Oriental Beauty / Don Fang Mei Ren Cha

This is another tea that I temporarily forgot I owned. :-/ I think, however, that sometimes my forgetfulness is a blessing. It makes it so that I am often pleasantly surprised!

Backlog from yesterday: This the only Oriental Beauty that I’ve had, and I am really enjoying it. It has a lot of characteristics of my favorite oolongs, but it seems much more resistant to being messed up by the likes of me. I make tea “wrongfu” style. Anyhow, this makes a really good cup!

Just got the teas today and it happens some samples from a friend came the same day so I’m twice happy!
I’m totally excited with this tea!!

120 ml gaiwan, 2gr tea, 93+C water, 1 min first steep +30 next

Dry leaves: Amazing variety of leaves, furry little buds, amber to dark brown leaves, mostly whole leaves, fully oxidized. Fragrance is sooo mouth watering. It’s mainly sweet with ripe and dried fruit fragrances(maybe fig or apricot overtones). I really couldn’t wait to brew them.

Color: Dark orange, amber-ish. I expected it more red. Crystal clear transparency, very good. Maybe longer steeps give a darker color…

Gaiwan lid aroma: Really can’t describe it. The dried leaves couldn’t give you even a glimpse. Mellower, sweet and so intense. Red flowers, ripe fruit, so complex and sweet aroma! I don’t have any huge experience with OB but omg… I get a hint of citrus too, raisins and apricot for sure now.
I don’t even have to smell the wet leaves! Appearance of wet leave is mostly whole leaves, I really didn’t expect that, amazing!

Flavor: Sweet like h#ll, with a complementary malty, bread-like taste(from roasting?) and all the ripe fruit in the world go with it. A very light fruity acidity tingles the side of your tongue if you leave it too long, balancing the overpowering sweetness.
Medium to full body, especially if you brew longer but light texture.

Later brews become lighter in fragrance but even after 10 brews you get some tasty and fragrant water!! Last steep was all night long!! It’s really worth it, brewing it many times.

Overall I’m thrilled! I might be exaggerating, or all the tea I’ve been drinking today might has gotten on my head, but it’s the best quality tea I’ve ever drank. It’s got no flaws, it can cope with boiling water, no problem with steeping time, amazing appearance, intoxicating fragrance…I won’t continue. I wish I had more money to buy more!

I could give it my max, 93% but I guess I’ll try around 90% because there’s always room for something better!