[Son La 2018] Oriental Beauty Oolong

Recommended for oolong tea lovers looking to taste a superb example of Oriental Beauty; non-oolong tea drinkers who want to experience the best example of oolong

Do you know the fascinating origin story of Oriental Beauty (also known as Dong Fang Mei Ran)?

It begins with a Taiwanese tea farmer whose tea plants were damaged by leafhoppers one day. Rather than forgoing his harvest altogether, he decided to process the leaves into tea as usual. When he took his tea to a local tea merchant, he was pleasantly surprised to find the merchant praised him for the outstanding quality of his tea and paid him TWICE the price of his usual tea. In the late 19th century, the cost of 15kg of Oriental Beauty was equivalent to a house in Taiwan!

We are excited to share this Oriental Beauty, previously only available to our Mansa Tea Society members. As this tea quickly became a fan favorite, we decided to share it with more tea lovers like you.

• This Vietnamese Oriental Beauty is handmade in small batches with extremely limited quantities available. Tea makers can only make this tea when the leafhopper populations are high enough during the second flush and summer harvests. It also can’t be harvested when the weather conditions are not suitable (only 2016, 2018, 2020 harvest available). Tea farmers have to carefully select and handpluck only the leaves attacked by jassids.

• To create an optimal natural environment for leafhoppers, tea farmers grow the tea trees without chemical substances. Moc Chau, where this tea is from, is also higher in altitude (3280-3600 ft) for optimum leafhopper activity.

• This Oriental Beauty is handcrafted from the best cultivar for Oriental Beauty (Qing Xin Da Mao). Expect an incredibly complex and balanced cup of fruity, sweet, and slightly spicy flavors with citrus, muscatel, peach, honey, and cinnamon notes with hints of rose.

• You can steep the leaves multiple times by increasing the brewing time for subsequent brewing.

• You can also age this tea for more than 5 years for a smoother taste and a more fragrant and elegant fruity flavor.

For your immersive tea experience, we recommend adding the following add-on to your tea order:

• a short digital magazine that explains the history, processing, brewing, and flavor profile in depth
  

• a guided tea tasting recording led by our Founder & Certified Tea Sommelier

Tasting Notes:  rose, muscatel, lychee, peach, honey

Terroir  Moc Chau, Son La, Vietnam
Elevation  3,460 ft
Vintage  July 2018
Aging Potential  5+ years