Oriental Beauty

This is not your typical Taiwan oolong at all. The leaves are significantly more oxidised than the majority of oolongs, and produce a brownish/coppery liquor. The flavour is quite individual. It’s not delicate, but also not without subtlety. The initial flavour is quite strong, but it really made me sit up and take notice of it. There are definitely some honey notes in there, and also a little woodiness. The aftertaste is sharper and doesn’t fade quickly.

This actually reminds me more of a Darjeeling than of the sorts of Taiwan oolongs I’m familiar with. Really interesting tea!

If I hadn’t read the note that says this smells like makeup, I might not have pinned that down but I totally see what Cynthia Lam meant. There’s a smell, even in the dry leaf, but that is more pronounced in the aroma of the tea and in the flavor, has a sort of perfumed powderiness that you might smell in a compact.

The dry leaf also has a peppery aspect to its fragrance.

Gaiwan. Rinse. 195F, 15 seconds adding five with each additional steep.

The tea’s aroma/flavor doesn’t have the pepper note. I expect that what is reading through power of suggestion as makeup is what the description means by fruit. I don’t really get a honey note in the first couple of steeps, though the tea has a sort of honey-amber color.

By the third steep, the perfuminess dissipates and the honey note does come out. In the third and fourth steeps, there’s a floral note that is elusive, but when found, is quite pronounced.

It’s an interesting tea. While it’s not my favorite, it gets points for being unique.

It smells like makeup.

During my time at Lupicia I had many chances to try and retry this flavor and NOPE. I just can’t-. The company usually does a lot of research and care into their tea blends but this one just does not work. Not “oh it’s just not my cup of tea” or “in my opinion” just nope nope nope.

My family drinks plenty of various Taiwnese oolong. I’ve enjoyed many pots of “Oriental Beauty” Dongfang Meiren or white tip oolong. It’s a complex and fresh tea with great aroma-or it should be. This is not the oolong that Taiwanese drinkers know, I assure you. It’s something all together different!
Now the scent could be something they enhanced- but the final product still is overbearing and artificial tasting.

Please this company has great Japanese and fusion tea blends that you can’t t really find anywhere else. Please buy any other unique flavor. If you want “Oriental Beauty” there’s dozens of other legit companies that actually does this tea right.

I’ve had Oriental Beauty teas in the past but I don’t have any right now. I was happy to see this in my Lupicia happy bag especially as it’s one of their expensive teas.

I steeped this around 205 at one minute, according to the package instructions. This is definitely a nice afternoon tea, it’s mellow and rich. Has woody notes with peach and a sweetish honey finish. This is one of those teas that needs leafhoppers to bring out the flavor, I think. It’s quite tasty! Glad I have some of this around… I think I will try a slighter longer steep at a lower temperature soon.