Oriental Beauty

Oriental Beauty is a tea that occupies a category of its own. It is well known as a rare and precious tea, often commanding the highest prices of all teas from Taiwan.

There are a few reasons why Oriental Beauty carries both this value and reputation. Firstly, it is entirely made from leaves that are bitten by a small fly. The bite from the fly is what begins this oolong's process of oxidation, allowing it to happen while the leaves are still on the tree!

Secondly, terroir is extremely important to Oriental Beauty. True Oriental Beauty will only come from one of two small villages, Beipu or E'mei, in Hsin Chu County. Combined, they have an area of 90 km², an extremely small footprint for producing a tea that is sought after around the world.

Lastly, Oriental Beauty is extremely labour intensive to harvest and craft. The highest grades are made exclusively of the smallest and youngest one-bud-one-leaf. These tender leaves are very hard to pick. In one full day of harvesting, a skilled tea picker will only collect up to 100 grams of fresh leaves. It takes 8 to 10 skilled tea pickers an entire day to collect enough leaves to make 500 grams of Oriental Beauty, meaning the labour costs for Oriental Beauty are amongst the highest of all traditional teas.

This Oriental Beauty from Beipu has everything we could want and expect from a tea of this quality: delicate auburn leaves that smell sweet and reanimate quickly in water; a silky, round mouthfeel with minty floral notes that activate the palate; and lingering tropical fruit notes that leave the taste of water lily in their wake. The total experience of this tea reminds us a bit of junmai sake, or even Monet's Water Lilies, as it resonates as an elegant ode to wateriness itself.