the Chinese tea culture. Also in the past the poorer class people in the Chinese tea culture would often serve Wu long tea to their masters or employers. Now in the Chinese tea culture it is normal for anyone in any ranking class to share the benefits of tea with everyone. The lower class isn’t expected to serve tea to the upper class as it is more of a casual or social tea to be enjoyed with everyone.
  • Family gatherings often like to enjoy the great taste of Wu Long Chinese Slimming tea while spending time with their family. Today in China’s tea culture when the parent’s kids get married they normally move out, start a family, and get married. With the expensive travel system our world has today it is often difficult for the parents to spend lots of time with their sons and daughters. As a result it has become tradition for when the children return home to drink Wu Yi tea while spending time with their families.  Going out on the town to eat often becomes an important activity within the Chinese tea culture and it is normal to enjoy tea while out for supper with the family.
  • Often times apologies are followed up by offering a cup of Wu Yi tea to show their appreciation. The Wu Long tea is only offered when giving out serious apologies for serious mistakes someone has made. A perfect example of this is when a child gets in trouble at home, an apology is given to his or her parents and then followed up with a nice cup of Chinese Wu Long tea.
  • Special events such as wedding days are joined up by drinking Wu Yi tea. During a Chinese marriage ceremony the bride and groom kneel in front of each other’s parents and serve them a cup of Chinese Slimming tea. This is the deepest form someone in China can express their gratitude towards their elders. The parents at this point drinking the cup of Wu Yi tea which shows their approval of the marriage and is symbolic of “good luck”.
  • The passing of tradition is a great part of the Chaoshan culture. When friends and family get together the tradition and culture is passed around. This is accompanied by a nice cup of Wu Long Chinese tea. In this situation it is custom for the elders to pass their wisdom down to the younger generation. The Wu Yi tea has been said to help smoother over the transition of information from the elders to the young generation. Also the Wu Long tea is something that everyone can enjoy even if they don’t like being present at these tradition passings.

It becomes apparent that Wu Yi tea can be used for many different occasions throughout todays society. These are just a few examples of how the Chinese spend their valuable time drinking Wu Yi tea and each culture has their own specific way of enjoying tea. I will discuss other culture’s way of tea drinking customs in future posts.

Classification of Wu Yi tea

July 6, 2008 on 5:03 pm | In wu yi tea | No Comments

To distinguish between Wu Yi tea and the other major teas: Wu Long tea, Oolong tea, Green tea, black tea and white tea; the processing in which they undergo is what separates the different tea’s between each other. The Wu Yi tea leaves become darker in color as the tea leaves mature. This happens because chlorophyll breaks down within the leaves and a protein called tannins is released. This process of fermentation is common in the Wu Yi tea making industry. Next the tea makers attempt to stop the oxidation process at a predetermined stage. This is accomplished through heating the Wu Yi tea leaves which stops the enzymes and proteins in the Wu Yi tea leaves from oxidizing the plant any further.  Temperature and moisture control is very important in the process of creating the perfect Wu Yi tea blend because this determines the taste and quality of the Wu Yi Tea in its final stage. Also if the ideal temperature isn’t set properly the Wu Yi tea leaves will grow a fungus on the plant which is very harmful to the consumers.

Tea is universally classified based on the following production techniques:

  • White tea: The tea leaves are un-wilted and unoxidized.
  • Yellow tea: Un-wilted and unoxidized however with Yelllow tea the leaves are allowed to reach a color of fermentation which turns the leaves yellow.
  • Green tea: Wilted and again unoxidized.
  • Oolon tea: Wilted and partially oxidized. The Oolong tea leaves are however partially bruised which enhances the taste if needed.
  • Black Tea: Wilted and fully oxidized. The process of full oxidation gives the tea its “black color”. On most occasions the black tea is crushed.
  • Wu Yi tea: Wilted and partially oxidized. The leaves can also be partially bruised or even crushed depending on the manufacturer.

Wu Yi Tea Culture

July 4, 2008 on 7:48 pm | In wu yi tea | 28 Comments

When I say tea culture I am referring to the manner in which tea is consumed, created, as well as the way that the people who are affected by tea interact with it. On the most common cases tea is normally drank during social events, (which is similar to having a beer with your buddies). Some cultures even go as far as creating a very special ceremony or spiritual gathering for these Wu Yi tea drinking events. In the western cultures the traditional afternoon tea party is commonly associated by drinking Oolong or Wu Long tea with a minor snack to go along with. Depending on the region some cultures prefer drinking special types of tea such as black tea, white tea, oolong tea, Wu long tea, and Wu Yi tea. Also some variations of tea can be found in the temperature of the tea as well of the strength, and the oxidation levels of the tea.

Each tea drinking ceremony varies across the world and it would be far too difficult to go in depth for each culture so for the sake of simplicity I describe the traditional tea drinking ceremony in the British culture:

  • The kettle is filled with water and boiled to at least 100 degrees celsius.
  • To warm all areas of the pot the boiled water is swished around to ensure that the pot is equally heated.
  • The Wu Yi tea leaves are added to the pot. Please notice that sometimes lose tea leaves are inserted into the pot or tea bags of the Wu Yi tea are used.
  • The water containing the Lose Wu Yi Leaves or the Wu Yi tea bags is then re-boiled.
  • More water is then added to the pot and allowed to brew or even simmer with the Wu Long tea leaves in the pot for 5-10 minutes.
  • A sieve or a special Wu Yi tea strainer is placed over top of the Wu Yi tea cup so the tea can be poured in. The Wu Yi tea strainer will block the loose tea leaves from falling into the cup and will also block out the Wu Yi tea bags from falling into the cup. The strainer is also a very important safety hazard because if a tea bag comes falling out of the pot into a boiling water of cup the water which is saturated with Wu Yi tea leaves can splash out of the cup and burn the tea drinker.
  • At this point the strait tea is served to the guests attending the social Wu Yi tea gathering. The people can add milk and sugar if they please or drink the Wu Long tea black.
  • If the tea pot is empty then the process is repeated using the same style of Wu Yi tea or the host can decide to change things up and use a different type of tea such as Wu Long or oolong or green tea.

The culture of tea weather it’s Wu Yi tea or Wu Long tea varies across the world. But in general tea is a nice spicey drink to have while relaxing. Tea, unlike alcohol is very tastey and has many health benefits and can help you lose weight.

Special Information On Wu Yi Tea and Weight Loss

July 3, 2008 on 8:03 pm | In wu yi tea | No Comments

What is Wu Long and Wu Yi tea?

Wu Yi tea is plant which has been transformed by a process called steeping the processed buds and leaves off of a tea plant and tea tree. The scientific name for a tea plant is Camellia sinensis. This process includes oxidation of the Wu Yi tea leaves, then heating, and then finally if the producer wishes they can add spices, herbs or anything that will make the tea taste different.

The five generictypes of tea are Oolong (the same thing as Wu Long), Black tea, green tea, white tea, and Wu Yi tea. Besides basic drinking water tea is one of the most popular choice of a drinking beverage. The amazing thing about tea is that it has prety much zero calories. Wu Yi tea has next to no carbohydrates, zero fat, and zero protien, and unlike water tea does have a distinct taste to it which is some-what bitter and spicey. Depending on how the tea is made it may or may not have any caffeine in it.

A Brief Cultivation Break Down Of Wu Yi Tea

On most occasions Camellia sinensis is a plant that grows mainly in tropical climates. But don’t be fooled because WU Yi tea plants have been known to grow as farth as Edmonton Alberta. Wu Yi tea plants prefer at a minimum at least 60 inches of yearly rainfall. On top of the preferred 60 inches of rain the Wu Long adn Wu Yi tea plants have an optimal growing level if the soils are a little bit acidic.

When the plant has grown and reached full maturation only the top 1-5 inches of the mature Wu Yi tea plant are picked. These special tea leaves rea called flushes. On average flushes will grow every 10 to fifteen days in the growing season.