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Red Jade, a.k.a. Taiwan Tea #18, is a hybrid large leaf cultivar that is unique to Taiwan. The indigenous wild tea tree that grows naturally in the mountain forests of Taiwan was cross-bred with the Assam strain from India. This initially occurred naturally when the Japanese introduced the Assam strain to the Sun Moon Lake area of Taiwan in the early 20th century. Chinese immigrants to this area had already been cultivating the indigenous tea strain, which eventually cross-pollinated with the new Assam strain.

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's Tie Guan Yin Oolong, as it is made in the Muzha tradition, is the most heavily oxidized and heavily roasted of all Taiwan's renowned Oolong (partially oxidized) tea types. The photo above shows the leaves when they are approaching the desired degree of oxidation, before the tumble heating/kill green step of Oolong Tea making.

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.

Summer is here and it's hot out! There's no better way to beat the heat than with an icy cold refreshing glass of home-brewed iced tea! Here we show you what we think is the ultimate way to make a thirst-quenching glass of loose-leaf iced tea!

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.

Above we can see the Pinglin District to the southeast of Taipei, but still within New Taipei City limits. Pinglin is not far at all from Taiwan's largest metropolis, but it feels more remote and rural than most developed regions on the island of Taiwan. It really feels like a relic of the past, in stark contrast to the modern city nearby. This rural community that produces a world-renowned tea is a historical landmark in its own right. We are privileged to represent this specialty tea in the international tea community.

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!

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.

Our spring 2022 batches of our Taiwan tea hybrid cultivars are now in store! All three of these teas are "Made in Taiwan", and have become popular tea types since they were introduced about 40 years ago. Jin Xuan Oolong is the most well known and most popular among tea lovers around the world.

With the arrival of our spring batch of Taiwan Dong Ding Oolong Tea, we were inspired to brew it alongside our Traditional Dong Ding Oolong as well as our current edition of the Eco-Cha Tea Club — which also happens to be a Traditional Dong Ding Oolong. All three teas were harvested this spring from the same community in Lugu, Taiwan.

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.