Oriental Beauty from Sanne Tea

Tea Information:

Leaf Type:  Oolong

Where to Buy: Sanne Tea

Tea Description:

Oriental Beauty is also known as Bai Hao (white tips) Oolong, or Champagne Oolong. The beautiful name, many people believe, is from Queen Victoria. When brewed, the leaves generally spread in water, like a graceful lady dancing with gorgeous finery.

To make Oriental Beauty, farmers have to grow tea trees without pesticides, so Jacobiasca formosana, a type of green leafhopper insect, can feed on the leaves, stems, and buds. This leads to the tea plant’s production of monoterpene diol and hotrienol which gives the tea its unique flavor. Tea leaves bitten by the green leafhopper insect lose their green color and appear bronzed or washed out, eventually becoming atrophic and curly. It is why the high quality Oriental Beauty shows five different colors: white, red, yellow, green and brown.

The tea leaves are only harvested and made in summer, when the green leafhopper insects are most active. What makes Oriental Beauty more precious is that the unique sweetness is produced when the leaves only bitten by Jacobiasca formosana. Tea leaves, infested with other insects, like Ectropis oblique and Toxoptera aurantii, won’t produce honey flavor. This uncontrollable eco system makes Oriental Beauty one of the rarest teas in the world.

The tea comes from Cuku, Pinglin Dist, near Feitsui Reservoir area. All tea leaves have to be handpicked to ensure that each leaf has been bitten by Jacobiasca formosana. Because of the difficulty involved in harvesting this tea, a professional tea picker can only harvest 0.7 to 1kgs each day.

This tea has natural ripe fruit and honey flavors with a smooth texture and multiplayer floral finish. When brewed, the tea liquor has a clean and bright golden color. The full-bodied, mellow, and aromatic flavors will bring you ultimate luxury experience

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

This is a tea I’ve heard stories about and I couldn’t wait to try it. I’ve heard rave reviews from Sanne Tea and when I was able to take the opportunity to try out their teas, I jumped on it!

After being sick for almost the last month, my taste buds are slowly coming back to me.  Being a tea blogger and not having your taste buds in check isn’t a fun experience. But slowly but surely, I started feeling better to the point where I was ready to try this tea out and find out what the excitement is about.

The description paints a gorgeous pictures of what the tea is supposed to taste like an I have to say. . . it is dead on!

This tea does have this amazing honey like flavor that I am just devouring and loving. Full-bodied, smooth, and just plain delicious, this tea delivers on everything the description states. First you get this lush honey sweet flavor, then a note or two of a ripe fruit (I swear I was picking up fresh strawberries!), followed by a unique floral finish. Gorgeous from the start. You really can’t go wrong with this tea. I can’t wait to try the rest of their offerings and steep up more of this beauty!