Peach

The peach (tao, 桃) is more than a fruit in China — it is the emblem of longevity and immortality: the peaches from the goddess Xiwangmu’s garden granted eternal life, and to this day the peach is the classic image on birthday gifts.

Taste and aroma in tea

Tea blends most often use white peach, the most fragrant and delicate kind. Its juicy, slightly creamy sweetness is at its best with oolong: the soft butteriness of the tea and the peach aroma amplify each other, making a round, almost dessert-like cup without a single spoon of sugar. Pieces of dried peach in the blend release their flavour gradually, steep after steep.

In the Chinese tradition

The peach tree is a guardian symbol and a sign of spring in Chinese culture: peach branches welcomed the New Year, and the poet Tao Yuanming named his land of peace and happiness the “Peach Blossom Spring”. In traditional thinking peach “moistens” and refreshes — a summer fruit that brings lightness in the heat.

How to brew

Brew peach oolong with water at 85–95 °C in short steeps. The aroma opens up from the second or third infusion, once the fruit pieces have released their sweetness; this tea is also lovely iced.