Monkey Picked Oolong Tea

Monkey Picked Oolong Tea comes from Fujian, a province with a long track record of producing outstanding tea. The leaves are only partially oxidised, given a short fermentation that leaves the tea sitting between green and black in character — not as grassy as the former, not as heavy as the latter. In the cup that shows up as a complex mix of grass, coffee and earth, light on the tongue but persistent through the finish. The name comes from an old story: that centuries ago, workers sent trained monkeys up the tallest tea trees to reach leaves growing too high for anyone to pick by hand. That practice is long gone, whatever the truth of it originally was, but the name stuck. Oolong occupies a middle ground on caffeine too — more than green tea, less than black — which fits its reputation in China as a food-friendly tea. It has long been served alongside meals there, valued as a digestive aid, which is part of why it earned the nickname "Chinese Restaurant Tea." To brew it, use water cooled to around 90°C and steep for about three minutes — push much past that and the liquor turns bitter. Tea & Coffee packs this one fresh to order. Serve it plain, without milk or sweetener, so the grass-coffee-earth notes come through clearly.