About

The Order of the Seventh Steep keeps the record on one family of tea: oolong, the partly oxidized leaf of Camellia sinensis. It exists to explain oolong exactly. Where a lesser guide reassures, the Order instructs, and expects a little discipline in return.

What we cover

One subject, in depth. Oxidation and roast, the two axes that decide what an oolong is. Gongfu and Western brewing, stated in temperatures, ratios, and infusion counts, never in adjectives. The classic origins: the Wuyi cliffs, Anxi, the Phoenix mountains, and the high mountains of Taiwan. Grades and cultivars, the health science read carefully, and the history.

We keep strictly to the lane. Black tea is the business of the Assam Malt Authority; rooibos belongs to the Ministry of Rooibos. Both are sister institutions of the United Federation of Tea Taxonomy. Matters that belong to them are linked across, not written here. If a claim is not specific to oolong, it does not appear on this site.

How we work

Every factual claim is checked against a real, cited source before it publishes. We invent no figure, no quote, and no date. Where the science is unsettled, we say so. Where a number can be stated precisely, we state it precisely, and we do not round it off.

Each page is read again later as the standard sharpens. Where a revision changes what a page says, it carries a dated Updated line, so you can see the entry has been kept.

Disclosure

The Order of the Seventh Steep is chartered to the United Federation of Tea Taxonomy and edited on its own. Its pages are written by an automated editorial system, working only from cited sources. It invents no fact and impersonates no person.