Flavor Profile: rose, Muscat grape, dried pineapples, maybe some passion fruit
Production Area: Mộc Châu, Sơn La, Việt Nam
Harvest: July 2023
The Champagne Oolong is a highly oxidized tea with an aromatic sweetness that lingers long after. It's made in the style similar to a Taiwanese oolong tea often carrying the same name, and is well loved for the signature aroma of rose and Muscat grape.
This year's harvest is not short of all the fruity and fragrant characteristics that it is already loved for. What we find interesting about 2023's batch is the subtle touch of winter green aromatics that fill the air once you pour hot water onto the leaves. Smell the brewed tea leaves again after its cooled down and you might also pick up some of the pineapple or passion fruit notes that we're really enjoying.
Often known as a “bug-bitten tea”, the tea's distinct flavor is attributed to the tea cricket, Jacobiasca formosana that thrive during the warmer months. After the leafhopper bites the tea plant, the leaves produce a hormone as a defense mechanism. During the oxidation process in production, the high levels of these hormone translates to the deep floral and grape-y character we then later taste in our cup.
Available in 1, 2, and 4 ounce bags.
How to Prepare
Amount of Tea: 3 g / 2 tsp
Volume of Water: 118 ml / 4 oz
Water Temperature: 205°F / 90°C
Brewing Time: 40 secs