Oriental Beauty Tea - 101 Tea Plantation

Note to Self: "Bring a camera, don't rely on a cell phone !!!

A recent business contact dropped off a package of Oriental Beauty at my hotel in Taipei, (next to Taipei 101.)

With minimal effort, the WEB provided basic data on; 101 Tea Plantation, previously unknown to me. http://www.101gc.com/detail.asp?id=731 and http://www.101tea.com/

Poor picture (cell phone) a "Zip Pak" resealable Package .. great for travellers. I sense the Californian influence on this package ???

Dry leaves, visually impressive, with a purposeful resemblance to a "Darjeeling Back Tea" only with more colour, a fully oxidized tea.. mostly back, some white and a few light brown leaves in the mix.The olfactory senses are less impressed, at first exposure I pick up strong burnt odor, (I did not expect this) this quickly dissipates and a variety of subtle odors were revealed.

Proof of the pudding:

After initial rinse infusion, I yielded only 4 infusions .. should have stopped at 3.

Initial infusion was best, smooth mouth taste, after taste and lingering aftertaste were satisfying, no single influence. Tea colour was a pleasing warm gold. The negative was the strong burnt odor came through and overpowered the drinking pleasure.

In progressive infusions the tea proved to be a bit of a Chameleon: Colour deepened to a hard reddish gold, burnt odor made way to a gambit of fleeting, but pleasant olfactory triggers. The taste changed, less smooth with less satisfying lingering after taste.

Wet leaves: Extremely well formed, easily separated, all the indicators of a quality product.

Synopsis: despite the obvious leaf quality, the short infusion life and heavy oxidation odor, I'll take a pass on this Oriental Beauty .. On the plus side I will try their other teas.