Organic blue oolong tea

Oolong sits between green and black, and that is not a marketing line, it is a description of the process. A green tea is stopped from oxidising almost immediately. A black tea is oxidised fully. An oolong is halted somewhere in between, and where exactly it is halted is the tea maker’s decision. The Chinese call the category blue tea, which is why you will see the term on our shelves.

The leaves are rolled tightly into pearls or long twists. Dry, they look like almost nothing. In water they unfurl into whole leaves several centimetres long.

Brew it more than once

This is the tea to infuse repeatedly, and doing it any other way wastes it. Use a lot of leaf and short infusions rather than a little leaf and one long one. The first cup is floral and light, the second is the fullest, the third and fourth are progressively sweeter and more mineral. Five is not unreasonable.

If you have a small pot, this is what it is for. If you do not, an ordinary teapot works as long as you accept fewer, longer rounds.

What it tastes of

Orchid and stone fruit at the start, then something closer to toasted grain and honey as the leaf gives up more. No milk, no sugar, and preferably nothing to eat alongside it: this is a tea that repays attention.