★★★★★
Loved this! Part of my first purchase with this company
Highly oxidized yet super smooth, the layered cup offers much to delight. Summer fruits like peach and nectarine, with a soft sweetness of honey and dwell in these leaves.
Customers use these reviews to describe their experience with Hsinchu Oriental Beauty, including flavor, aroma, preparation preferences, strength, and how the tea fits into daily routines. Browse the full review history page by page to compare tasting notes, steeping tips, and favorite ways to enjoy this tea.
Loved this! Part of my first purchase with this company
Great taste. Highly recommend. Pleasant fragrance.
I like the jade oolong much more. This one doesn't have the complex flavors that I come to expect with an oolong.
I tried this at 195, 200, and 212 degrees and I liked it best at 212 on a second or third steeping. That's when the honey and peach taste comes out the most for me. This tea is delightful, though I'm not sure it's worth the price. Ooh Darjeeling is just as good or better with similar taste.
Today’s communiTEA was an array of dark tea leaves winding in different colors, some small fuzzy buds. This had a lightly sweet floral scent like honeysuckle. Given the apparent level of oxidation I was surprised this steeped pale to gold. The taste was also quite lighter than expected, maybe excessively so. Though black teas are my preference I also enjoy subtle white. In comparison this very expensive oolong was rather too subtle for my taste.
A very full flavored oolong, very dark and minerally flavor, with slight fruit notes.
I really enjoyed this tea! Somehow the natural sweetness and the earthy oolong combined into a light, elegant floral experience that was absolutely divine. I need more! Steeped 3 mins @ 190°
A lovely oolong tea! Will have to order some more of this one!
Very nice smooth tea. It had a light flavor but still enough to enjoy. I’ll rested tomorrow. CT 3/30/23 1.6g 12oz 195 for 3 minutes.
A great tasting tea, I enjoy this tea, light and delicious.🫖☕️
Wow... I loved this tea. I bought a sale sample of (last year's?) a while back but was a bit confused by the description. Was this a white tea, green, black or what? The brewing instructions weren't on the tin and I didn't trust the site at that point... So when I got a CommuniTea packet (March 2023) I was very interested! In the end, seems to be an oolong but I may still be a bit confused and I'd like to know more about this tea. It's a very smooth tea that defies my poor abilities to attempt to describe it... It epitomizes oolong, I suspect, with depths, slight mineral tones and possibly malty notes green teas don't have but a smoothness and lack of bitterness that is generally not associated with black tea. In color, it is a lovely light amber shade that could be a dark white tea, a very light black tea... An oolong tea! Hey, maybe I've got it! 😂
Wow! I really enjoyed this tea. I'm excited to read reviews that recommend a second steeping, and look forward to a second cup.
a really nice tea. bit on the mineral-y side as far as teas go.
Tried as a CommuniTEA sample. This tasted slightly floral and lightly mineral to me. I was surprised how much I liked it since it's such a delicate tea. It was delicious plain.
A beautiful oolong. Light fruit with a touch of sweetness. Strongest note is a clean, mineral finish.
This Oriental Beauty comes across to me as the perfect bridge between the greener, less oxidized oolongs and the darker, more oxidized ones. It's a very nuanced cup with definite floral/herbal notes - reminiscent of sage. On the finish, though, there's a suggestion of spice (cinnamon comes to mind). This has a natural sweetness, plus it's so smooth, that no additional sweetener is necessary. My only complaint - and the reason it gets four stars instead of five - is that my second steep lacked the flavor of the first, which is disappointing, given the price of this tea. That said, the flat second steep could have been the result of brewing errors on my part - a western-style steep with perhaps more water than the amount of leaves in the CommuniTEA pouch warranted. (2-3 minutes @ 190F)
A pretty smooth tea. I get honey and mineral flavors. Not much peach, but I do get a hint of grape and some floral notes. Subsequent steepings had a stronger honey-like sweetness.I had steeped for 3min as recommended the first time, but I think a longer time with a lower temp would be better for the flavors to develop.
Beautiful leaves and beautiful color! The taste was smooth. I can’t say that I taste any hint of fruit, but I did smell and taste a hint of honey. I also did not taste the grassy taste, but possibly earthy but I am not sure as I am not really sure what earthy is? It was good though but. Don’t think I would buy it
This is a great oolong with a full flavor. It is naturally sweet.
I haven't tried many Oolong teas so I wasn't expecting much. But there is so much flavour in this one tea! It's my current favourite tea overall, and I will definitely be repurchasing it in the future.
This is a refined tea. The clean mineral taste is exquisite. It is a bit difficult to explain it to it fullness. I would say this is not a beginners tea.
Wonderful tea! Smooth taste with a light fruity sweetness. Very enjoyable at any time of the day.
Pale yellow tea. Light slightly mineral taste. I did not get a fruity taste as some described. I enjoyed without sweetener.
Not for me. Though I sought out the mentioned light fruity notes mentioned in the description through multiple steeps, wanting very much to give this tea the benefit, the mineral notes in this were determined to stay in the top. Rocks and pebbles in a spring stream - that's the taste I got. During the second infusion, and only at the final sip, did I almost think there was a ghost of something like a fresh, cold red grape in it - but it was lost before it could ever really be found. This is, perhaps, for those with more refined oolong palates than mine, or any who enjoy a hearty, clean mineral stream taste.
This truly is a beautiful oolong tea! It has very slight fruity nuances and a minerality that is delicious! Depending on steeping times, you can make this as bold or delicate as you like.
This is an okay one for me. I am enjoying trying the new teas.
One of the best Oolongs I have tasted. Earth, with an almost natural sweetness. I generally steep longer than recommended, and a longer steep just made this tea taste all that much better! Love it!!
A very light and smooth oolong when brewed as directed. The second steep I brewed for 5 minutes. It has a nice earthy and malty flavor.
A colorful leaf, beauteous Oolong! This is so my thing..with that Mineral-esque vibe. I need this in my stash!
Great amber liquid with a complex flavor. Worth trying again.
When I opened my CommuniTEA packet, I noticed a very woodsy and grassy aroma from the tea. I steeped it for 3 minutes. The taste was earthy, but mild and had a mineral finish. Overall it was a nice cup of tea!
I think this is the best Masters tea that I’ve tasted so far. The first and second steeps were equally filled with flavors that I found profoundly delicious and subtle. I don’t know if it’s raisin, stone fruit put, or honey but it was great! The third steep is just good, nothing special, and has a definite mineral astringency. If I ever run out of other Masters teas, I will splurge and buy some of this! I steeped for 3 minutes each time in 190 degree water and kept it pure!
This reminds me of a green tea, sweet & grassy buy golden.I sampled this tea as part of the CommuniTea March 2023 box.
What a great oolong. Dark, mineral, earthy goodness. Definitely one I want to take my time drinking, and enjoy multiple steeps of. Love how the flavor nuances change a bit with each new steep. (190° for 4 minutes.)
This is a delicious tea that gets sweeter with each steep. This has a robust woody flavor that I love in dark oolong teas but it is very smooth.
This is a very light tea which was smooth, but I didn’t notice much in the way of other flavors. I think it would be good to have with a spicy and/or flavorful meal so that it doesn’t fight with the meal flavors.
This was a nice light oolong when brewed according to directions. Second steep went for longer as I like my tea with a bit stronger. Still smooth and light even with the extra time.
Absolutely lovely. A soft tea with notes of honey, peach, and light minerals.
I had to take a few sips before I could give a good report. At first, I was on the fence about the oolong tea, but as I kept on slurping and I liked the smooth but mineral-woodsy taste. A very nice cuppa of tea.
Bravo! I love this special oolong and I would buy it, but I would have to put a hold on other teas because it is very pricey.
What a good tea today! So clean tasting. I usually make a hot and cold version. Can't wait to have the cold version tomorrow.
Absolutely lovely! This is a great tea to slow down with...enjoy the beautiful leaves, the color of the brewed tea, the aroma. The taste is smooth and so naturally sweet, with a light mineral/fruit flavor.
Light, peachy, with a mineral finish, this subtle oolong was decent. It had a brightness about it whereas I like my tea a little more bold.
Light, tasty and delicious. I enjoyed this at work and am on my second steep, unfortunately price will prevent me from buying a bunch of I would.
This is a smoky light oolong. Taste = mineral and floral. No rolled leaves, only 3 brews max.
Beautiful is an accurate name. The taste is smooth, melony sweet, and a little earthiness. There's a nice mineral note at the end.
There was an aroma of oranges when I opened the packet. There was a sweet fruity flavor. Overall, it is a very nice tea.
As a newbie, I didn't detect a lot of the subtle flavors others did, but it was an enjoyable cup of tea. Smooth, no bitterness. :)
This is a light smooth tea with a mild flavor. The tea was a pale tan after steeping. I enjoyed my cup but will be unlikely to purchase.
This tea has a nice mix of earthiness and floral notes to it. I really like lighter teas like this that stand up well on their own, and I'll definitely be adding this to my list of teas to order again!