News

Shan Lin Xi High Mountain Oolong Summer 2022 | Eco-Cha Teas
We had ideal weather conditions for the summer harvest of Shan Lin Xi High Mountain Oolong, following a growing season that was conducive to uniform new leaf growth on the tea bushes. The previous spring growing season was unusual in that it remained cool through May! So the spring crop was slow growing and somewhat similar to a typical winter growing season, although we had sufficient rainfall.

Alishan High Mountain Jin Xuan Oolong Summer 2022 | Eco-Cha Teas
Our summer 2022 batch of Alishan High Mountain Jin Xuan Oolong is an exemplary representative of this category of Taiwan Tea! It is lightly oxidized, offering pronounced milky/buttery notes which the Jin Xuan cultivar is famous for. Given the weather patterns through the early spring growing season compared with the late spring growing season — the second flush offers a more classic Alishan Jin Xuan flavor profile.

Roasted Shan Lin Xi High Mountain Oolong | Eco-Cha Teas
It's the above award that inspired us to have the second half of our winter 2021 stock of Shan Lin Xi High Mountain Oolong roasted by our close friend who cultivated it. He entered his own roasted version from this same crop into the Lugu Farmers" Association Dong Ding Oolong Tea competition and received Top Category Award (within the top 2% of all entries). When we heard the news, we promptly requested his services to roast the remainder of our procured share in the same fashion as this top award winning tea!

Taiwan Eco-Farmed High Mountain Oolong Tea Spring 2022 | Eco-Cha Teas
Eco-Cha's source of Eco-Farmed High Mountain Oolong is the most remote and natural setting of a tea farm that we have seen in Taiwan. Located on aboriginal land, adjacent to Yushan National Forest Park, it's got a lot going for it — thanks to the husband and wife team who manage it. Our spring batch of tea is a 50/50 blend of two days harvest from their two plots of tea. These two days of harvest were entered separately in the this year's national organic tea competition, and both received awards.

Taiwan High Mountain Oolong Tea Spring 2022 | Eco-Cha Teas
Spring Tea is the most popular among Taiwan's High Mountain Tea fans. Generally speaking, spring harvest offers the most aromatic and fresh flavor profile. In the end, however, each batch of tea has its own unique character. So we are going to take this opportunity to taste all 3 of our spring High Mountain Oolong Teas simultaneously, and while doing so, offer some background information about each growing region and how they differ from each other.

Li Shan High Mountain Oolong Spring 2022 | Eco-Cha Teas
Our spring 2022 batch of Li Shan High Mountain Oolong Tea is now on the shelf! Li Shan is a place name that means Pear Mountain. Li Shan High Mountain Tea is the most prestigious name of Taiwan Tea overall. It is home to the highest elevation tea farms on the island of Taiwan, and the climate is ideal for producing the best quality leaf — in the world, arguably!

Taiwan Celebrates International Tea Day | Eco-Cha Teas
On the occasion of International Tea Day, Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted a video on their Youtube channel about Taiwanese tea culture in which we participated. Eco-Cha was asked to share a day in the life of our world of tea. So the first introduction was to our tea family and mentors Tony and Lisa Lin. We just sat in the backyard and had tea, like we usually do, and talked with the film makers about the local industry and culture.

Shan Lin Xi Taiwan High Mountain Oolong Tea Spring 2022 | Eco-Cha Teas
Spring 2022 Taiwan high mountain tea harvest is slowly but steadily working its way up the mountain! Lower and mid-elevations were harvested by mid-April. Alishan High Mountain Oolong was mostly harvested by the last week in April, as Shan Lin Xi High Mountain Tea picking began.

Taiwan Dong Ding Oolong Tea Country | Eco-Cha Teas
Dong Ding Oolong Tea Country is the biggest hub of Taiwan tea culture. Soon after the KMT took control of Taiwan, the area on and around Dong Ding Mountain was determined to be the best location to develop tea cultivation.

Spring 2022 Looking Good for Taiwan Tea!
Reservoir levels in northern and central Taiwan are all almost at full capacity now. This shows Taiwan has had sufficient rainfall, along with traditionally low temperatures through the winter, unlike last year when there was a drought. This all bodes very well for the upcoming spring tea harvest!

Top 5 Taiwan Teas in 2021 | Eco-Cha Teas
Taiwan many kinds of tea but have you ever wondered what's the most popular? Well, we've compiled an overview of our top 5 best selling Taiwan Teas of 2021 to offer some perspective on the popular names in Taiwan Tea.

Taiwan High Mountain Tea Overview Winter 2021 | Eco-Cha Teas
We taste tested our three new batches of winter High Mountain Oolong Tea -- Shan Lin Xi, Alishan, and Li Shan. We can see the difference in the oxidation levels of the tea leaves in the coloration of the brewed tea. We can see a higher degree of oxidation in the Shan Lin Xi and less oxidation as we move to the Li Shan.