Oriental Beauty is harvested during summer from tea bushes that have been attacked by insects. The bushes having been harvested in spring, the leaves that grow until summer are smaller. The name "Oriental Beauty" is said to come from the Queen Victoria and it was translated into Chinese "Dong Fang Mei Ren". Formerly, the insect attacks were considered a flaw, and thus the tea had to be harvested before the attacks occurred. One day, a tea farmer sold one of his insect-"damaged" tea to a foreigner anyway, and even to a very high price. This is why Oriental Beauty is also called "poser tea" in Taiwan, which in the local dialect is "Pong Fong". For Oriental Beauty, two leaves and a bud are plucked, the leaf material is oxidised rather strongly, and normally it is not roasted. The tea leaves that are attacked by the insects discharge a substance to keep them off, which makes the tea taste honey-sweet. Oriental Beauties are exceptionally aromatic, soft and velvety in taste, often with notes of lemon and cinnamon.
Fancy Oolong are the Taiwanese export Oolong teas, of which the simpler qualities are called Choice Oolong. The Chinese name for Fancy is "Fanzhuang" and can be translated as "packed by barbarians/foreigners". Fancy Oolong is, thus, the "foreigners' tea" in Taiwan. These are quite strongly oxidised Oolongs which are not roasted and that are harvested throughout the year. Fancy and Choice Oolong are, depending on the quality, soft to strong, sweetish-tender and sometimes reminding of a light black tea.
