We had a wonderful visit to Li Shan for spring 2024 harvest. Li Shan (Pear Mountain) is the highest elevation and most prestigious high mountain tea producing region on the island of Taiwan. Li Shan is located much further north of both the Alishan and Shan Lin Xi regions. This offered the specific benefit of receiving much more rainfall in Li Shan during the spring growing season than the regions to the south.
Li Shan's elevations hovers around 2000m for most of the tea farms. This offers an alpine feel to the climate and has proven to be ideal for premium tea production. The spring harvest was blessed with ideal weather, and some of the finest Li Shan High Mountain Oolong spring tea we've had in years was produced.
One of the most distinctive factors about our source of Li Shan High Mountain Oolong Tea is that it is processed in the highest elevation tea factory on Taiwan! The photo above is the view from the factory of He Huan Mountain West Peak — boasting some of the most lush original growth forest within sight of any development. The small cluster of houses in the foreground was originally built when the Cross-Island Highway was built in the 1950's by the KMT soldiers who emigrated here from China. The tea factory sits on a hillside above it a 2400m!
We include this snapshot of the artisans tasting and discussing the day's produce to capture the serious professionalism that pervades the whole ordeal. These guys not only work for weeks-on-end during spring harvest without any break. They are intensely focused and constantly observing the results of their work. It's on a level that isn't quite comprehensible to those of us who don't actually do the work. Something seemingly as simple as depleting tea leaves of their water content in a seamless and uniform manner actually verges on the esoteric arts!
Watch the sourcing video for the full story with all the exciting visuals!
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