Oriental Beauty, also called White-tip Oolong or Champagne Oolong, is a heavily oxidized, non-roasted, tip-type oolong tea originating in Hsinchu County, Taiwan. The tea has natural fruity and honey-like aromas and produces a sweet-tasting beverage, bright reddish-orange in color, without any bitterness.

At the very beginning, the tea was called "Peng Feng Cha", meaning bragger's or liar's tea. According to Beipu Old Street restaurateur Huang Zhenmei, "It was once thought that a tea farmer in Beipu noticed that small green insects, later known as cicadas, had damaged the leaves of his newly picked spring crop. Rather than destroying his crop, he decided to process the leaves into tea. He then took his product to a local tea merchant, who liked it well enough to pay him twice the price of his usual tea. When he returned to his village, he boasted to his neighbors about his success. His neighbors believed he was exaggerating and so named his tea, Peng Feng Cha."

It was not until 1933 that Oriental Beauty was introduced to the commercial market, after winning accolades in a tea competition. At that time, the Taiwanese government was making an effort to increase the quality of tea for export, and tea competitions were a fantastic way for them to reward farmers for making high-quality tea. In the 1970s, tea merchant John Dodd exported this tea to the west, and it was also the first time Taiwan had exported oolong tea. Legend had it that Queen Victoria liked the tea very much and named it Oriental Beauty. However, the term Oriental has become generally and increasingly disfavored in some Western countries later, and it is renamed White-tip Oolong for its appearance.

Oriental Beauty is grown in Hsinchu County. Here, the mountains give way to rolling hills, and the mild climate is ideal for growing tea. The tea bushes are planted on the leeward side of hills in areas with sufficient humidity and sunshine. Oriental Beauty is a kind of bug-bitten tea – it's grown without insecticides to encourage these green leafhoppers to be fed on the leaves, stems, and buds. The insect bites start the oxidation of the leaves and tips and add a sweet flavor to the tea. The natural sweetness that develops is a direct byproduct of the plant's natural defenses, as it produces a unique enzyme to attract predators of the attacking leafhopper.

The best Oriental Beauty uses a young leaf harvest from the summer months, usually in June and July. This crop includes leaves that are sturdy enough to withstand rolling and oxidation but is also young enough to be relatively high in carbohydrates and low in bitterness. The result is a smooth brew with a rich mouthfeel.

Generally speaking, the tea-making process is often undertaken in a heated container using an action akin to stir-frying. The temperature and number of times this heating process occurs will depend on the kind of tea being produced. However, there's an extra step, after the initial frying, where the tea is left to sit on its own for a short amount of time with a wet towel on top. The leaves are still hot, so it's a heated process where the tea is probably oxidizing rapidly, and then only after the tea has cooled somewhat does the rolling begin, maybe half an hour later. This is the crucial step that distinguishes Oriental Beauty from other types of Taiwanese oolongs and is what gives it its distinctive flavor profile. Finally, knead, unblock and dry these tea leaves to make raw tea.

Oriental Beauty is always an expensive tea, not only because it is hard and complex to make, but also due to its low volume. Bug bitten crops can have yields reduced by more than half, due to the damage caused to the leaves. A leaf that is bitten too much is simply bitter, and the sweet flavor can be completely offset by rain before the harvest. Its harvest is also susceptible to drought. What's more, Oriental Beauty is the only tea that still retained traditional processing methods now - most Taiwanese oolongs have changed in recent years. Therefore, the annual yield is low and the price is relatively high.