I love a good Oriental Beauty! Leaf Hoppers for the win! Let’s sample Green Terrace Teas’ Eastern Beauty Oolong, which is from Emei Township, Hsinchu County, Taiwan.
Dry Leaf
Eastern Beauty Oolong has a sweet fruity and bready scent. The leaf is smushed but has gold silver brown black and olive colors. Looking at the website, the tea looks full leaf. I wonder if my sample got rolled on in post?
Steeping Instructions
I used a gaiwan and steeped Eastern Beauty Oolong in 200F water after a quick rinse. I did 20 second infusions to start, increasing with each infusion.
Tasting of Green Terrace Teas’ Eastern Beauty Oolong
My first cup of tea had an impressive roasty scent with a golden colour.
First, Second and Third Infusion: Surprise! Eastern Beauty Oolong sips in with lots of flavor. Eastern Beauty Oolong is a little nutty at first, then develops a sweet flavor filling out to a peachy sweet finish that sits in the cheeks. This is the sweetest oolong I’ve had to date! The second steeping has a distinct honey and peach flavor. The third infusion was getting some nutty notes layered in with the honey flavor and a pretty orange colour. Do tea owls like honey? I asked the Tea Owls what their favorite condiment and they answered prime rib seasoning.
Fourth and Fifth Infusion: Roasty flavor alert! Eastern Beauty Oolong has that nutty roasty flavor that I love in a moderate oxidized oolong. The peachy flavor is light and more like a floral after taste.
Sixth Infusion: I accidentally did a longer infusion here as I was answering a message while I was steeping. However, the flavor turned out very well – this tea may be bombproof. The flavor is still rich sweet nutty with a slight malt caramel notes, along with the peachy floral base. Reminds me of a later steeping of a yunnan black. No dryness but I can sense it is starting.
Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Infusion: Eastern Beauty Oolong’s flavor is pretty stable and mellow. At this point I’m starting to battle the tea with long 1 minute infusion to keep it going. The notes are mostly sweet caramel and some nutty. The peach floral finish has disappeared. Eastern Beauty Oolong has also gotten a bit dry, 3/10 on the Astringency Meter.
Tenth and Eleventh Infusion: Just as I thought this tea was done it is still limping through. The flavor is quite sweet like brown sugar with moderate amount of dryness. Still not bad but moderate dry, 5/10 on the Astringency meter.
Comments
Green Terrace Teas’ Eastern Beauty Oolong has great flavor – I love the journey through each infusion as the flavor changes. This Oriental Beauty oolong is also quite sweet and would make for a nice tea session on its own, maybe with some light, clean tasting snacks.
My only beef is the leaf appearance was less than desired on this oolong, though it could of been that mine was a sample and got mangled through the mail.
(tea provided for review)
