Ancient Wisdom

The Way of Tea
A friend presented me
With tender leaves of Oolong tea,
For which I chose a kettle
Of ivory-mounted gold,
A mixing-bowl of snow-white earth.
With its clear bright froth and fragrance,
It was like the nectar of Immortals.
The first bowl washed the cobwebs from my mind –
The whole world seemed to sparkle.
A second cleansed my spirit
Like purifying showers of rain,
A third and I was one of the Immortals –
What need now for austerities
To purge our human sorrows?
Worldly people, by going in for wine,
Sadly deceive themselves.
For now I know the Way of Tea is real.

Chio Jen (Tang Dynasty)

Source: Chinese Tea Poetry

While only about 2% of global tea production, oolong tea has deep roots in Chinese culture. As Chio Jen pointed out over one thousand years ago, each cup (or bowl, if you like) brings additional benefits (up to a point anyway). What other benefits might we recognize… aside from purification and immortality? 😎

Weight Loss

Teas like oolong are a great source of catechin which have well-documented antioxidant effects. Researchers have found that tea catechins can help fight obesity. In other words, nutrients in oolong tea might help move fats through the body… instead of onto the body.

Cardiovascular Disease

Aside from the positive effect from avoiding obesity, oolong tea may provide other cardiovascular benefits like keeping down LDL levels and maintaining cleaner arteries. Basically, oolong tea seems to help all the good things for heart health like better HDL cholesterol while reducing the bad things like LDL cholesterol and triglycerides.

Hypertension

Prolonged (i.e., a year or more) consumption of oolong tea showed a reduced risk of developing hypertension in a Taiwanese study. Reducing hypertension, of course, also helps avoid cardiovascular disease. Of course stress is a major influence on hypertension and, as Chio Jen, pointed out in his poem a few cups of oolong tea is more relaxing than wine! 

Dental Health

Yes. Tea can stain your teeth. Please see your dentist for professional advice. However, oolong tea has hydrophobic properties that make it harder for nasty bacteria to stick on your teeth. That means less opportunity for those bacteria to inflict tooth decay.

Type 2 Diabetes

Like we discussed under cardiovascular disease, oolong tea helps the body reduce plasma glucose along with oral hypoglycemic agents (again, check with your healthcare provider!!!).