Oriental Beauty Superior Grade Oolong Tea, Lot 658

This is most likely our best selling Oriental Beauty grade and rightfully so. We agree that it may not have the same percentage of silver tips or a few uneven leaves through the Lot, but it tastes like a Premium grade at a cheaper price… that’s what everybody likes! We don’t mind mentioning that this is also the grade that requires the most work for our in-house team as it is the result of a blend of carefully selected lots that we enhanced through a delicate short bake. If OB producers themselves revert to the practice of blending, we then prefer to do it ourselves! The local name of Bai Hao best describes one of its characteristic features: the presence of a white furry tip accompanied by the 2 following leaves which are carefully picked in the summer time. Oriental Beauty is a summer tea as the grower must wait until his crop has received the visit of small green leaf hoppers that will nibble the leaves and leave their characteristic contribution to the taste of this tea: a wonderfully sweet honey finish that is quite distinctive and pleasant. Even if 2017 was yet again not the best year for the little bugs, this tea packs a generous and rich aromatic palette of baked fruity sweets. When pouring freshly boiled water over our tea, one will immediately recognize the compelling exuberant aroma of citrus fruits that is the characteristic of a good Beauty tea. The cupping will not disappoint either, as the velvety texture warms the palate and reveals a wonderful fruitiness to the liqueur with hints of spiciness that makes this tea a perfect accompaniment to cakes and sweets.