Taiwan Premium 'Oriental Beauty' Oolong Tea

Derk generously allowed me to take a sample of this tea during our Black Friday extravaganza. Thank you, and I promise to get to all your other samples when I’ve sipped down more of my teas! I steeped around 5 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 35, 25, 35, 45, 60, 75, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The intoxicating aroma of the dry leaves is of honey, apricots, and citrus. The first steep has notes of honey, clover, apricot, orange, honeysuckle, gardenia, sandalwood, and sap. I find that lower-quality Bai Hao focuses on the high honey/fruit notes, while the better stuff also has lower woody/incense/sappy notes that I have trouble describing. The second steep gives me stronger fruit notes, including citrus zest, and is reminding me of an IPA. The florals become headier in the third steep, with more honeysuckle and gardenia mixing beautifully with the honey/apricot/citrus. The fruit backs off slightly in steep four, letting the honey, clover, honeysuckle, gardenia, and orange blossom come through. There’s also a tiny bit of a metallic taste. Near the end of the session, the fruit disappears and I get honey, autumn leaves, minerals, wood, and vague florals.

This is a fantastic Bai Hao that I wish I’d purchased for myself when I had the chance. As the better versions of this tea tend to be, it’s both lush and structured. This tea has made me want to revisit some of the other Bai Hao in my stash.

A very structured tea! June 2020 harvest.

There’s a lot of fruitiness between apricot-orange and savory osmanthus as the main show. Infused in that fruitiness is the classic summer, bug-bitten crystallized and honeyed muscatel flavor with a soft, sweet cinnamon-allspice overtone and a strong eucalyptus-lemongrass-mineral undertone. While there is a gardenia florality that diffuses over the main attraction, the bottom, low-toned notes hold a lot influence. Autumn leaf, sap, wood and malt give a stable, prominent base to the fruit, flowers, cinnamon-honey-muscatel, eucalyptus and lemongrass. Sometimes, in those bottom notes, I get some umami.

This tea has strength in many facets. The aroma is beautiful, a little pushy, as I’d expect it to be, with honey, vanilla, osmanthus and wood. With each exhalation, the fragrance returns. Like the aroma, it is also forceful. With each breath, I feel like I’m taking another sip from the cup and my body simultaneously cools and warms. The texture ranges from juicy to creamy to tingly to tannic. The tea responds best to longer infusions and has great longevity. It seems to transition smoothly out of its initial ba-BOOM character and ends on woody and lemongrass notes.

One other thing is the way this tea makes me feel – it’s summer late afternoon in a cup.

Had some this morning semi gong fu in my Gong Fu 2 Go tumbler. I only used half the vessel, so less than 8or 7 oz in size, but 4 oz in rinse and use for the 3.5 grams.

As a first steep after 35 sec, it was very fruity and sweet hitting its high mark early. Honey fructose, honeysuckle, citrus mouth coat, and then a lingering floral and apricot aftertaste bordering on juicy. I finished it quick. 45, 65, 75, 105, 135, and not much different in aroma or flavor. Later steeps were more honeysuckle and floral, hinting at gardenia, but still citrusy. I could see orange blossom being applied, but it was a hair more tart yet just as sweet.

I feel kinda boring since I did not get as much as I wanted this time around, possibly due to the lower leaf or other parts of the brewing method. I was highly satisfied with the flavor all the while missing something. It still stands out as one of the better Oriental Beauty’s I have in my stash.

Yet again, more to come in the future as I get to know this tea. I’m curious to see what easteaguy and others thought of this one. I liked it a lot more than the Vietnam one and the regular one in the lineup because I think this one is less drying and malty. I feel bad I keep on leaning towards the more expensive teas from What-Cha lately because there are some really great ones that are a lot more affordable. That doesn’t mean I won’t continue to recommend these, though I honestly recommend this one because I want to see what people will think. It’s too pricey for a tea newbie and suited more for intermediate drinkers. I’m not sure what an actual sommelier think of this one.

I’m still not sure what to rate this one. It’s in between eighties and 90s for me right now. I’ll probably change the rating in the future. Looking for commentary in the comments!