Emei Dah Pan Competition Grade Oriental Beauty Oolong Tea - Winter 2019
Emei Dah Pan Competition Grade Oriental Beauty Oolong Tea - Winter 2019 Emei Dah Pan Competition Grade Oriental Beauty Oolong Tea - Winter 2019 Emei Dah Pan Competition Grade Oriental Beauty Oolong Tea - Winter 2019 Emei Dah Pan Competition Grade Oriental Beauty Oolong Tea - Winter 2019
$ 49.00

We feel honored to have a chance to work with master Hsu since the beginning of Taiwan Sourcing, whom has been producing some of the best Oriental Beauty and preserve it for us to deliver to you.

 

You might already heard the story of some English queen being so fascinated by it and thus the name was given; you might also heard the story of a Japanese governor was so amazed by it and thus the name was given. All those legends shall end here today, because this "legendary" name Oriental Beauty was not created by some strange foreigner, but instead by the locals who were trying to market the tea of Emei.

 

Before "Oriental Beauty," the name of Emei's specially processed tea was called "Fortune Longevity Tea" (福壽茶), a name from the traditional culture of Taiwan which could be very easily associated with the impression of funerals and death. As a result, people often mocked this tea as "Coffin Tea" (棺材茶). The locals eventually realized the name was damaging the image of Emei's tea, and they need to come up with a new name to market this tea again. Finally, a guy who worked at local government (his last name was also Hsu) came up with the idea of "Oriental Beauty," a name that will linger in the mind of tea lovers for the next four decades.

 

So what makes "Oriental Beauty" this special? What's the real "evolution" of this tea then? As we processed the tea material alongside the masters for two days, we began to realize the mindset behind this tea when it was created back in the 1970s. We analyzed the background history of Emei area and the process of this tea, and the "true story" was even more fascinating than how its name was invented. This tea "Oriental Beauty" was truly a tea that could only be invented by Taiwanese in Emei, thanks to its glorious past.

 

Great Hsinchu, Taoyuan, and Miaoli area was once a prosperous place for tea exporting. The two most famous places of Hsinchu area were Beipu and Emei. Tons and tons of teas were being exported to the world back then from green tea to black tea. Some oolong teas were also being mass-produced at the time as well(that's why we have our Barrel Ball aged oolong). With all these processing methods in mind and in hand, Emei producers were able to invent a new type of tea process during their downtime. This new type of tea processing eventually saved Emei producers from the ashes of the collapsed exporting market at the end of 1970s, and became the concept of "Oriental Beauty" we commonly know today.

 

This competition grade Oriental Beauty, like all the other competition grade from Emei, is a batch before it got sent out for competition. Due to how the material is selected, its processing style, and production quantity, Oriental Beauty is like a royal member in the tea world. We hope this Oriental Beauty will bring you great joy as usual, because it is certainly a tea that did it to us.

 

 

Harvest:  Winter 2019 / 冬 貳零壹玖

Varietal:  Qing Xin Dah Pan / 青心大冇

Elevation:  300 M / 參佰 公尺

Region:  Emei / 峨嵋

Fermentation Level:  75% / 分之 柒拾捌

Roast Level: 0 / 無

 

 

 Still Savouring.......

 

Exquisite perfume on the wet leaf, intoxicating. First sip is full and complexly floral with a lot of feeling and flavor in the throat. It steeps long and short with its character intact. It has a lot of layers that make savoring every sip easy to do. If you love these kind of highly refined oriental beauty style teas this surely won't disappoint.

 

 Mr. Hsu is a personal friend to us Taiwan Sourcing, but an old dog and the team still feel extremely grateful for him putting us in his mind every season. If you had great Oriental Beauty before, then you will know this is exactly the Oriental Beauty which brings the surprising tea memory.