Tagged: catechin
Oolong Carried the Least of a Compound Class That Should Have Favored Green Tea
A 2026 study measured advanced glycation end-products, the same compounds tied to aging and inflammation, across five tea types. Oolong came out lowest of all five, and the antioxidant story that usually explains oolong's health claims does not explain why.
Why one plant makes green, oolong, and black tea
Green, oolong, and black tea are the same leaf from Camellia sinensis. What separates them is processing, above all how much enzymatic oxidation the maker allows before heat arrests it.
The oolong weight-loss trials measured hours of fat-burning, not pounds
No systematic review of oolong and weight loss exists, only two small human trials. Here is what those trials, and the closest systematic review that does exist (green tea's), actually measured, in kilograms, not adjectives.
Why a Green Oolong and a Heavy Roast Never Want the Same Water
The brewing guide states the temperature bands by oxidation level. Here is the extraction chemistry, measured in real studies, that makes them true.
What Mineral-Heavy Water Does to Oolong: Less Catechin, a Cloudier Cup
A 2024 study brewed the same Tieguanyin in four different waters and measured what came out. Mineral content moved the chemistry, not just the story a taster tells about it.
Two Reactions Start When the Leaf Is Bruised, Not One
Shaking bruises the leaf once, but it starts two separate reactions on two different substrates. One reddens the edge. The other, mapped only in the last few years, manufactures the floral scent.
The Oolong Diabetes Trial Everyone Cites Had One Funder
A 2003 trial found oolong tea cut blood sugar by nearly a third in diabetic patients. It was run by a beverage maker's own research lab, the one independent repeat found nothing, and a large cohort found the opposite. Here is what actually holds up.
The Pot Is Not Neutral: What Six Teapot Materials Do to the Same Oolong
Researchers brewed one oolong in six vessels, zisha and zhuni clay, stainless steel, ceramic, glass, and plastic, then measured what actually left the leaf. Clay changed the chemistry. Here is what the pore structure explains.
Oolong and Health
What the published research on oolong tea actually measures, not what the label copy claims. The trial and cohort evidence on the heart, blood sugar, weight, and bone, how partial oxidation changes the chemistry those trials test, and how to read a small positive trial against a large null one.
Oolong Polyphenols
The compound family behind color, astringency, and every published health claim. What catechins, theaflavins, and thearubigins actually are, structurally, and what partial oxidation does to each before the leaf ever reaches a cup.