In episode 57, Denny and James revisit one of Denny’s favorite teas, Oriental Beauty. However, rather than a recent year production, this is a nearly 35-year old tea. A very interesting tea from J-Tea, with some elements of aged oolong and others of more traditional Oriental Beauty.
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First off, let me say that I very much enjoy Denny’s rather contorted facial and body gestures. Like him, I have great difficulty at times putting into words what I am tasting. After all, “Misery loves company”!
I’ve only had one Oriental Beauty and I loved it. That was some time ago, so perhaps I should give it another go. Any suggestions for vendors selling good versions?
Thanks.
Heya Peter,
Good question. I feel like Oriental Beauty is a difficult tea to go too wrong with assuming its properly processed. I wouldn’t bother spending too much money on Oriental Beauty, shoot for something at $5-7/oz. In my experience, there’s not all that much bad Oriental Beauty out there and the good stuff isn’t that much better than the daily drinkers.
Vendors like Floating Leaves or Origin Tea would be good choices or even Teavivre if you want to get the most bang for your buck.
-James
Just a fun fact about the tradition of tasting tea in three sips. I’m not sure how familiar you are with written Chinese, but the character for sip pronounced pin consists of three ‘mouth’ radicals, one on top of two 品. So the small teacups used in the gongfu tasting are known as pin min bei 品茗杯 or sipping tea cup.