We don't know when or if this item will be available.
“I wish that you could just copy and paste images… Anyway, I finished off a sample of this oolong today, and it surprised me. This is a Gaungxi Chinese take on the Oriental Beauty, and it stands out...” Read full tasting note
This tea is certified organic.
CHAMPAGNE LONG KOU is our project dongfang meiren—also known (unfortunately) as “Oriental (or Eastern) Beauty”. Less commonly, this tea is referred to as Champagne Oolong; a fitting title for a tea regularly sold at over 400USD per kilogram. We refer to it in-house as Mister Lei’s Champagne—a nod to this tea’s producer and our old friend Mingfu, a wine connoisseur himself with a nose for the subtleties of aroma dongfang meiren production requires. This is also the man behind the most complex jasmine we’ve cupped.
Mingfu’s tea farm is deep in rural north-central Guangxi province, China. Made from qing qin da mao cultivar tea plants transplanted from Taiwan in the late 40’s, this lot has the unique advantage of coming from old, semi-wild trees; Long Kou farm is low-intervention, with acres of mostly untended and fully biodynamic grow zones. Typically, dongfeng meiren is produced in northern Taiwan’s Hsinchu county. There, careful cultivation and strict fertilization methods are employed to ensure a sufficient population of Taiwanese tea leafhoppers (jacobiasca formosana) bite the tea plants. These bites—visible on the finished tea leaf—are responsible for the signature rose and exotic fruit qualities of champagne oolong. CHAMPAGNE LONG KOU is indeed bug-bitten; we’re just not sure by which bugs. Again, this is one of our project teas—an effort to defy tea making norms alongside forward-thinking producers in pursuit of objective excellence and accessible pricing. This tea has all the makings of its namesake without the shocking price tag.
Mingfu’s champagne oolong isn’t an insider’s secret, though—his tea is sought after even in Taiwan, where it sometimes sells to Taiwanese vendors who (we suspect) resell it as the genuine article. They speculate it’s entered competitions there—and maybe won a few. Just another glimpse of the rampant misinformation and fakery that pervades the tea industry. For small-midsize operations like Long Kou, refusing sale to these vendors would require also turning away more legitimate sales; they can’t know who’s who. For our part, we’re happy to buy up most of the crop, and see less of it go to dishonest parties.
Dongfang meiren is heavily oxidized, and plucked at a 1:2 (bud:leaf) standard. This tea is richly floral and juicy on the palate, with a bouquet of literal bouquets—think fruit punch sipped in a flower shop.
notes — rose water | fruit punch | juicy
nomenclature — dongfang (東方)—"eastern" | meiren (美人)—"beauty"
style — dongfang meiren (“oriental / eastern beauty”)
cultivar(s) — qing qin da mao (“green heart big nothing”)
region — Luizhou, Guangxi, China
locale — Long Kou (龙 口—"Dragon Mouth") tea farm
elevation — 400 meters
producer — Mingfu Lei
vintage — spring ’18
STEEPING PARAMETERS
(use freshly boiled spring water)
modern
[300 ml+ vessel — BOLI, large teapot]
3 grams — 200°F (93°C) — 3 minutes
traditional
[150 ml- vessel — gaiwan, small teapot]
6 grams — 200°F (93°C) — 10 seconds
+10-15 seconds each additional steep
Company description not available.
I wish that you could just copy and paste images…
Anyway, I finished off a sample of this oolong today, and it surprised me. This is a Gaungxi Chinese take on the Oriental Beauty, and it stands out as a better than the original mimic. It really looks and tastes like a great quality Bai Hao, and the notes of rosewater, fruit punch, and juicy notes really pack it. It does have some grapey and drying qualities, but this is one of the fruitier ones I’ve had to date. The rose water notes are extremely pronounced, but they do not make the tea perfumy in a short western style of 2 minute increments. There are also some aspects of mineral water, light tannin, and fructose sugar, reminding in part of some Taiwanese blacks, but the medium body and floral notes makes it heavily more oolong.
Hats off to you, Hugo Tea, for a really good loose leaf. If I didn’t already have some of this varietal, I’d be tempted to get more of it. I personally think this is a great summer/autumn tea, because it evokes summer florals and fruits that extend into fall. It really suited the fall weather we’ve had in Michigan, though. Either way, I highly recommend this and this company for those looking for a good mix of sachets and loose leaf, especially if you are looking for teas that do not have heavy flavoring.
Flavors: Drying, Fruit Punch, Fruity, Grapes, Passion Fruit, Raisins, Rose, Wood
That sounds lovely, especially the rosewater notes!
It was something they notes. I might have said something like fruity flavored japanese candy since it’s fairly sweet-I’ve been impressed with Hugo’s quality and their power of persuasion.