When Portuguese sailors first laid eyes to the towering, mist-shrouded mountains ninety miles from the shore of China they dubbed the island “Formosa” that the gorgeous island. The entire year was 1590 and it is unlikely that they could have understood the wide range and the beauty of teas.

The lengthy history of tea in Taiwan (formerly called Formosa) is an arc characterized by two objects: little family gardening and the parasitic. More than 90 percent of Taiwan’s total tea production is oolongs.

Taiwan doesn’t have geography for tea creation. With the elevation of plants limiting their plucking, four times annually are harvested by farms on the island. But the exact tradition: the humid cool and mountainous landscape, coupled with centuries of their experience inherited from Chinese tea civilizations and Japanese create teas nonpareil in caliber.

History

Even though the Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese would lay claim to the archipelago sooner or later, it was the Dutch that had been responsible for growing the tea business in Taiwan. The entire year was Taiwan and 1624 functioned as boats and a seafaring interface between China. Placed Taiwan for a tea producer, even as the Qing Dynasty reconquered and Taiwan that was merged with the Fujian province. Immigration to the island’s wave shifted its tea civilization.

During the upcoming decades, tea farmers in Wuyi areas and the Anxi poured, bringing their crops and tricks of this trade. The Nantou and Taipei areas became epicenters of household tea farming. At the moment teas have been developed for consumption rice and sugarcane stayed the money plants of Taiwan but from the late 1700s, the tea traded kicked into high gear.

In 1866 a dealer named John Dodd began championing teas. He offered to fund peasants who built factories in the capital, Taipei and consented to begin plantations, permitting farmers to command over every phase of creation.

This industrialization continued in 1895 together with all the conquest. More and more, Taiwan’s household footprints were transformed into mechanized factory farms. The Japanese provided tea pros training and introduced Tea Institutes. They endorsed tea manufacturing in the nation to prevent competition with their national tea marketplace.

Following World War II, Taiwan was reclaimed by the Chinese and reoriented it toward tea creation, intended with Japan and North Africa. From the war which spanned afterward, Taiwan became home into China’s Republic. Not able to compete with Japan becoming self-indulgent and also with the blossom to get tea markets, Taiwan adopted favorite and a fashion: the parasitic.

Power was growing and having a head for quality Taiwan returned from. Until the eighties, many teas have been also exported. These trends were culled by the authorities by projecting tea festivals, staging contests and launching museums. There are over 30,000 tea drinkers in the country with no longer than two.

Culture

Taiwan is the only manufacturer to rate all three facets of tea encounter when grading: taste, odor, and foliage appearance. They sponsor quality to be encouraged by tea contests in the growing areas. Farmers submit their teas to be judged by a panel of specialists, the teas have been given bronze, silver and gold medals. Farmers who create gold decoration teas are satisfied with renown and quite a large earnings from earnings of the harvest – in times, it generates a “futures market” for its tea, with clients buying out another year’s harvest before the foliage is on the shrub. Due to its fame, tea in Taiwan is imported at a rate of three times greater.

Famous Formosa Teas

Pouchong (“Bao Zhong”)

-This gently oxidized oolong has big, wavy, dark green leaves that give a light-hearted, golden-yellow cup. Processing entails a minimum quantity of rolling (every spin using just a single leaf) plus a mild roast. Pouchong translates into”paper wrapped,” a reference to the way the foliage was initially presented. The city of its source, ping lin, is located in the mountains half an hour from Taipei a day excursion for tourists and locals. This tea is cherished because of buttery feel, its delicate taste, and earthy undertones. Instance: Formosa Pouchong.

Tung Ting (“Dong Ding”)

-The earliest and most famous of Taiwanese tea fashions, Dong Ding is refined with mild or moderate oxidation and is famous because of its neatly wrapped Min Nan (bead or world ) style leaves in addition to its full, sweet and refreshing taste. Grown in altitudes exceeding 1,600 ft in the mountains of Nantou, Tung Ting is created among those originals attracted over in China’s Fujian province, in the Qin Xin cultivar. This tea boasts notes of lilac mouthfeel and a honey odor with a finish. Instance: Ali Shan.

Bai Hao (Oriental Beauty)

-Bai Hao is grown in the highlands of Hsinchu, a temperate state and can be oxidized between 65-70 percent. In the instance of the fashion, the Jacobiasca formosana insect bites leaves. This activates the release of hormone oxidation at the plant, which can be amplified by oxidation. It just so happens that this hormone is tasty. Buds and leaves which were bitten are chosen, providing Bai Hao its autumnal look. Start looking for smooth flavors of fruit, apple, and honey. Bai Hao’s possess a clean end and a complexity. Instance: Formosa Bai Hao.

Gao Shan Cha (“High Mountain Tea”)

-A wide classification, representing any tea that develops at a height of over 1,000 meters (3,300 ft) above sea level many Taiwanese oolongs fall into this class, such as Ali Shan, Li Shan, and Shan Lin Xi. Gao Shan chas are famous for their conspicuous aromatics, roasted vegetal tastes, decadent bodies, and luxuriant floral endings. Gao Shan Chas is increased mostly in the center of the island, on the Central Mountain massif, a few gardens flourishing at peaks well over 8,000 feet.