Tasting Notes: honeysuckle, apricot, honey

Description: Oriental Beauty (Bai Hao) is one of Taiwan’s most treasured teas. A medium-bodied oolong that's harvested in Taiwan during the summer.  Sweet honeyed notes of ripe stone-fruit, in particular apricot, mingles with nectar notes of honeysuckle and honey.  In each sip you'll experience a lingering taste of honey on toast. A hint of pleasant sour notes balance out the sweet fruit flavors.  A lovely tea that is easy to sip and enjoy. 

This highly oxidized oolong tea is harvested from young tea leaves after they have been bitten by the green leaf hopper insect. The bites of the green leaf hopper start the oxidation of the tea leaf while it's still on the tea bush. The early oxidation of the leaf is what creates the signature taste of this tea. The natural sweet and ripe fruit notes of this tea are a direct byproduct of the plant’s natural defenses. Once the plant is bitten, it produces a unique enzyme to prevent other insects from attacking the leaf. This natural defense of the leaf, in combination with the early oxidation, is what creates this taste profile.

Today, tea gardens deliberately capitalize on this natural phenomenon. Tea makers encourage these insects so that we can enjoy the flavors produced.

Ingredients: organic oriental beauty tea from Taiwan

Steep Directions: steep 1 heaping teaspoon of tea per 8 oz below boiling water, 195°F, for 3-4 minutes