White Tipped Oolong, also known as Dongfang Meiren (東方美人), literally meaning “oriental beauty” (also marketed as Bai Hao or Champagne Oolong) is a heavily fermented tippy oolong produced in Hsinchu County, Taiwan. Tippy Oolongs tend to make for better bottled iced tea, but in this case Dongfang Meiren has a fermented quality that could be easily lost when iced. Dongfang Meiren produces to a lovely color with little-to-no scent. Brewed hot, the flavor is rather duller than I’m used to, but with some detectable fermented notes. In this case I’m unclear as to the original vendor, though I purchased it at TranquiliTea. I almost want to ascribe its dull flavor to having been produced organically (Arbor Teas always has a similarly dull quality, which is why I’ve never pimped them), or stored incorrectly, though it might simply be that it was designed specifically to be an iced tea.
On a related note, it’s been rather difficult to enjoy home-brewed tea recently due to the loss of my kitchen and lack of good prep space. I’ve been slowly working on my tea house concept and it is taking shape, but i’ve been anxious to try new teas. A couple weeks back my father was working on retrofitting the electricity in my garret when we accidentally knocked over my SPT water kettle. The good news is, it still works wonderfully. The bad news is, the clasp on the lid is broken and it has to be held down by books. As you can imagine it loses it’s aesthetic appeal this way, especially when it comes to the feng shui of a tea house. It may have to be replaced, but hopefully I’ll be able to acquire the same model as it’s nicest (fully stainless steel) most durable and dependable one I’ve owned. I happened to notice my workplace acquired the exact same model for various library events, so hopefully it’s not sold out at the local Chinese market where I bought mine.
選別 parting.gifts 