Oriental Beauty Style White Tea 2026, 25g | Fengqing, Yunnan

An unusual white tea made in the style of Oriental Beauty (Dong Fang Mei Ren). Like the famous Taiwanese oolong, it is made from leaves bitten by tea jassid leafhoppers during the growing season, but here the bug-bitten leaf is processed as a white tea, simply withered and dried rather than oxidised as an oolong. From the Fengqing gardens in Lincang, Yunnan, the fresh 2026 harvest, offered loose in 25 g packs.

The insect bites trigger a defensive reaction in the leaf while it is still on the plant, and it is this reaction that creates the honeyed, fruity character Oriental Beauty is famous for. Carried over a delicate white-tea base, the result is soft and naturally sweet rather than rich and roasted.

The liquor is pale to light golden, clear and soft on the palate, gently sweet with the lifted honey-and-fruit aroma the bug-bitten leaf brings. It steeps kindly across several infusions, the delicate notes opening gradually, and works both gongfu style and in a relaxed Western pot.

A genuinely distinctive tea: the celebrated Oriental Beauty character reimagined as a delicate white rather than an oolong. Light and honey-sweet, it appeals to newcomers and gives experienced drinkers something they have probably never tasted, a bug-bitten white from Yunnan.

Tea profile