A reader wrote in asking: Is Oriental Beauty oolong tea? Why is its tea liquor different in color from regular oolong tea? It’s much darker—instead of looking like an oolong, it actually looks more like black tea!
Is Oriental Beauty Oolong Tea?
The answer is a resounding yes—Oriental Beauty is definitely an oolong tea! It is crafted by harvesting leaves, allowing them to wither and ferment, and then halting the fermentation process through pan-firing (kill-green). These are the classic steps of oolong tea production, which makes Oriental Beauty part of the oolong tea family.
The tea liquor of Oriental Beauty differs from typical lightly fermented oolongs because its oxidation (fermentation) level sits at 60-80%. This makes it a heavily oxidized oolong tea, coming close to black tea’s 90-100%. That’s why its color is so different from the common, lightly fermented oolongs (15-35%) we usually see. While light oolongs typically yield a golden-yellow or emerald-green liquor, Oriental Beauty ranges from amber to reddish-brown—making it look much closer to the vibrant red of black tea by comparison.
Even so, Oriental Beauty tea is still classified as an oolong. Aside from sharing a somewhat similar color profile, it also carries the crisp, refreshing fragrance characteristic of oolongs. Next time you pass by a tea shop, grab a small pack to try, and you’ll see just how different it truly is from black tea at its core~