Oriental Beauty Oolong
Insects are usually unwelcome guests on plants—that is, unless the insect is a leafhopper and the plant it’s nibbling is a Camellis sinensis. When these jassids bite the leaves, the bushes produce enzymes to ward them off, which give the resulting tea a lovely complexity and a sweet taste reminiscent of peaches and honey, steep after steep. These Taiwanese oolongs, also known as Bai Hao, can be quite expensive.
Pictured: Grand Oolong Fancy (Bai Hao) Oriental Beauty from chadotea.com. Glass gaiwan set from amazon.com.
