Gui Fei貴妃

Gui Fei is a bug-bitten oolong from Nantou, Taiwan. Brew it at 90°C with 5g of leaf per 100ml of water; expect up to 9 short infusions in a small gaiwan or teapot. No rinse needed.

Tasting notes

Cousins with Oriental Beauty but built differently. Gui Fei is bug-bitten too — same leafhopper, same defensive-terpene honey character — except here the leaves get ball-rolled and given a light roast, so the cup pours rounder and more resinous where Bai Hao stays airy and wine-like. Expect dried apricot, forest honey, a muscatel hum under everything, and on a good one a roasted-sugar edge that keeps the fruit from going cloying. Brew it slightly hotter than Oriental Beauty — around 90°C — because the light roast and the tight pellets need a bit more help to open. Don't rinse. The first infusion is where the honey terpenes land hardest, and rinsing them away is exactly the mistake people make coming from roasted Chinese oolongs. Give steep one about 15 seconds, watch the leaf unroll, then run short pours through the middle and stretch later ones. Nine steeps is not unusual.

Flavor profile

Invented by accident in 1999 when Nantou earthquakes delayed the harvest and leafhoppers bit the summer leaves. Named after Yang Guifei, one of ancient China's four great beauties. Ball-rolled and lightly roasted, producing a rounder, more resinous profile than Oriental Beauty — dried apricots, forest honey, and muscatel wrapped in a smooth, sweet body. The bug-bitten terpene character is present even in unbitten neighboring plants through volatile signaling.

Terroir

Mid to high elevation mountains of central Taiwan, Dong Ding area

Cultivar: Qing Xin

Brewing

1. Steep 1: 15 seconds
2. Steep 2: 12 seconds
3. Steep 3: 12 seconds
4. Steep 4: 15 seconds
5. Steep 5: 20 seconds
6. Steep 6: 25 seconds
7. Steep 7: 30 seconds
8. Steep 8: 40 seconds
9. Steep 9: 50 seconds

Slightly higher temperature than Oriental Beauty (90C vs 85C) because the light roast and ball-rolling give Gui Fei more structure. Still no rinse — you do not want to waste the first infusion's honeyed terpenes. The balled leaves need the first steep to open.

Aroma & taste

Processing

• leafhopper-bitten
• heavily withered
• extended oxidation
• ball-rolled
• lightly roasted

Sources

• https://meileaf.com/tea/honey-duchess/
• https://teadb.org/gui-fei-mei-ren/
• https://teadb.org/tea-from-vietnams-gui-fei/