Oriental Beauty Supreme Oolong Tea, Lot 344

Been keeping this one in the back of my cupboard for a minute. I remember the last two times i had this tea that the flavors were unexciting. Decided to give this one a final try before adding it to the Everything Jar, where all my meh tea goes to mingle. Can’t wait to try it once there’s a few more tea crumbs in there hehehe.

Was very pleased to find that this tea had some great flavors hidden in it still. I must have not brewed it well the last time, because I’m getting some lovely mingling of cinnamon and pastry on the forefront, with a floral touch in the back of the palate. It’s reminiscent of a cinnamon babka, complete with the raisins. Babka, for those who have never had it, is like if a croissant and a shortbread cookie had a child. It’s typically rolled in layered swirls with chocolate (my favorite) or cinnamon with dried fruits (also amazing).

This tea is sweetly dessert like, and I’ve got about enough tea to make a sipdown the next time i visit it. Can’t wait to bring it with me to work to finish it off!

I feel like I’ve been adding a lot of teas to the database lately, which is fun.

This one comes from Taiwan Tea Crafts and is their top grade Oriental Beauty tea for 2014. The leaves are very curly and beautiful, look very delicate, and these have been cared for and packaged very well. They all retain a beautiful shape without broken leaves.

The scent of the rinsed leaves is just bursting with flowers, apples, and honey, maybe even plums. There’s a lot of sweet fruit and flower scents going on. It’s almost a sort of sangria of teas. The aroma of the tea is really honeyed and with hints of autumn leaf and spice. I tend to get a similar scent impression with Oriental Beauty and White Peony, though the former is often much sweeter than the latter.

The taste is sweet and honey-like, really clean and mouth-filling. It’s got the same hints of autumn leaves and subtle cinnamon spice that the aroma does, while the aroma is more floral. Oddly, there are hints of lemon, or even more accurately, lime, in the taste as the tea cools off a bit.

The second infusion smells even more floral. The taste reminds me of dried fruit now. There are still some spice notes, still a very clean mouthfeel and slight cooling sensation to follow.

After just a couple infusions of this, I am feeling a really euphoric relaxed feeling. I feel like my body is very light and relaxed. Mmmm.

I have to admit I got really hungry and took a break to eat here, so my palate is nowhere near sensitive enough after those first two infusions to keep going from there with an accurate review. Mostly I’m getting the spice, earth, and autumn leaf notes at this point.

I have only had maybe two other Oriental Beauty teas before this one, and of the three I’ve had, I would say this one was the best. It had more complexity and was much more fragrant in surprising ways. I can’t say Oriental Beauty is a particular favorite tea of mine, but It’s an interesting one. I’m much more partial to Gui Fei. Funny how that works cuz I have another friend who hates Oriental Beauty but Gui Fei is one of her favorites. You’d think they’d be similar since they both involve bugs biting them in the growing process to give them their sweet honey-like flavors, but I think varietal makes a big difference in flavor.

This is good stuff. Give it a try if you like Bai Hao. I think you won’t be disappointed!

Brewed in a 100ml Gongfu pot with 5g of leaf, 15 sec infusion at 185/85. Short infusions of ~10 sec to follow, gradually increasing.