This tea was named by the queen of England. In 19th century, many tea farmers immigrated in Taiwan from Fujian, China. They had lack of tea farming experience and settled in northern Taiwan. They sold their tea products to merchants from English at that moment.
However, they encountered pest problem in each summer that tea leaves were eaten by an insect specie, a small green leaf hopper (Jacobiasca Formosana – it is a scientific name of that specie and should be italic).
Since those tea crops could not be sold in good price because the bitten leaves, most of tea farmers even won’t harvest their crops and bought it to the market. However, there was one tea farmer in Hsin Chu County. He did whatever he could and sold it to traders. When the foreign tea traders tried this tea, they liked the unique flavors very much and were willing to pay higher price to purchase all of them. The tea farmer shared this good news and story with other villagers. Of course, it was difficult to find someone to believe bitten tea leaves could be sold such high price.
When the tea trader bought this tea to the queen of England. She loved it very much and named it as “Oriental Beauty”.
Indeed this tea is a gift from nature. Without Jacobiasca formosana, we don’t have such wonderful oolong tea. In addition, Jacobiasca formosana can only survive in warmer and pollution-free environment. Pesticide cannot be used. Tea Farmers cannot force these little insects to bite their tea leaves. However, they have to protect the environment and make sure these little buddies can survive in nature.
More bitten tea leaves mean the better quality of Taiwan Oriental Beauty Oolong Tea.
