The quality of Taiwan’s alpine tea is internationally renowned, and the bidding price of the annual alpine tea garden harvest looks at tens of thousands of pounds in order to taste the unique sweet flavor of Taiwanese alpine tea. In addition to the difference in altitude, the unique “mountain gas” of high mountain tea cannot be concocted.
If you want to buy high mountain tea, you can first start from this article to understand the characteristic flavors of different high mountain tea production areas, as well as the efficacy of high mountain tea, the distribution of tea areas, with a basic understanding, choose a good tea is no longer foggy, and you can also choose the origin and flavor yourself!
Table of Contents
Definition of Taiwanese alpine tea
The so-called “high mountain tea” does not refer to a specific tea plant, but refers to tea grown in tea plantations in Taiwan more than 1,000 meters above sea level. Taiwan’s mountainous terrain, cloudy climate in mountainous areas, large temperature difference in morning and evening, has bred an environment suitable for growing tea, and the “mountain gas” of each mountain is different, and the tea planted will have different flavors even if it is the same kind of tea plant.
Compared with the flat land tea below 1000 meters above sea level, the planting environment and tea flavor are somewhat different, and the tea system suitable for making is also slightly different, high mountain tea is most used to make oolong tea, green tea and black tea also have many high-quality teas, all from the high mountain tea plantations, the price of high-quality tea, the higher the altitude, the more precious, every year the bidding price of each mountain tea garden can come to hundreds of thousands of yuan.
Distribution of alpine tea areas in Taiwan
The main production areas of Taiwan’s high mountain tea planting fall in Nantou County and Chiayi County, the three major tea areas of high mountain tea are: Chiayi Alishan, Nantou Shanlinxi, and Taichung Lishan, these three areas are scattered with large and small tea gardens, in the way of artificial planting and harvesting, continue to produce precious tea that absorbs the essence of the sun and the moon, among which, the tea leaves of Spero tea are selected from Shanlinxi, tea brewed to taste drink to freshen and sweet, the mountain is full of charm.
The tea leaves of these different tea areas grow in different water, soil and climate environments, what characteristics do they have? The following explains the characteristics of alpine tea in various parts of Taiwan.
Taiwanese alpine tea specialties
Because of the unique climate and good soil conditions in Taiwan’s high mountains, the tea planted tastes sweet and not bitter, because the sunshine time on the mountain is short, and the elements in tea that make the tea taste bitter: catechins and caffeine content are also less, but the content of theanine acid and sugar is higher, so that the tea has a sweet taste; The large temperature difference between morning and evening in the mountains and the lack of sunshine also make the tea firmly lock in nutrition, the leaves are thick and gummy, and the tea planted next to the mountain forest and fruit trees will have a light fruity aroma and fragrance.
Alishan alpine tea area
Alishan tea area is located in a temperate forest at an altitude of about 1000 to 1600 meters, famous tea areas include Fenqi Lake, Shizhuo, Dinghu, Dabang, tea varieties with Qingxin oolong as the majority, and a few Jinxuan tea trees, Alishan produced “Alishan Zhulu tea” is one of the top ten best teas in Taiwan.
Alishan tea area produced tea characteristics for tea soup golden, transparent and turbid, drinking smooth without astringency, but with a fresh and refreshing sense of wind, due to the high terrain, Alishan tea is fully artificially harvested, plus Qingxin oolong is more likely to get sick, need manual care, so Alishan tea area tea is very precious.
Shanlinxi Alpine Tea Area
Shanlinxi tea area is about 1000 meters to 1900 meters above sea level, located in Nantou County Zhushan Town, the famous tea area includes Yangzi Bend, Longfeng Gorge, the local area has a large cedar forest, clouds and mist, abundant rainfall, rich soil nutrition, cultivated tea plants and tea leaves are thick, the taste is more unique, belongs to the tea area with obvious mountain atmosphere.
▲Spero Tea – Shanlinxi oolong tea
Shanlinxi tea is also most commonly made into oolong tea, its tea leaves absorb the mountain atmosphere with floral aroma day and night, the color of the tea soup after brewing is golden and bright, it seems to have an oily shine, and the taste is actually sweet, which can leave a long fragrance between the teeth and cheeks, and drink less astringency, but make people feel full of energy.
Zhixi good tea from Shanlinxi:
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Lishan high mountain tea area
Lishan tea area is located in Heping District, Taichung City, the altitude reaches 1600 to 2500 meters, the height difference is large, and there are many tea tree species, of which Dayuling tea area is the highest average altitude tea area in Taiwan, because of the cold climate, the number of harvests is small, and the location is not easy to reach, tea in Lishan tea area can be said to be difficult to find.
The varieties of tea plants planted in Lishan tea area include Qingxin oolong, Wuyi tea and Tie Guanyin, and red fragrant tea is also planted at lower altitudes, Lishan soil drainage is good, surrounded by clouds and mist for many years, many tea gardens are adjacent to temperate orchards, coupled with a large temperature difference between day and night, tea stores sugar and nutrients, so that tea in Lishan tea area has a cold and restrained atmosphere, called “cold rhyme”, tea slowly releases the aroma after encountering hot water, the fragrance is simple and non-aggressive, and has a light floral and fruity aroma.
What is “Mountain Gas”?
Mountain gas refers to the cultivation conditions of tea plants in each mountain area in different natural environments.
Even the same kind of tea plant, in different nurturing environments, affected by water quality, soil, climate, light, surrounding plants, etc., the quality and taste of the tea produced will be different. For example, the tea planted in Lishan and Dayuling, in addition to the aroma of flowers and fruits, will also have a cold temperament unique to the mountains; The same tea tree grows in Alishan, and its taste will be soft and refreshing.
Therefore, which mountain the tea comes from, which mountain is influenced by the mountain gas, is also one of the important considerations for choosing tea, especially such as the Shanlinxi tea produced by Shanlinxi, which is very edified by the mountain gas, the flavor comes from the unique clean and mellow environment of Shanlinxi, drinking as if in the cloudy forest, the fragrance of the forest and the aroma of flowers and fruits brought by the distant breeze are mixed, captured and absorbed by the tea trees, stored in the tea, and then slowly dispersed through brewing.
Taiwan Alpine tea system
The most commonly made tea system of Taiwan alpine tea is oolong tea, the famous Qingxin oolong, Jinxuan tea, Shanlinxi tea, are all belonging to Taiwan alpine oolong tea, oolong tea is semi-fermented tea, both green tea-like fragrance and black tea-like roasting aroma, and alpine oolong tea than flat tea has no bitterness, rich in gummy tea brews a smooth taste of tea soup, not only repeated brewing does not reduce the aroma, cold or cold brewing taste is still very sweet.
Due to the fact that tea leaves need to be picked manually, and tea trees planted in the mountains require long-term maintenance, the price of alpine tea is mostly expensive, and the tea that can be certified and sold by tea farmers is of excellent quality, which is a high-quality tea respected at home and abroad.
High camellia effect
Oolong tea is second only to green tea and contains sub-catechuanachins.
Catechins have antioxidant effects, which can scavenge free radicals in the body and help reduce the possibility of cancer cell proliferation; In addition, catechins can also help lower blood sugar, blood lipids and blood pressure, and prevent cardiovascular diseases.
In addition to helping to prevent cardiovascular diseases, tea polyphenols and catechins in oolong tea have another effect: reduce the absorption of intestinal sugars and fats, help digestion, and stimulate metabolism; And oolong tea also has the effect of improving bad breath and preventing plaque and tooth decay, so many people will choose oolong tea as an after-meal drink.
Alpine oolong tea, over the general tea has the advantage of drinking too much tea, generally drinking too much tea will affect iron absorption, or gastrointestinal discomfort, but alpine oolong tea although contains catechins and caffeine, but the content is less, replaced by more sugar and gum, drinking smooth taste less bitter, for gastrointestinal and caffeine sensitive people, drinking alpine oolong tea is less likely to have uncomfortable symptoms.
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Explanation of the alpine tea brewing method
High mountain tea quality is excellent, whether hot brewing, cold brewing does not reduce its taste, repeated brewing is not easy to be light and tasteless or too rich, however, hard-won high-quality good tea, presumably everyone also want to be cautious, want to understand how to enjoy the fun of making tea, you can refer to this: tea brewing knowledge! The most detailed 5 steps to brew tea back to sweet tea, if you want to take Alpine good tea with you, cold brewed tea, tea bag brewing can also carry alpine tea with you to drink, do not worry about the taste is incomplete, and after many backflushing, the taste is still fresh and sweet!
epilogue
After reading the introduction of Taiwan high mountain tea, do you really want to drink the sweet and good tea brewed from Taiwan high mountain tea? If you want to know more about good tea, don’t miss Spero Tea on the official website of Spero Tea, which takes you to understand the world of tea; If you want to buy Taiwanese high-quality tea, hurry up to Spero Tea to choose from the official website!
Alpine good tea, just in Spero Tea:
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