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first and second samples |
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third sample |
I'm trying three more versions of another type of tea from the Wanmu Tea Garden (small factory producer), a Xinyang, Henan (China) tea producer. There is a little more background on them from trying two yellow tea versions, that were exceptional, but I've still not turned up more depth of background. Their website mentions a more history than that blog post, but nothing on this tea type.
These are presented as versions of Dong Fang Mei Ren, more commonly known in Western tea circles as either Oriental Beauty or Eastern / Asian Beauty (renaming around "oriental" moving to seem negative). The other sample I have yet to try is described as an award winning black tea; it is probably a more standard offering type from them. They would sell a tea like this, but may well be working out processing details, or which inputs make the best version of it.
The review part goes into issues of it being true to type, and why to some extent that may not apply. Some tea types are source-area limited, as pu'er is (from Yunnan), or Japanese tea versions (sencha, gyokuro, matcha, and others). Teas like Wuyishan area oolongs or Longjing green tea could potentially be made from material from other places, but those are source limited too, so only versions from the original area would be authentic.
It's my understanding that Dong Fang Mei Ren / Oriental Beauty is a style, relating to plant type, location input, and processed form, but that it's not tied to one origin area, beyond originating in Taiwan. Good versions are made outside of Taiwan, in Thailand and Vietnam, produced by copying those three main inputs as closely as possible. Those use plant types from Taiwan, which should also relate to using bug-bitten material.
These teas are made using local plant types, so they won't be as similar. I didn't know that when trying the first two samples, and had talked to my Wanmu contact prior to trying the third, to cover that by then. So the goal, for them, might be to produce the best quality, most pleasant tea possible, using comparable but different inputs, that won't necessarily match the original aspect range closely. Oxidation level is one main related concern, which I go into more in these notes.
Review:
#1, first infusion: this looks a little lighter than the other, more golden and less towards golden-amber; it's surely less oxidized. It will be interesting to see how that works out.
Flavor is interesting; very complex, covering more ground than is typical for just about any tea version or type. It includes warm, rich, sweet tones and also some greener, lighter, more vegetal range. It's a little early to say that's going to amount to a flaw or limitation but that's a natural early impression.
The warm and rich flavors present are right for Dong Fang Mei Ren, which I still think of as Oriental Beauty. There's honey sweetness and a citrus note, not extending into warm cinnamon type spice much, but it's complex in different directions, potentially including that. Sure, I think it's there. The vegetal note is along the line of green wood. As a primary flavor input that wouldn't be good at all, but it balances better than it sounds in this.
The feel has a bit of a related edge, almost implying bitterness is also present in the flavor. It's in that space where feel and taste seem to overlap, astringency and bitterness.
#2: interesting, also quite different. I was expecting at least one of these to completely match the standard DFMR / OB flavor profile, but neither really do. This is warmer and richer, and that part works. Sweetness is ok; it would seem sweeter if there were more of an associated fruit note, which doesn't stand out, but there's some to make it balance. There's a wood range flavor that's completely different than the mild green wood in the other, in this case more along the line of cured oak. Someone might interpret that associated dry feel as linking with sourness, versus bitterness. That's not how DFMR / OB goes.
I really thought that I'd be discussing how these fall well within standard DFMR range, describing how fruit in one compares to more cinnamon in the other, or something such. Instead this might be about how they vary from that range. These were presented as experimental tea versions, not a finished product that they've been producing for awhile. That impression came from those yellow teas being absolutely spot-on for character, and very pleasant in aspect range. Even great related to flavor complexity, cleanness, depth, and balance. These two versions could be interpreted as showing flaws as much as promise, and falling much further from trueness to type.
Maybe that could relate to using a very different plant type material than what DFMR / OB is usually made from? I don't know that part. Of course processing also comes into play, and growing conditions inputs. I'll try a lighter version of both; that may help them stand out more positively.
This makes me wonder what the third sample is like. I won't know until I try it.
#1, second infusion: it balances better. Honey sweetness stands out as a dominant flavor this round, which is typically pleasant, in a lot of mixed flavor contexts. This tastes a lot more like a good Jin Jun Mei I just tried at a favorite Chinatown shop recently than one would imagine it could. I wonder if they could make something similar?
Fruit drops back, maybe extending into dried fruit more, maybe apricot. The wood tone does soften, and for the most part transitions out. It's not exactly type-typical for OB (I'll start writing the shorter form), but it's as close as these have been, and it's quite pleasant. Feel is full, without much astringency, beyond that fullness. You probably wouldn't think of green wood, or even vegetal range, when trying this, for this infusion.
#2: this is better as well. That wood tone has softened, with more complexity entering in. Astringency hangs in there more, in that different form, but it decreases, with broader positive flavors making it balance better. It is a lot closer to cinnamon spice; that's one decent interpretation for a main flavor input. A good bit of wood offsets how one experiences that.
It seems like oxidation level for both of these might be a little low, maybe less so for the second one, but possibly even for it. Then maybe the material isn't as suited for this tea type, or at least it might not be able to duplicate how Taiwanese oolong material ends up in that form. Looking up standard online references don't mention the plant type used, or at least the first two didn't, so I asked Google's AI to fill that in:
Oriental Beauty tea is made from a specific cultivar of the Camellia sinensis plant, but its unique flavor comes from being bitten by the tea green leafhopper. The insect bites damage the leaves, causing the plant to produce a special chemical reaction that creates a natural honey-like aroma and sweet taste. The tea is a type of oolong tea that requires this specific, pesticide-free process to achieve its distinct qualities.
Plant: The base is the Camellia sinensis tea plant, with a cultivar often used being Chin-shin Dah-pang, notes Nih.
Insect: The tea green leafhopper (Jacobiasca formosana) bites the leaves, stems, and buds.
Flavor development: The insect bites trigger a defense response in the plant, leading to the production of chemicals like diol, which are converted into compounds like hotrienol during processing.
Pesticide-free: This process is only possible on tea plants that have not been sprayed with pesticides.
It's usually bug-bitten, as this covers. I thought that Qing Xin / Chin Shin would've been a common plant type used, but one from Thailand I reviewed not long ago used a #17 variant, with good outcome. Here's that review; it was from Tea Side (a Thai vendor selling Thai teas online), and that was the Ruan Zhi / Bai Lu cultivar, however one names that.
In looking up that reference I ran across lots I've written about lots of OB versions, from different places, made from different cultivars (plant types). It would work to scan through another dozen posts here to get a feel for different range. I won't go into what it means here here, but this covers lots of local Taiwanese cultivars / plant types:
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this TRES / TTES content is off that agency site now, I think, so attribution would require some extra steps finding it on the wayback machine |
#1, third infusion: it's even better; this is evolving to taste a bit like bees' wax, not just honey. That's really like Jin Jun Mei then (Fujian black tea from the Wuyishan area). It's odd that it's so close, for being less oxidized (seemingly). Kittichai, the Jip Eu Chinatown shop owner, just mentioned that good Jin Jun Mei should be a little less oxidized; it may relate to that, that the black tea style is also like that.
For flavor list this also includes a bit of citrus and dried fruit, and limited warm tone range, some mineral. Feel is quite pleasant. The vegetal edge is diminished, but I suppose a little is still there. It's not that close to type-typical original OB but it's good.
#2: warmer toned, which one would expect to match OB better, but that one wood flavor aspect and slightly dryer feel really throws that off. It's also pretty good, but I suppose I like the first more. It balances better, for the green wood and astringency generally dropping out. This does include some fruit, but it's harder to appreciate as separate from a cured wood flavor range. I tend to describe warm toned dried fruit as like tamarind, as a default, and it's not so far from that, just probably not so close either. It probably works better to say it includes some dried Chinese date, jujube, and then a warm mineral tone that seems to link is really something else.
It's pleasant, but if this is an experimental tea it may not be quite there yet. It's not balanced and pleasant enough.
Second review, the third type:
first infusion: again a bit more vegetal than DFMR / OB tends to be. The flavors are nice, bright, clean, and complex, but the range is completely different than that standard oolong type. Some sort of warm tones are there, in the background, but this is mostly floral with some green wood sort of vegetal range, so completely different. Maybe there's a touch of citrus fruit; I'll check again next round.
#2: this tea is interesting for balancing between two different things. On the one hand the astringency and vegetal range (mostly flavor related, not feel) ties to a lighter themed tea, not really a standard type that's easy to reference, but along the lines of green or light oolong. Since it's a non-standard form it might come across as less approachable or positive, just due to being unfamiliar.
Then on the other side it also balances well, and is clean and complex, so it has a range of positive character going for it. It just doesn't completely "make sense," related to falling outside of expectations. Not just for DFMR / OB, but related to the entire range of standard tea types. In a sense it tastes like an adjusted version of a green tea, not an oolong.
Setting all that aside the actual aspects are pleasant. It includes some kind of non-descript fruit and floral range, and that doesn't really oppose the vegetal range (towards "green"). That last aspect is closest to green wood, but it might be even closer to a somewhat unfamiliar vegetable type. Bitterness is really moderate, but present, but the flavor isn't so far off bitter gourd. If that's unfamiliar I suppose it's a little towards okra?
In talking to Gisele about these, that tea contact, who works for them, she said that it probably wouldn't match normal DFMR / OB character for using a different, local plant type, and for growing conditions being different. And of course processing steps wouldn't be a complete match; this isn't oxidized as much. She said that her understanding is the range for OB is 60 to 85% oxidation level, and I suppose that kind of works, even though that kind of designation is problematic. 80 to 85 might be more normal, probably even overlapping with the lower end range of black tea (Shai Hong, often more lightly oxidized Dian Hong, as a sun-dried variation).
#3: a little more spice emerges, and the tone warms; this creeps a little closer to standard OB range. Deeper fruit tones seem to pick up, replacing brighter range that had seemed split between floral tones and fruit earlier on. It's dried fruit, along the line of dried apricot. This may well be my favorite of these three versions, but the "#1" version was pretty good too. The third, the second I tried, had a bit of warm cured wood flavor, and dryness of feel, that threw it off a bit, to me.
It's odd judging these based on my judgment. I love Oriental Beauty, so that should work, but I don't love green tea range as much as all other tea types. If it's especially vegetal, like Japanese green teas tasting like seaweed, that's not so pleasant, per my preference. This vegetal range matches with other green tea range, I guess. I suppose it should match with Xinyang Maojian, the main type they make in this area.
#4: a hint of citrus picks up, maybe along the line of tangerine peel. This is the best that it's been. If tones were a good bit warmer, if this had been more oxidized, it might actually come closer to normal OB range. It's still good, it's just a different kind of tea. I'm not sure that vegetal edge would ever completely drop out, but more oxidation may transition it quite a bit. Just a guess; I really wouldn't know.
Brightness is good, how clean this is in effect, and intensity and complexity. Sweetness level is good. Feel is fuller and richer than it sounds, given how one might expect astringency to pair with some bitterness and vegetal flavor range. There is some astringency, but it's limited. It's not full, round, and smooth as light oolongs tend to be, but there is some fullness to it.
A green tea drinker who also likes light oolong might absolutely love this. But it's hard for me to see it from that kind of perspective.
I completely "get" Dan Cong, and the clean nature, intensity, and refinement match for this, but the flavor profile is completely different (from that oolong type). And the feel. There is a characteristic astringency edge to lower quality Dan Cong that partly matches part of this better than the smooth, rich, full, approachable nature of higher quality Dan Cong versions. I've always wondered what that's about. Does it relate to using more whole leaf, to growing tea at higher altitude, to getting processing steps just right? Maybe all of those, or maybe it's something else.
#5: hanging in there; this is still the best it's been, which is quite pleasant. Again I think this is my favorite of the three versions. To review the flavor list, which I keep mentioning in relation to what changes, in order of intensity, this is balanced between expressing dried apricot, a bit of citrus, cinnamon, and a vegetal range note, now in between a wood tone and some type of gourd. If it's easier to relate to that last vegetal aspect isn't far off the small eggplant version Thais often use, which is almost nothing like the purple eggplant used in the US.
It's good. It's not very close to standard Taiwanese OB, but still pleasant. Thai versions of OB (I've probably reviewed a half dozen here) are much closer to that, but it's not a fair comparison, since they've imported those Taiwanese oolong related plant types, and are trying to replicate the growing conditions and processing steps. Same for Vietnamese versions. This is something else, that has to be judged as something different. The more you expect it to be "type-typical" the worse it comes out in judgment. Judged as a varied form of OB that leans a little towards green tea two of these versions would seem exceptional.
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