"Oh yes," I sigh deeply as my Serious Sunday Yum Needs are met so perfectly this hour with a new Oriental Beauty from Teance of Berkeley, California.

As my growing group of new readers can attest, I am an Oriental Beauty. Damn, I wanted to end the sentence there, but I cannot. I wish it was the case but the sentence really should read, I am an Oriental Beauty lover. This is my favorite tea, it was the first loose-tea I gongfu brewed and it has set the standard for all other teas my newbie palate has been blessed with trying. I have now been gifted by  tea suppliers and tea-creators with many samples and have made purchases based on those samples, including two Oriental Beauty cakes! This tea from Teance, called Taiwan Beauty was not a sample, I actually bought it before trying it, that's how much I trust Teance Tea even though I have never tasted their teas until this mornings session. You see, my facebook group, which is an ongoing source of education, delight and a new sort of bonding with tea-friends all over the world who guide me, was the cause for my trust and purchasing this tea and a few others from Teance without ever having been there( I haven't physically 'been' anywhere since I don't leave my zipcode,  sheer laziness, not phobias, so no worries, Dear Readers!).
So, let's talk about this Beauty, this 'Taiwan Beauty'. Why it is called Taiwan and not Oriental I do not know but will be researching to find out. Maybe just a preference of the tea-shop owner? This is a Summer 2015 harvest from Shinjhu, Taiwan.
I brewed exactly four grams in my 120ml gaiwan and the leaves expanded like a good tieguanyin. Check it out. I may need to move the leaves to a 250ml gaiwan for subsequesnt steeps.

I played around with temperatures, starting at 190f and moving it closer to 200 with steeps 4-6. Just a warm, delightful tea. The wet leaves are heavily floral but the taste is far more mild, with barely any floral notes at all. Warm honey, molasses, butter..... Just a clean and softly sweet brewing session.
And lastly, here is what the website tell us...

Elevation: 1,000 meters
Varietal: Coming Soon!
Oxidation: 80%
Production: Natural Oxidation
Caffeine: Medium

Connoisseur grade and competition entrant. 

A unique style of oolong tea, naturally oxidized by cicadas called leaf hoppers, who nibble on the edges of leaves on the premature tea buds, removing the astringency and leaving a unique sweetness and perfume. Robust, spicy, and honeyed, made by the Hakka tribal people of Taiwan. Hand harvested and crafted by a Hakka tea master from Shinjhu, harvested in July.
This is one of the most unique and beautiful teas in the world, the flavors are somewhat mysterious; results produced from a marriage of terroir, mankind, and insect. The interaction between the leaf hoppers and the leaves protecting its bite wounds, combining with the Hakka tribal culture of hard work, eschewing comfort for the hottest, most humid conditions in order to allow this tea to oxidize naturally, creates this superior, complex tea that can not be replicated anywhere in the world. Buying from origin doesn't just mean soil and weather- it is the people and culture as well.