Taiwanese Miao Li Oriental Beauty 苗栗东方美人 Summer 2023

Oriental Beauty 東方美人 , known as the original leafhopper-bitten tea, is loved for its perfumy aroma which results from the leaves’ chemical response to the bites. This darkly oxidized non-roasted oolong is often mistaken for a black tea. The difference between oolongs and black teas are that oolongs undergo a rolling process which bruises the edges of the tea leaves more than the interior to induce differential oxidation before fixing the flavours,  whereas black teas are allowed to oxidised more completely and thoroughly with or without rolling!

Harvested from Miao Li, made from 大冇  Da Pan cultivar, the mixed pluck of young fine tips and different coarseness of leaves results in more complex flavours, evident from the different coloured leaves. The tips are white, the younger leaves are greener and the more mature leaves are darker - thus Oriental Beauties are sometimes called 'five-coloured teas' 五色茶.

This is the traditional oriental beauty, with intense and sweet flavours. The notes of dark florals and ripe fruits mellows into cane sugar sweetness with lingering light floral aftertaste with each progressive steep!

Compare this with the unusual interpretation of Oriental Beauty in our micro batch of Taiwanese Pinglin Oriental Beauty Summer 2023!

​Grammage: 25g

Origins: Miaoli, Taiwan

Harvest: Summer 2023