Australian tea drinkers have mostly been using tea bags filled with mainly black tea, sometimes herbal blends and increasingly green tea. Go into any café and you're likely to get a cuppa with a bag. If you're one of those people who are getting into their tea, then you know the bag's got to go.

It may be convenient but the health benefits are reduced through the 'tea-bagging' process.

The tea leaves are stripped of their therapeutic essential oils and thus many of the nutrients they contain — and if you're like me, you need all the nutrients you can get. There is a tea movement emerging on the Western front, which is moving away from bags and black leaves, and instead, it involves quality tea leaves, superb taste and all the health benefits that come with them.

Once-upon-a-time, you weren't cool or in-vogue if you didn't drink coffee, now the pendulum is swinging towards tea. More Western tea shops are popping up and more cafés are going loose-leaf with their infusions, however, it's the Eastern shops that sparked my interest after my recent trip to China. It was there, I began to learn and taste the real benefits of high quality green tea and another type

I hadn't heard of: oolong tea. But it was back home in Sydney that I began to realise what I've been missing out on, had been on my door-step all along!

Visiting Cha for Tea (Cha means tea in Chinese) in Chatswood, was an enlightening experience. I'd seen Cha for Tea many times and even wandered in, but was always a bit nervous because it all seemed so foreign. Previously, I thought myself to be a savvy Aussie when it came to the different kinds of tea, a bonafide connoisseur in fact. Little did I know I'd only just scratched the surface.

Never mind, today was the day all that was to change. I met with shop owner Mrs Lee and her daughter Sophie. With Sophie translating, I soon realised that I was in the company of a tea guru, in the form of her mother! Mrs Lee began an elegant tea ceremony as I started to experience the taste of quality green and oolong tea and understand their benefits.

A stream of beautiful Mandarin began and all I could pick up was "Dui, dui, dui" (meaning: "I agree, yes, ah ha, I'm with you," as Sophie and her mother chatted).

"Green tea is less processed than oolong tea," Mrs Lee began to explain to me, "which is also less processed than what you are probably used to, black tea, which is why green and oolong tea have so many antioxidants."

She went on to say that all these teas were from the same plant: Camellia sinensis. It is the fermentation process that sets them apart.

"The lighter version of oolong tea has a sweet after-taste. It cleans the fat and oil from the gut and it's good for your digestive system. The darker version has a more mature taste, more like black tea but with more health benefits," Mrs Lee said.

"Tea trees [plants] need to be cool to survive. Oolong tea from the high mountains in Taiwan is the best for harvesting superior tea, where it is hand-picked from the tree [plant]," Mrs Lee said.

As she was explaining all this, I was captivated by the art of the tea ceremony. First, the little ceramic pot was filled with boiling water and emptied. A small portion of fragrant oolong tea leaves were added to the pot followed by freshly-boiled water. The first pouring was tipped out straight away as it acts to 'wake up' the tea leaves. The second pouring remained in the pot for a couple of minutes, waiting for the tea to infuse. It was then poured into another vessel so the tea leaves didn't sit in water and become bitter.

She poured a cup for Sophie and me. The tea was smooth, almost like velvet and there was a touch of sweetness with absolutely no bitterness. It was divine. I was hooked! When I looked inside the tea pot, the small tea spoon of tea had grown to fill the pot with full, luscious leaves.

While we continued to talk, the little pot was re-filled at least seven times. Each time there was a new accent to the taste and a delicate new colour. It was like I was in a winery for the first time.

"In traditional habit, teas are for after the meal because of how beneficial they are for your digestion," Mrs Lee said. "However, if you have a sensitive stomach, oolong tea would be better because it is a little more processed and not as raw as green tea."

"Mum has a good friend who drinks tea after every meal and he's 90 years old," Sophie said. "He's still very strong and attributes this to the tea."

Finally, I asked the tea guru what she drank at home. "Mainly oolong and a type of black tea, which is lighter than English black tea, called Ti Kuan Yin, and sometimes green tea," Mrs Lee said. "My favourite oolong is called Tian Li Cha. It is hand-picked from the tea plant and is very rare. It is a delicate tea as the tea leaves die easily with temperature changes. The packet lists the date of collection, the name of the mountain in Taiwan it comes from, and the names of the people who participated in processing the tea. And it has the most nutrients of all the oolong teas."

So the verdict is, stick to quality if you want the health benefits and the rest is up to your taste buds. Personally, I felt the tea I had tasted in the past was on par with Best and Less, whereas the tea I have been tasting today, was David Jones for sure. Healthy and delicious — who could ask for more?

If you are interested in learning the art of the tea ceremony, as well as developing your palate for quality healthy tea, please call Cha for Tea and ask for Sophie. Phone: 9884 7668. Address: 389 Victoria Avenue Chatswood

Rebecca Mar Young is a Chinese medicine practitioner at Life Source Yoga and Health in North Sydney rebecca.young@acupuncture.net.au