The honey notes in this tea come from the bites left by the green leaf hopper as the tea grows. This is only possible when the leaves are grown in a pesticide-free environment to allow the bugs to eat the leaves. The tea is processed by a skilled master, resulting in a comforting melody of honey, brown sugar, and ripe fruit. This farm can boast consistent wins in the annual tea competitions, and we are proud to be offering their teas to our customers.

What is Honey Flavor Tea?
Honey flavor tea (also known as Mi Xiang, honey fragrance or honey aroma tea) is an emerging class of teas that has been developed in Taiwan relatively recently. There exist honey fragrance green tea, honey fragrance black tea, penfeng cha (also known as "Oriental Beauty" or "White-tip Oolong"), guifei (also known as "Imperial Concubine") honey fragrance red oolong, tieguanyin, etc. Despite such a variety of teas, the actual produced amount of honey flavor tea is still relatively low.

How was Honey Flavor Black Tea developed?
The Taitung branch of the Tea Industry Improvement Center developed honey flavor black tea. In addition to focusing on the taste of black tea, using the leaves that the small green leafhopper feasted on. Such raw material alleviates the elegant aroma and quality of black tea. As such, honey flavor black tea is perfect for both cold and hot drinks. When cold-brewed, the honey aroma is more mellow. At present, honey flavor black tea has become a specialty tea in the Huadong region, especially the tea produced in Wuhe Village, Ruisui Township, Hualien County, which is of excellent quality and has become the representative tea of ​​Hualien County. We are proud to offer exactly this tea from that area.

What gives the "honey flavor tea" its renowned taste?
While we don't know how the "honey fragrance" chemical components are formed in the leaves, the scientific community has at least been able to identify them. Thanks to Akio Kobayashi's team's research, we now know that it's the 3,7-dimethyl-1,5,7-octatrien-3-ol;  2,6-dimethyl-3,7-octadiene-2,6-diol and 3,7-dimethyl-1 that are considered to create the "honey" aroma in the tea. At least part of these compounds form thanks to the small green leafhopper sucking on the tea leaves before they are harvested.

Is Honey Flavor Tea safe to drink?
Yes, this tea is absolutely safe. The small green leafhopper bites change the flavor of the tea but don't produce any harmful substances. In fact, farmers avoid using pesticides to attract these bugs to graze on their tea farm and rely on natural farming to keep the natural habitat of the leafhopper intact.