Oriental Beauty (Dong Fang Mei Ren)

What a lovely Oriental Beauty! So sweet and smooth.

The aroma is alive with floral and wood tones, and while those floral notes do not translate into the flavor quite as much as I expected them too, that’s quite alright, because the way this cup comes together is very beautiful, indeed.

It is sweet, woody, and strongly fruity with notes of peach and apricot, as well as a fermented muscat grape taste that surprised me. I taste notes of wood and musk, as well as a hint of spice in the background. It’s a very lovely taste, one that I am really enjoying.

A lovely, surprising Oriental Beauty. Very nice!

Full Review on March 15th here http://sororiteasisters.com/
For now here are the snippits:

Oriental Beauty (Dong Fang Mei Ren) from Driftwood teas does what Oriental Beauty always does for me, surprises me. I am always taken aback by this tea because I adore oolong, but this is never what I expect an oolong to be! This tea is light, sweet, and fruity, with notes that lean toward muscatel, and juicy peach.

One thing that is a bit different from this Oriental Beauty is that the honey notes are really thick, as in lay in the back of your throat thick, and so wonderfully sweet. Also unlike some Oriental Beauty this tea does not have that drying sensation in the back of the throat. The tea coats the throat and lingers lightly with honey kissed floral notes.

Driftwood Tea certainly does bring us a wonderful example of a high quality Dong Fang Mei Ren with a light smooth taste and mouthfeel. Light, yet so very flavorful! You won’t be wishing for more flavor because this tea has it all from woodsy, sweet, fruity, spiced, and, muscatel, almost in a Darjeeling way, to apricot and floral notes.

This is a terrific Oriental Beauty! A memorable one for sure! I LOVE the honey notes. The fruity-likeness is that of apricot which many of you know I enjoy! There are also subtle hints of sweet wood which are nice and I think the level of this subtleness is right where it needs to be! It’s smooth, too! I can understand what Nicole pointed at with the Darjeeling-esque flavor, too, but, like she said, without ANY astringency!

This is REALLY REALLY Nice~I like this very much!

As I try these rare and exotic teas (at least that’s what I consider them), it really opens my taste buds and my mind to what is truly out there! Teas like this make me realize that I had been missing out on this whole other world of flavors. It sounds hokey but it makes me feel closer to other cultures and regions trying all these interesting teas from different parts of the world. Its just so much fun.

Anyhow… This is a such beautiful tea. It starts off kind of earthy or woodsy and as it cools it has a floral & honey way about it. Finally, it ends with a citrus aftertaste. All of these notes in a very smooth oolong base. This is the type of tea I like to savor and hold in my mouth to appreciate. I decided to make this at the end of the night, so I could relax and sip slowly. I love the smell of this tea brewed as well. The scent has a dark and exotic way about it and tastes so different than the typical Oolong.

Thanks Azzrian for this delicious sample. My tea journey just gets more and more fascinating with every taste.

Again, thanks to the generosity of Liberteas I get to try another wonderful tea! This is a light oolong that reminds me a lot of a darjeeling, though not astringent at all. Very smooth and lightly woodsy.