Iron Buddha Oolong Loose Leaf Tea

A slightly smoky, mysterious “black dragon”

Also know as Tieguanyin, our Iron Buddha loose leaf tea is sourced in Anxi in the Fujian Province, South East China, the home of oolong tea.

One of the most popular teas drunk in China, our Iron Buddha tea is full-bodied and complex with a nutty undertone. The leaves are hand-picked and traditionally rolled to give a dark, curly, open leaf appearance. As the leaves infuse, the tightly rolled beads unfurl, beautiful!

Punchier than our Mountain Pearl Oolong, we'll drink this anytime of day. Like other oolongs, it’s lower in caffeine than a traditional black tea, packed full of antioxidants and can boost your metabolism. The tea leaves can be resteeped multiple times with every resteep unlocking more flavour and delivering a stronger brew.

Ooo-who? What is an oolong tea and what are the health benefits?

Sadly oolong teas aren’t common in the west but we’re hoping to change that. “Oolong” comes from the Chinese "Wu Long Cha", meaning “The Black Dragon.” 

Rightly its own category of tea, oolong tea is distinguished by the level of oxidation. All tea leaves start to oxidize once plucked; Black teas are fully oxidized while green teas have little oxidation. Anything that has an oxidation level between 8 – 85%, is considered an oolong tea. Depending on where it sits on the scale impacts the level of caffeine, antioxidants and overall flavour. The lower the oxidation, the closer it is to a green tea in taste, with a higher level of antioxidants and lower level of caffeine. The reverse is true for higher levels of oxidation.

Fun fact: Iron Buddha is named after the Chinese Goddess of Mercy Guanyin, also known in Japan as Kannon or Gwan-eum in Korea 

Ingredients: Each box contains 75g of loose leaf oolong tea

How to make the perfect oolong tea:

Step 1: Use one teaspoon per cup.

Step 2: Use freshly drawn boiled water that has been cooled to 80-85ºC. (Using boiling water can damage the leaves)

Step 3: Avoid oversteeping, we recommend 90 seconds. Taste it and then decide if you’d like to steep a little longer.

Step 4: To Milk or not to milk? We prefer our oolong as it comes but if you’re an adventurous, biscuit dunking, milk adding oolong tea drinker, who are we to judge!

Arghhhh my worst nightmare, you’re out of stock!

Tea monsters, don’t fret if you find we’re out of stock, drop us an email at hello@wearetea.com and we’ll let you know when this delicious tea is back in stock. It is also available at Ocado. 

Guilt-free sipping  

At We Are Tea, we're on a mission to bring the highest quality tea to the masses in a way that everyone can be proud of. Our blends are ethically sourced via the Ethical Tea Partnership which works on facilitating strategic sustainability projects, rigorous health and safety standards, and increasing farmer's resilience to climate change.

Our plastic free tea bags are made from soilon, a bi-product of corn starch which can fully biodegrade under the correct conditions in 3 – 6 months. 

We call this guilt-free sipping, and it's tea-rrific.

Storage instructions: Keep away from moisture (until it lands in your cup!) We recommend you store your iron buddha oolong tea in an opaque, airtight container. It might look pretty in glass, but the light damages the tea leaves and subsequent taste. Nooooooo!

Love loose leaf tea? Our Simplicitea infuser is the must-have tea accessory. Buy our infuser here

If you haven't already, check out our other oolong tea, Mountain Pearl, and see how it compares.