There
are many commercial web pages offering to sell you tea from Taiwan but most are
not very helpful in helping you learn about the different kinds available and
how they are produced. There are in fact very few good sites. Most explain that
there is white, yellow, green, oolong, and red (or
black) tea depending on how fully the leaves are allowed to wilt and oxidize before they are dried, with the
destruction of their green chlorophyl and the oxidation
of their essential oils, a process also (wrongly) termed ¡°fermentation.¡± Most
of the tea produced in Taiwan is more or less oxidized and generally
categorized as Oolong Tea è¡×£ó± (Black Dragon, a name
for which there are various explanations).
The differing tastes of these varieties of tea depend in part on the cultivars
from which they are made. There are many cultivars, and more are
constantly being produced by research institutes. However, more
important than the cultivar is the skill with which the tea is
dried.
Tea
is picked throughout the year, so that another way of categorizing the
different kinds specifies whether a particular tea is from the spring, summer, autumn, or winter picking. The
difference between tea made with small leaves
and large leaves is also significant.
Different
kinds of tea are produced in different parts of the island, but with a lot of
overlap and the diversity of names is inevitably confusing, with every tea
garden (plantation) using its own name but often selling their tea under a more
familiar generic name. Many of the finest oolong teas are supposed to be from
the highest mountains, and are therefore often termed Kaoshan (ÍÔߣ high mountain), a name
especially associated with the tea from Mount Ali (Alishan)
in the southern part of Taiwan.
A brief list of the major varieties of tea and their main
production areas:
1.
Pao-chung tea
(øÐðúÒþ
paper-wrapped tea) : Wenshan area
Paochung tea differs from oolong tea
not because of the species of tea plant but due to the degree of fermentation.
The paochung process calls for only 15 percent fermentation, while the figure
for the other varieties is as high as 60 percent. This gives paochung its
refreshing flavor. People who prefer paochung tea like to say it has the clear
color of a full moon. Other varieties, however, range from golden to brown. The
name is a relic from an earlier practice of wrapping the leaves in paper before
drying them. Possessing an exquisite floral bouquet, this variety is lighter
in flavor than its better-known cousin from central Taiwan, the strong-tasting
oolong tea.
The
rural township of Pinglin is located only 40 kilometers (south)east of Taipei City.
The scenic hills surrounding the small town provide a bountiful yield of
paochung tea. Pinglin has few tourist amenities apart from its mountainous
landscape and the largest
tea museum in Asia. The town has a population of only 6,000 people,
four-fifths of whom are tea farmers.
2.
Tiehkuanyin tea (ôÑκëåó±): Mucha area of Taipei
Mucha
lies on the outskirts of Taipei, within easy reach of the subway¡¯s Taipei Zoo
station, rather than the staion named ¡°Mucha¡±. This tea is often known as ¡°Iron
Buddha¡± tea although Kuanyin is more correctly the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara. A type of tea that used to be exclusive to the Fukian
(Fujian) province of China. Noted for its large leaf size, multi-layered
peach-like fragrance, and ability to withstand many infusions, this tea has a
legend associated with it. Back in the days of yore, there was a poor tea
farmer who lamented over the condition of a temple that was dedicated to
Kuan-Yin, the Goddess of Mercy. Financially unable to repair it, he thought
that the least he could do was to burn incense and clean the place twice a
month. One night Kuan-Yin appeared to him in a dream and told him to look in
the cave behind the temple for a treasure. He was to take it for himself but
also to share it with others. There he found a single tea shoot which he
planted and cultivated into a bush with leaves that produced a singularly fine
drink. He began selling it under the Kuan-Yin name, and gave many cuttings to
his neighbors. All prospered, and eventually the temple was repaired. Plantings
(or "jets") of this sub variety are now planted in many areas of
China, as well as Taiwan.
3.
Tung-ting oolong tea (ÔÐð¢ Frozen Peak è¡×£ó±): Luku Township, Nantou
county
In
1865, when the scholar Lin Feng-chih crossed the Taiwan Straits his hope was to
pass the imperial examination in Fujian province and become a government
official. On his return to Luku, however, he brought more than the good news of
his success. He also brought home 36 plants from the famous tea gardens of Wuyi
Mountain. In the next few decades, trade with the West ensured a steady demand
for oolong tea, and the plants from Wuyi Mountain proved ideal for oolong
production. Tung-ting means ¡°Cold Peak¡± and is the name of the mountain rising
above Luku (Deer Valley), where the tea grows. There is a Tea culture Museum
in the center of Luku.
4.
Pilochun tea:(Ü¡Õ¢õðó± Spring green snail tea) Sanhsia area in the southwestern
tip of Taipei County,
A
green tea. The name Pi Lo Chun (Bi Luo Chun, Bi Lu Chun) in Chinese means
"Spring Green Snail". The name was given by the Emperor Kang Xi in
the seventeenth or eighteenth century who felt the steeped tea looked like tiny
green snails. Pi Lo Chun is one of China's famous rare teas. Although it may be
grown in China and Taiwan, it originated from two mountains in the west part of
Dongting in Suzhou province, China. The tea leaves for Pi Lo Chun are only
picked once a year during mid-March to mid-April when the leaves are at their
peak. The tea is hand picked for just the leaf and its bud. It takes 60,000 to
80,000 leaf-bud sets to produce one pound of finished Pi Lo Chun tea. Due to
the stringent selection process for high quality leaves, this tea is not widely
available. According to fable, it originated from a tea tree watered by the
tears of the dragon-betrothed girl Bi Luo as she cried for her dragon-slain
(same dragon) beloved and then herself died - supposedly the tree sprouted
leaves the next spring.
5.
Kaoshan tea (ÍÔߣó± high mountain tea): from A-li-shan ä¹×ìߣ Mount Ali, or Ri-shan, or other high mountains
This
is the most widely known general name for lightly-oxidized oolong tea, much of it picked in winter and
therefore termed ¡°Winter tea¡±. Among the oolongs grown on Mount Ali, tea
merchants tend to stress the special qualities of Jin Xuan (or
Chin-Hsuan, ÐÝýÀ Gold Lily) tea, which is
really the name of a cultivar developed in Taiwan in the 1980s. The oolong tea
made with it has a particularly deep flavor. In Ruili (at 1000 meters) we
bought some very fine tea and visited the factory and tea field of the man
making it. A series of pictures taken there can be seen at this
site (click on the thumbnail to start a slideshow).
6. Pai-hao
(white-hair) oolong tea (ÛÜûÆè¡×£ó±): from Fujian or Hsinchu counties
This tea is also
sometimes known as ¡°Oriental Beauty¡± (ÔÔÛ°Ú¸ìÑ).
There is also a page that offers to translate into English
the romanized name of your Chinese tea.
I have also put online a set of ¡°atmospheric¡± pictures taken
during a recent visit to the region of Taipei.