The Taiwan Tea Research and Extension Station has provided farmers with many clonal varieties of tea bushes developed from the Ti Kuan Yin and Shuixian cultivars brought from the mainland by Chinese immigrants. Such new varieties as Qing Xing, Jin Xuan, and Sijichun focus on vigor and hardiness, pest and disease resistance, and weather tolerance.
TAIWAN’S FAMOUS TEAS
Approximately fifty thousand acres of land is planted with tea throughout the island. The mountainous Wenshan area of Taipei county lies east of Taiwan’s most populated city, Taipei City. This region is home to Baozhong or WenShen Baochong oolong tea, which is produced in the townships of Pinglin, Shidin, and Hsintien. In Mujha and Shihmen townships Tie Guan Yin tea is a regional production that resembles Taiwan’s most famous oolong, Tung Ting. Sansia Longjing tea is a flat-leafed specialty tea from the Sansia district of Taipei county. Many tea farms are located close to Taipei City, and the Taipei City Tie Guan Yin Baozhong Tea Research and Promotion Center can help visitors tour some of the surrounding tea gardens and local teahouses. In Pinglin, the center of the Baochong production, the Taiwan Pinglin Tea Industry Museum offers visitors a full tea education. Not far from the museum, small tea factories line the road, scenting the air of the surrounding countryside with the aromas of freshly dried tea. For the most intrepid tea enthusiasts, a visit to the Taoyuan Tea Experimental Station in Yangmei district provides opportunity to find out about the latest advances in tea cultivation, processing, and plant breeding.
In the central region of Taiwan, in Nantou county, the area surrounding Luku and Jhushan townships is forested and heartrendingly beautiful. This area of rolling foothills is adjacent to the central mountain range and natural recreation areas, such as the Fenghuang Valley Bird Park and the Hsitou Bamboo Forest, which offer respite to people as well as birds and animals and is a natural ecosystem that benefits the tea. This is serious tea country, and by government accounts Nantou county claims one-third of Taiwan’s 44,447 acres of tea gardens and is home to the fragrant Tung Ting oolongs.
Tung Ting oolong. Approximately twelve thousand residents of a total population of twenty thousand are tea farmers. An earthquake in 1999 wreaked serious havoc on this region, but out of the ashes of that disaster the Luku Farmers Association Tea Culture Museum was erected. Now, this town holds an annual tea festival in the spring, celebrating Tung Ting, their most prized product.
This specialty of central Taiwan is oxidized between 15 and 25 percent and has an elegant, earthy flavor, which is the result of a more prolonged roasting than that given to Baozhong oolongs in the north. Central and southern oolong teas are ball-rolled, which results in leaves that are tightly rolled into irregularly shaped balls. This shape, along with a lustrous green-gray color, gives Tung Ting a distinctive appearance. Spring-plucked Tung Ting has a fine, full flavor; winter plucked has a light, fruity flavor. These teas brew clear yellow in color, sometimes tinged with a bit of green.
Once a year the county tea farmers participate in an annual tea-tasting competition. Farmers submit samples of their fresh tea. The grand champion tea usually fetches close to $2,000 for a “chin” (1.25 pounds) of the winning tea. First-place winners can expect to receive $400 to $800 a chin for their winners. A small quantity of black tea called Sun Moon Lake Black Tea is also produced in Nantou county in the Puli and Yuchih townships.
Tung Ting Mountain, which translates as “frozen peak,” has an elevation ranging from 1,900 to 2,624 feet. The summit is often enshrouded in clouds and mist, providing the perfect nurturing environment for the cultivation of tea in elevations. Tung Ting was first planted here in the latter part of the Qing dynasty from twelve plants brought from Fujian, China, which were then propagated to establish the first tea gardens. Tung Ting oolong tea producers pride themselves on the quality, not quantity, of their production.
Jin Xuan oolong. In addition to Tung Ting, Luku village also produces oolong tea called Jin Xuan, which is made in either leaf or ball style. Jin Xuan oolongs are mild and naturally sweet tasting, with light, honey-colored infusions. These teas are manufactured from a modern clonal variety of tea bush.
Tianhe oolong. To the west of Nantou county, the East Rift valley in Hualien county is known for Tianhe oolong, a high-end oolong with a distinctive flavor and aroma that is popular with Taiwanese tea connoisseurs.
Fulu oolong. In this remote area tea farming is demanding work. For tea farmers life is hard, but they are dedicated to the tea that has always fulfilled their lives. The southernmost tea grown in Taiwan is Fulu tea from Luye township in Taitung county. Fulu tea is not produced in large quantities, but it is of excellent quality and features some characteristics of both Wenshan Baozhong and Tung Ting oolong teas.
Baozhong or WenShen Paochong oolong. Baozhong is the least oxidized of the Taiwan oolongs; it is given just a 10 to 15 percent oxidation and minimal panning, rolling, and roasting. Its amber-colored leaves are long, twisted, and slightly curled. The tea liquor infuses to a delicate, pale golden color, which locals say is the clear color of a full moon. High-grown Baozhong acquires a creamy, rich flavor, with virtually no astringency and a delicate, flowery aroma.
Bai Hao oolong (Oriental Beauty or White Tip oolong). The best Bai Hao oolong is produced from summer to late-summer leaf that is plucked between July and October. Oriental Beauty has a very distinguishing story and character. The leaves of these tea bushes are home to a little parasitic leaf hopper that feeds on the leaves and discolors the edges. Farmers wait until these little insects are well established on the tea bushes before picking the leaves. The chomping begins an enzymatic process in the leaves that is essential to developing the character of this tea. When these leaves are picked and dried, the chomped edges of the leaves turn white, contrasting like strands of white hair against the darker areas of the leaf. The more tips the tea has, the better the quality. Most Oriental Beauty is oxidized 35 to 40 percent and has a lovely honey, peachy flavor. This tea was developed in Taiwan right after World War II and is sometimes marketed to the West as Champagne oolong, while in Taiwan it is sometimes called Pingfang tea. It is grown in the north, in Bepu and Emei in Hsinchu county and in Toufen in Maioli county.
Alishan oolongs. In Chiayi county the Alishan Mountains are home to the famous peaks in southern Taiwan, where these acclaimed oolong teas are made. Alishan is a place of inspiration and contemplation to the Taiwanese, and it features the nourishing clouds and mist phenomenon so valuable to high-grown tea. Alishan produces oolongs that grow above 7,200 feet, the highest altitudes of any tea in Taiwan. These leaves mature slowly in the thin air and only grow at a rate that allows them to be plucked twice a year. Alishan oolongs are big in size and chewy in style—it is not uncommon for the tea to be made from a series of bud and four or five leaves. Most Alishan oolongs are given a light oxidization to underscore, not overwhelm, the naturally sweet, delicate flavor of the leaves. Local tea producers sing the praises of Gold Lily oolong, which is also known as Jin Xuan, so named for the tea cultivar it is made from.
Ti Kuan Yin. Taiwanese Tie Guan Yin teas are a large, somewhat loose semiball-shaped teas, which are made in the northern part of the island in Mutza and Shimen townships. The oxidation is 35 to 40 percent, which produces a slightly red color in the cup. The aroma of these teas is distinctive, floral, and sweet, and the flavor is earthy, hearty, and slightly woodsy. Taiwan Tie Guan Yin is produced from clonal varieties of the Tie Guan Yin bushes originally brought from Fujian Province.
TEA-TASTING COMPETITIONS
On December 6, 2005, an important national tea tasting and tea auction was conducted in Taipei City. In this competition, for the first time, all of the regional winners of local tea-tasting competitions in Taiwan in 2005 were able to compete against each other in a national contest. Fifty top growers were evaluated in the first tasting round, and from these twenty-five teas were selected to compete in the finals. Seven judges officiated the final tasting, and points were scored on three criteria: appearance of the dry
leaf, color of the tea, and aroma and taste of the tea.
The winning tea—an oolong grown by Lin Mei-mei of Taiping village in Meishan township, Chiayi county—fetched a whopping $14,400 for slightly more than one pound of leaf. Although this is an astronomical sum of money, it proves what we tell our customers all the time—that even in China and Taiwan the best teas are costly. The only cheap tea in China is just that, cheap tea.
Sri Lanka: Small in Size but Mighty in Tea Production
The tropical island paradise of Sri Lanka lies fifty-five miles off the southern tip of neighboring India and has the perfect climate and soil conditions for cultivating tea. Despite its small size—271 miles long and 137 miles wide, roughly the size of West Virginia—Sri Lanka is one of the world’s leading tea exporters and the third-largest tea producer. This is an amazing accomplishment, considering how much larger the tea-producing landmass giants India and China are in comparison. The splendid weather and perfect growing conditions in the densely planted tea-growing areas of central Sri Lanka allow for intensive, nearly year-round harvesting.
Thirty-eight subdistricts in six regions of varying sizes located in Sri Lanka’s center employ more than a million workers who are responsible for bringing the country’s tea to market. The tea industry is the largest employer in Sri Lanka, and most tea workers are Indian Tamils from southern Sri Lanka who are descendants of plantation workers originally brought from southern India by the British in the nineteenth century. Large tea plantations management companies such as Bogawantalawa Plantations and Agalawatte Plantations oversee the management of numerous tea estates. These tea estates are comprised of many smaller tea gardens; the tea is sold under the estate or garden name, and in many cases each garden will produce numerous teas of differing styles each season.
Approximately 650 tea estates covering 481,855 acres of land produce all of Sri Lanka’s tea. Large tea estates may have several tea factories to process all of their own tea. There are reported to be just more than two thousand different garden marks for Ceylon teas. Much of Sri Lanka’s tea is sold as simple blends and marked 100 percent pure Ceylon tea, which contrasts with the tea that has specific garden marks to signify origin and place. Ceylon tea is found in the marketplace in various ways. The following list, from the most general tea to the most specific, provides some examples:
Ceylon tea blends: 100 percent pure Ceylon tea.
Region-specific teas: Dimbula or Nuwara Eliya tea.
Estate-specific tea: Labookellie Estate Tea.
Garden-specific estate teas: Bogawantalawa Estate, Loinorn Garden.
Ceylon tea is often hailed as the world’s best fruity black tea. It is renowned for its briskness of flavor and clarity in the cup. Sri Lanka excels in the production of fine black tea, and produces only a small amount of green tea. In this tropical, verdant paradise, the mist-shrouded mountains, dense jungles, and deep ravines of Sri Lanka’s central highlands provide the perfect combination of high altitude, plentiful rains, and brilliant sunshine, which yields the best leaf. Ceylon teas have distinctive personalities—a rich, brisk taste and a bright golden to rosy red color. Rainfall from the annual monsoons drench the island with forty-five to seventy inches of rainfall a year, providing a sound watering for the island’s lush green carpet of tea bushes that blanket both the central highlands and the southern lowlands.
Although tea is grown from the edges of the southern coast near Galle up into the central highlands, the famous Ceylon teas grow in the highlands. Tea is the main agricultural livelihood on the island, and land is planted extensively. Despite Sri Lanka’s diminutive size, it has vastly changing growing conditions, varying elevations, and changing weather, all of which affect the tea’s taste. Differences in geographic location result in varying soil composition, while the amounts of sun, rain, and wind, and the effects of altitude all conspire to impart singular nuance of flavor and style to the cup. These differences work together to create specific terroir. Crosswinds that blow across the island regulate dryness and humidity, creating a micro-climate that is unlike anywhere else on earth. The five highest mountains in Sri Lanka are all located in the high-elevation tea-growing regions, as are more than a hundred waterfalls that sparkle throughout the landscape.
SIX DISTINCT GROWING REGIONS
The six tea-growing regions in Sri Lanka—Dimbula, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Ruhuna, Uda Pussellawa, and Uva—are broadly located in six different elevations. The geography of each region is unique, and local microclimates conspire to affect the flavor characteristics and body of the specific teas. Although each tea has the brisk, fruity flavor and clean style that we have come to expect from a Ceylon tea, it also possesses distinctive characters that are a reflection of each one’s particular terroir. Whether one is looking for specialty grade tea designated by a single garden or valley, or the popular full-bodied Ceylon blends that deliver satisfying flavor, body, and style, Ceylon teas are known as “the cup that cheers.”
As is the case with most tea, the finest tea grows in cool, misty reaches high in the mountains, where thinner air slows the leaf’s maturation and growth. Sri Lanka’s high-grown tea is perfectly located to maximize the local wind patterns, which bring dry and cool breezes across the island. Ceylon tea is cultivated at three altitudes and is broadly classified as a high-grown tea, a mid-level tea, or a low-grown tea (see below for more on each classification). Whether someone is looking for a stylish self-drinking single-estate beauty, a flavorful mid-level tea for economy, or a low-grown tea for adding strength to a blend, Ceylon tea offers a flavor that is unlike any other and is always in demand.
ORTHODOX TEAS ARE THE FOCUS
Sri Lanka primarily produces orthodox black tea, which is sold as self-drinking tea from single estates, or it is used to contribute style and polish to English-style black tea blends. It is the most expensive tea to produce and is the type of tea that connoisseurs treasure. Ceylon teas are fruity and brisk, thus differing from the flowery teas of Darjeeling or the more astringent and robust teas of Assam. They are thirst-quenching either hot or iced and carry other flavors well. Many fruit-flavored teas (such as lemon, mint, raspberry, and red currant) use flavorful Ceylon tea as a base.
This style of brisk, flavory tea brought Ceylon teas much acclaim during the British colonial days. But the Sri Lanka Tea Board decided to change its production methods in 1994 and to offer incentives to tea factories that were willing to turn production over from orthodox leaf manufacture to CTC manufacture. The idea was to allow Sri Lanka to compete with the tea factories in Indian, Kenya, and Malawi for a market share in CTC tea production. These teas are cheaper to produce and less distinguished in flavor, but there is a huge market for them with commercial tea packers and blenders, who use them to strengthen and fortify tea blends for use in teabags or iced-tea blends.
The scheme was a giant failure. The temporary retreat from traditional orthodox tea production cost Sri Lanka both in tea sales and in world-class status as a producer of luxury tea. This temporary exclusive focus on CTC production removed the romance and glory from Ceylon tea, so the decision was made to convert back to the old ways of orthodox tea production. Today the emphasis is again on quality and leaf style, and although a small amount of CTC is still made there, Sri Lanka has regained its former stature in the world tea market by renewing its commitment to quality flowery, flavorful orthodox tea.
HOT, TROPICAL MICROCLIMATES RESULT IN ABUNDANT LEAF
Sri Lanka is unique among tea-producing countries in that tea is picked and processed year-round. Because of the tropical climate and the monsoon seasons, tea bushes do not have a dormant season; rather, they flush with tender new leaves all year long. This constant plucking means that Ceylon teas do not have a first- or second-flush designation assigned to them. The bushes are forced to rest every four years, by heavy pruning that cuts each plant back to just a few inches above the soil. Within five months of this hard pruning, the bushes will have regrown and begun to leaf out again, and plucking t
hus resumes. The height of the bush is then kept stable by plucking the bushes to table height.
Sri Lanka’s tea bushes are propagated from mother tea bushes that supply close to a thousand cuttings a year. New clonal varieties of tea plants are being introduced by the Sri Lanka Tea Research Institute to increase yield and hardiness. Because of the reliably favorable weather across the island, tea bushes generally flush with their first usable leaves by the third growing season. The average life of tea bushes is longer in the highlands than in the lowlands: approximately fifty years versus thirty-five years.
Ceylon tea grows in a quadrant of the island that is known as the Wet Zone. Although tea is picked year-round (except during the height of the monsoon season), the quality varies from month to month. In some tea areas at certain times of the year, such as Uva and Dimbula, the unique micro-climate brings a complex set of factors—mainly temperature, moisture, and winds—to bear on the tea. This results in tea with special style and flavor characters. Known as “seasonal quality” teas, these teas possess clear, light liquor in the cup and brisk, bright flavors. Some areas do not experience the weather changes that bring a seasonal quality period, but they still produce outstanding teas. Sri Lanka’s central mountain range divides the country into two distinct climate seasons, resulting in a dry season and a monsoon season on each side of the island. As the monsoons occur during different times of the year, the monsoon season in one area sets up optimal weather conditions on the opposite side of the island.
The Story of Tea Page 27