Review: Oriental Beauty - Unknown

Type: Oolong
Producer: Unknown
Origin: Taiwan
Brewing Parameters: 6g, 90°C, gongfu style
Appearance: Very loosely rolled leaves, brown, orange and white, connected to thin twigs
Rating: A | 93/100
# of Brews: 5

Tasting Notes and Thoughts
For the Taiwan set of reviews, I think this may be the last one; I have a few other random tea bags and powdered/instant teas, but I'll most likely make those standalone posts. Anyway, like most other teas I've reviewed in this round, I've tried this beforehand but I've only gotten around to writing about it now.

So, the producer is actually on the packaging in English for this tea, but the font is so ridiculously small that I can't read it. There are also English instructions, but they're also very basic and describe how to brew in gongfu style, so I don't have much to work off of. To make up for it, I'll just be doing what I've usually been doing: six grams, flash brews, and boiling water.

Since this is an oriental beauty, it's very fragrant; the leaves are fruity, like a honeyed citrus with apples. The liquid is similar in color to beer (a golden yellow color) and smelled the same as the wet leaf. Compared to other oriental beautys I've tried– Ten Ren's and Tea Ave's– my first response is that this tea is much sweeter. It has some earthy undertones, but the main flavor is lemon; if I had to compare it to anything, I'd say it's like diluted lemon juice. However, rather than ending on a sour note, it becomes sweeter like honey or a dark caramel. There is no astringency, and it's a very smooth drink.

Funny thing is that while I was writing this review, my grandma was peeling an orange next to me and I thought that the orange scent was coming from the tea. They're actually very similar, but an orange is just a little bit sweeter in scent. Overall, this is one of the better oriental beauties I've tried; I'd like to compare it to Tea Ave's again, but I'd need to put in another order and right now my gut says this one is better.


Other Notes

Today's album is Chillhop Essentials - Summer 2017. I found it through The Cancel, one of my favorite bands for chill, jazz hiphop beats, and it's not a bad album at all. Chillhop always makes for some good rainy day or late night work music.

Well, first week of work is done. I still don't feel like I enjoy office work particularly much, but the District Attorney's office is very relaxed and the work isn't too hard. I have some other small things to do outside of that, like an online summer class for incoming Cal freshmen, a speech about human trafficking for the program I'm interning with, reading some books (Slapstick by Vonnegut right now), and improving my handwriting. I'm also still working at the ice cream shop, which I have a shift for today. Oh, and I've been driving so I'm on track to get my license before I head off to college.

After a lot of thinking, I need to work on my confidence in college. I can get somewhat nervous around people I don't know too well sometimes. My fix for that is to get out of the house more often and hang out with people, so I can just get more comfortable socializing and conversing. I guess I'm not as bad as I think I am, but it's still a bit scary going to a new place.