Oriental Beauty Select Grade Oolong, Lot 445

This year’s Select Grade is quite unique and quite different in many ways from the previous lots we’ve proposed throughout the years. This is the first time that we offer an Oriental Beauty that doesn’t originate from it’s original terroir, further north, in the counties of Hsinchu and Miaoli. This tea is the result of a collaboration between a grower in the beautiful terroir of Meishan and our family. We’ve challenged this friend to produce a Beauty tea from his summer picking of Qing Xin leaves. This grower is coincidentally often blessed with a generous presence of “Mixian” taste and aroma from his leaf pickings: the sought after, and often elusive, honey component that is so characteristic of good OBs. His strict obedience to non-abusive responsible practices regarding pesticide usage certainly offers a more welcoming terrain for the little leaf hoppers to offer their contribution in bringing out the honey taste! As a bonus, his teas are well below the strict EU norm for residual pesticides. The produced tea was then finished in our own premises where our resident master has slow baked this lot to perfection. A good bouquet of fruits with a hint of rose entices the taste buds that will confirm the refreshing quench of citrus with a thick wild honey brioche texture and balanced spiciness. There is nothing low-end to this Oriental Beauty tea apart from the price! It is generous and most satisfying.