Dongfang meiren 東方美人
Type	Oolong
Other names	Oriental beauty, eastern beauty, white-tip oolong
Origin	Taiwan
Quick description	The harvests in summer are most prized for their fruit-and-honey aroma
Temperature	80–85°C

Dongfang meiren(Chinese:東方美人;lit. 'eastern beauty') orOriental Beauty, orbaihao(白毫), among other Chinese names, is a heavily oxidized, non-roasted, tip-type oolong tea originating inHsinchu County, Taiwan. It is a tea produced from leaves bitten by thetea jassid, an insect that feeds on the tea plant.Terpenes are released in the bitten leaves, which creates a honey-like taste. Oriental beauty, white-tip oolong, and champagne oolong are other names under whichdongfang meiren is marketed in the West.

The tea has natural fruity and honey-like aromas and produces a sweet-tasting beverage, bright reddish-orange in color, without any bitterness. Dried leaves of high quality exhibit a pleasant aroma, with leaf coloration of dark purple and brown tones with white hairs.

Dongfang meiren is produced from a variety ofcultivars of the tea plant,Camellia sinensis, that are grown withoutinsecticides to encourage a common pest, the tea jassid (Jacobiasca formosana), to feed on the leaves, stems, and buds.^[1] These insects suck thephloem juices of the tea stems, leaves, and buds. This leads to the plant's defensive production ofmonoterpenediol andhotrienol which give the tea its unique flavor.^[2] The buds then turn white along the edges which gives the tea its alternate name, white-tip oolong. The insect bites start the oxidation of the leaves and tips and add a sweet note to the tea.

This process has inspired makers of other types of tea, such asdongding oolong and the east-coast black teas ofHualien andTaitung Counties, to withhold insecticide use in order to replicate this process in other teas.^[3] Similar action ofjassids andthrips helps form themuscatel-like flavor of India'ssecond flush Darjeeling tea to whichdongfang meiren is sometimes compared.^[4]

Because of the need forJ. formosana feeding, the tea must be grown in warmer areas. In Taiwan, it is primarily grown inHakka areas of the hilly northwestern part of the country at lower altitudes (300–800 m or 980–2,620 ft) between the mountains and the plains.^[1]Beipu andEmei in Hsinchu County are noted centers of production with Beipu being the site of the Beipu Penghong Tea Museum and hosting the annual Penghong Tea Industry and Culture Festival.^[5]

The tea bushes are planted on the leeward side of hills in areas with sufficient humidity and sunshine.^[1] The tea is only harvested in the middle of summer, only about 40–50% of the leaves can be used, and the harvest is susceptible to drought.^[1] Therefore, the annual yield is low and the price is relatively high.^[1]

After being harvested from young leaves and tips in the summer, the tea is heavily oxidized (around 70%), approaching the level ofblack tea. Unlike other oolongs, which typically make use of the top four or five leaves and the single bud,dongfang meiren uses only the bud and two leaves. The moisture content ofdongfang meiren is higher than that of high mountain oolongs so the withering process takes longer. This longer withering period accelerates the hydrolysis and oxidation processes which help generate the typical sweet flavor and taste of this tea.

Dongfang meiren is brewed with lower temperature water (80–85 °C or 176–185 °F) than is typical for other oolongs.^[1] It also requires a longer brewing (1–2 minutes for the first pot and then longer for subsequent brewings, in the Western style).^[1] Like other oolongs, the leaves can be steeped multiple times.^[1]

This variety of tea originated in the late 19th century, when Taiwan first exported oolong tea. Tea merchantJohn Dodd exported this tea to the west from hisTamsui base.^{[citation needed]}

Dongfang meiren is usually marketed as東方美人茶 (dōngfāng měirén chá) inMandarin Chinese and translated as 'eastern or Oriental beauty tea' in English. More recently, the term白毫烏龍茶 (báiháo wūlóng chá), translated as 'white-tip oolong tea' has been used. Beginning in the 1970s, thetermOriental has become generally and increasingly disfavored in some Western countries.

InTaiwanese, farmers originally used names that referred to the insect pest that plagues the plant. These include煙仔茶 (ian-á tê),蝝仔茶,蜒仔茶, and涎仔茶 (the latter three pronouncediân-á tê). As the tea began fetching higher prices,膨風茶 (phòng-hong tê; 'bragging or bluffing tea') became the common name. InSiyenHakka, in addition to the name椪風茶 (phong-fûng chhà; also 'bragging/bluffing tea'), the term冰風茶 (pên-fûng chhà) is also used.

Popular stories as to the origin of the tea and its names abound. For example:

It was once thought that a tea farmer in Beipu noticed that small green insects, later known as cicadas, had damaged the leaves of his newly picked spring crop. Rather than destroying his crop, he decided to process the leaves into tea. He then took his product to a local tea merchant, who liked it well enough to pay him twice the price of his usual tea. When he returned to his village, he boasted to his neighbors about his success. His neighbors believed he was exaggerating and so named his tea,Peng Feng Cha [膨風茶], or Braggart's tea.

• Taiwanese tea
• Taiwanese tea culture
• Oolong tea

• Hsinchu County Oriental Beauty — photos and text on the production and preparation ofdongfang meiren tea

• Insect products
• Oolong tea
• Taiwanese tea

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