Oolongs, between two worlds

Kissed Blue Tea comes from Guizhou, a mountainous province in south-west China, far from oolong's historic cradles of Fujian and Formosa. It is a pure blue tea, with no added flavouring: everything comes from the leaf and the master's craft. The golden, fragrant liquor stands out for its velvety roundness and unfolds a fruity, floral sweetness with a delicate pastry note. A lovely gateway into the family, and proof that oolong has other homelands beyond its native lands.

Ambre Bleu comes from a garden in Nantou County, in central Formosa, a lush mountainous region famous for its Sun Moon Lake. Its leaf has undergone a long oxidation, giving it complexity and elegance: on infusion, toasted walnut, strawberry tree honey and chestnut butter emerge, while the amber liquor unfolds rounded notes of nougat and dried fruit. A rich and refined blue tea, bridging the floral oolongs and the great dark oolongs of this stop.

Grand Oolong Fancy embodies the dark, noble side of the family. In Formosa, “Fancy” refers to the most heavily oxidised oolongs, sometimes up to seventy per cent. The leaf, long withered and oxidised, yields an amber, round and deep liquor with hints of honey, ripe fruit and precious woods. Close to black tea in its warmth, yet keeping oolong's aromatic complexity, it is savoured slowly, in small cups. The dragon in all its depth, halfway between green and black.

This is the only great tea in the world whose fragrance is triggered by an insect. On these Formosa plots, deliberately left untreated, tiny leafhoppers bite the young leaf; the plant responds by producing defence compounds, and it is these that create the notes of honey, ripe fruit and muscatel. The buds become covered in white tips, and the liquor turns amber and velvety. Here, forgoing pesticides is not an ethical choice but a technical necessity: no insect, no fragrance.