Red Oolong (Organic)

Red Oolong (Organic)｜紅烏龍 (有機)

Tasting notes: Malty, ripe fruit, honey

Red Oolong (Organic) is one of our most popular teas—distinctively fruity and seductively sweet. It is from a small organic farm led by the matriarch Lian A Na, who invented this breakthrough oolong-black hybrid tea in 2008, in collaboration with Taiwan’s Tea Research and Extension Station. Its delightful honey aroma is produced by the tea plant as a defence against tiny leafhoppers that nibble on the leaves. 

It’s a wonderfully warming and comforting tea for crisp winter days or rainy afternoons.

As one of the few teas to come from Taitung, an idyllic pocket of pollution-free land in Eastern Taiwan, our Red Oolong (Organic) is a highly oxidised oolong tea made using black tea production methods. The result is a smooth, sweet tea with top notes of a black tea and undertones of an oolong.

Red Oolong (Organic) is grown using organic methods to allow the leafhoppers to do their work, and harvested 5 times a year. The best harvest is in summer when leafhoppers abound. You can actually smell this honey scent in the fields! 

The farmers must ensure the leaves are harvested when exactly the right amount of damage has been done by the leafhoppers. Too little damage, and the honey aroma is not distinctive enough, while too much damage actually increases the bitterness of the tea.