May 25, 20222 min read

Honeybrook, a comforting black tea tastes like honey

A naturally sweet tea harvested in the summer. Organically grown where the tea jassids trigger the tree to release a honey like sweetness. Aroma of fresh honey. A smooth tea with a hint of dried plum.

Jacobiasca formosana is important in the production of this tea. It can only be achieved where the plantation suffers very little pollution and uses virtually zero pesticide. Most of the time, this tea is naturally organic. The insects, which thrive in warmer, pollution-free environments, suck the phloem juices of the tea stems, leaves, and buds, producing monoterpene diol and hotrienol which give the tea its unique flavor.*

Eastern Beauty is also a tea that depends on tea jassids to create its one of the kind flavor. However, Eastern Beauty are usually lighter-fermented and is more floral and fruity whereas a honey black tea like Honeybrook is usually more fermented and tastes rounder and has a sweetness of darker color sugar.

Honeybrook comes from TTES #12, which is commonly called jinxuan. Jinxuan is a tea that has a creamy finish with a hint of vanilla.

I first got into this type of tea is when I was living in Hualien, a city right between the mountains and the Pacific, on the east side of Taiwan. Even now, I still remember the smell of the ocean whenever I smell this comforting and rounded tea.