Taiwan Oriental Beauty Oolong Tea

Somehow this tea fell really flat on me. It definitely is quite a bit on the malty side for an Oriental Beauty, and it definitely has a tannic/citric finish and drying aftertaste too. However, the fragrance seems to be missing and I suspect it could be attributed to the fact that it’s almost 2 years old. The body is fairly light too and the taste is also not as pronounced and rounded as I would expect from an Oriental Beauty. I get a decently strong apricot note, more so than peach and nectarine, even though those are present too. There is a decent bitterness which is nice to see and also some woody flavours (maybe rosewood?). Sweetness is also strong and it reminds me of very light maple syrup. I must say that the aftertaste is a little bit more palatable and pronounced than the taste, thus saving this tea a little for me.

Thanks for the sample, derk! :)
Somehow, Oriental Beauty is a type of tea that often varies only in details, but this one was quite different, so I am definitely glad to have tried it, even though I am not going to be ordering it in the future.

I’ve had this Summer 2017 harvest of Oriental Beauty sitting around for a while, sipping on it here and there western style 2tsp to 8oz. I didn’t write anything about the body of the tea or the aftertaste just some hasty tasty notes written on the label: autumn leaf, almond, citrus, honey, nectarine, peach and light cream and butter. It was definitely up my alley.

I did a teapot session this morning using 5g to 100mL, 205F. So this Oriental Beauty is composed of the traditional Qing Xin cultivar used for this tea blended with some Jin Xuan cultivar. When I drank this gongfu, the contribution of the milky Jin Xuan was much more apparent than when prepared western style. It was more like sipping on peaches topped with cream and creamed honey. Mellow, almost milky, still with plenty of almond nuttiness, nectarine-peach-fruit tree flowers and even some peach pit or almond hull mixed with wood and leaf. Thanks to the other reviewer, MarshP, I can also attribute some rosehips and even rosewood to this. Smooth, liquor deposited a moderate lingering nectarine-peach aroma in the mouth. Can get a little bitter later on but I enjoy it. Not sure if it’s due to age or different brewing technique but the citrus I very much tasted brewed western fell out. A different experience, for sure, but just as lovely. I remember third steep in I was thinking “I love tea.”

I’m heading out tomorrow morning to do some contract work for Juniper Ridge, the company whose teas I sent samples of to Martin and Togo recently. Going up to northeastern California near Oregon and Nevada to harvest juniper to distill into essential oils. Weird how things work. Life sure has been taking some turns lately and I’m at a point in my physical location and states of heart and mind to go with the flow. It’s all very foreign to me, a general practitioner of forceful vision.

I’m not expecting much for internet on my phone, so I might not be around these parts until late this coming week. Ciao!

Rose hips and rhododendron. H keener than I. It’s good, but likely to divide opinion depending if you like floral fruity oolong.