Eastern Beauty is the tea that almost shouldn't work — and that's exactly what makes it special. It starts with a bug. When the green leafhopper attacks the tea plant, the plant responds by producing compounds that create an unmistakable honey-like sweetness. No bugs, no Eastern Beauty. Taiwanese farmers learned to welcome the infestation rather than fight it.

Originally crafted by the Hakka people in northern Taiwan, Eastern Beauty is one of the most heavily oxidized oolongs we carry — closer to a black tea in color, but with a floral, honeyed complexity that's entirely its own. The twisted leaf style is the classic form; Gui Fei is a tightly rolled cousin from the same bug-bitten family.

If you've never tried it, start here. It's the tea I use to convert people who think they don't like oolong.