Taiwan - Tea by Origin
Country Statistics & Tea Overview
Our Taiwan Origin Teas:
Green Teas
Young Hyson Item: 167 – Standard Min: 66Lbs [Kosher, Good for Iced Tea]
Origin: Sin Pu, Hsin Chu Hsien, Taiwan. Chinese for "flourishing spring." A make of green tea; in the eighteenth century the name was also applied to the tea drink. This tea is made from an early spring picking prepared using young leaves, twisted in a long, thin style. The flavor is fresh, but more full-bodied and pungent than other green teas.Lapsang Souchong Item: 205 – Standard Min: 66Lbs [Kosher]
Origin: San Hsian, Taipei Hsien, Taiwan. This leaf is almost coral black with one of the largest leaf grades in the industry. Placing the final product over a smoldering fire of green pine root flavors this tea. The Formosa varieties are lighter in cup but more heavily smoked than their counterparts from China. Often used in "Russian Caravan" blends, Lapsang Souchong is NEVER the cup for those that prefer a lighter, sweeter tea.Panfired Green - Item: 363 – Standard Min: 66Lbs [Kosher]
Origin: Lung Tan, Tao Yuan Hsien, Taiwan. A style of green tea, dried in a hot metal pan, which produces a thin, flat leaf. This tea is an excellent choice for blending with mint or lemon.
Pouchong Teas
Jade Pouchong Item: 604 – Standard Min: 5Lbs [Kosher]
Origin: Taiwan. The name Pouchong means "folded-sort" – so called from the practice of wrapping certain varieties in cotton "paper" during the oxidation stage. Although originally produced in the Fujian province of China, the majority of world production now takes place in Taiwan. Most grades of oolong, such as fancy, have been oxidized to approximately 70%, pouchongs are usually fired after only 10%. Pouchong teas tend to have a mild sweetness with floral overtones. The G.S. Haly Co.'s Jade Pouchong is an excellent example of a well-made pouchong leaf. The leaves are long and naturally twisted. The cup is very balanced and lightly sweet. The light emerald color does not give-away the surprising body and depth of this tea.
Oolong Teas
Fanciest - Item: 27313 – Standard Min: 10Lbs [Kosher]
Origin: O mei, Hsin Chu Hsien, Taiwan. Often referred to as the "Champagne of Teas," Oolong is often the personal choice of professional tea tasters. Fancy Oolong is hand picked once a year, when the flavor is at its finest. Mostly grown in the O mei area of the Hsinchu county, the leaves are naturally curly and the tender sprouts are picked during the peak of summer. This tea is a compromise between black and green tea. The leaves are only partly oxidized and turn a greenish brown. The term "Fancy" refers to the best grade produced and is distinguished by its delicate peach pit flavor while the "restaurant" type produces a heavy, flat, dark cup, more like a low grade China black. Oolong, although not much lower in caffeine, is considerably lower in acid content than black tea. The better grades have a crisp, dry, greenish brown leaf with silver tips. The common grades have a dark brown to black appearance with cruder, shorter leaves. Oolong Fanciest is truly spectacular. It is silver tipped and its oxidation level of about 40% makes the taste incredible. This tea provides many infusions and each have a different flavor profile.Choicest - Item: 27176 – Standard Min: 22Lbs [Kosher]
Origin: O mei, Taiwan. The extra large silver tipped leaf is beautiful.Standard - Item: 24270 – Standard Min: 55Lbs [Kosher]
Origin: O mei, Hsin Chu Hsien, Taiwan. The natural pan-fired leaf creates a full mellow cup.Green Dragon Oolong - Item: 228A – Standard Min: 11Lbs [Kosher]
Origin: Luku Township, Taiwan. This very lightly oxidized Oolong (less than 10%) is so sweet and floral you would think that it was perfume instead of tea. The cup is slightly buttery and nutty with a smooth finish and medium bodied mouth feel.
Black Teas
Broken Leaf BT - Item: 145 – Standard Min: 66Lbs [Kosher]
Origin: Lung Tan, Toa Yuan Hsien, Taiwan. A flat, flaky leaf with a dark cup and light liquor. This tea has become popular in recent years due to its low caffeine level, which is half that of regular black tea. It is an excellent tea base for heavily scented teas, such as cinnamon orange spice varieties.
Country Statistics
Area: 13,900 sq.miles (36,140 sq.km)
Capital: Taipei
Main Cities: Kaohsiung, Taichung, Tainan, Keelung
Languages: Mandarin Chinese, Taiwanese
Religions: Buddhist, Taoist, Christian, Confucian
Map of Taiwan
Overview of Taiwan's Tea Production
Known in the trade as Formosa, this island country is located in a sub-tropic climate with ample sunlight, appropriate temperatures and proper rain and moisture throughout the year to make this an ideal tea growing environment with a production season from April through November. Taiwan produces tea in black, green, pouchong, flower scented and is best known for its superior Oolongs.
Tea is cultivated mostly from plants originally from the Fukien province of China. Introduced to the island by immigrant workers, tea started as a "frontier activity" in the late seventeenth century. It was not until the Treaty of Tientsin concluded the first Opium War and the opening of four Taiwanese ports to international trade in 1860 that tea became a commercially viable export. During the last part of the 1800s, tea planting, production and export grew exponentially. By 1902, tea accounted for 85% of all of Taiwan's export trade.
Recent years have seen a marked decline in the number of acres under tea. In 1972 the country showed its largest peak in production with 31,400 tons with 106,000 acres dedicated to tea. Currently there are 52,000 acres given over to the cultivation of tea, producing over 22,000 tons per year. Production per acre has gone up because of new practices in planting, picking and processing.
Taiwan's modern tea industry continues to restructure itself. Besides the obvious loss of land to more urban development, the industry continues to suffer a shortage of labor as the workforce looks for more opportunities in the urban economy. The bright spot in all this is that oolong teas are the only type of production that can be economically viable on a small scale. Taiwan's 6,000 family-owned farms can continue Oolong production without suffering from a loss of volume as will be more likely with the larger commercial farms.
