Taiwan Cultivars (needs cleaning)

Jin Xuan - #12 Milk Oolong
Qing Xin

Ok, there are a lot of ways to categorize teas. Most people already know the “6 types,” green, yellow, oolong, black, white, and pu’er, but most people who drink tea regularly know there are a lot of variation within each type as well. To make categorizing teas a step more complicated (but much more accurate), I think people should know three main things:

1. Cultivar
2. Processing method
3. Production area

Cultivar refers to the type of tea plant used to grow the tea. People like pointing out that all tea comes from the same plant (camelia sinensis), but this is a bit of a misnomer. Broccoli, cauliflower, kale, cabbage, and brussels sprouts also all come from the same plant (brassica oleracea), but they’re all categorized as different vegetables. The same should be done for tea. Tea production is thousands of years old. There are many different cultivars of a tea plant. Some cultivars came about naturally, some through very careful selective breeding programs. Different tea cultivars will have different qualities and tastes.

Processing method refers to how the raw leaf is processed into the dried product we purchase. The “6” types of tea are related to this. But, as I stated before, there are many differences within each category. These inter-category differences are a result of specific processing methods. One important part of tea processing that is left out from the “6-types of tea” (especially for oolongs) is roasting/baking. Oolong teas are expected to be roasted/baked after the main processing is completed. Roasting can vastly change the taste and characteristics of a tea, and roast level (ranging from low heat to high heat and short to long roasting times) is an integral part of categorizing oolongs. Do note, roasting is different from fixing (heating the leaves early in the production process to end enzymatic oxidation), heating (done during the processing of certain teas to change pliability, water content, and shape) and drying (heating teas towards the end of the production process to remove moisture).

Production area refers to where the tea was produced. While price is most affected by production area, I find it to be the least important when categorizing tea. Teas that use the same cultivar and processing method, grown in different areas, will still end up being pretty similar. However, production areas are important when you consider how certain tea production areas have hundreds of years of production history (which often leads to matching the best cultivar with the best production method) and organizations that help maintain a standard taste/quality through competitions. These things are important, so people shouldn’t go as far as to say production areas don’t matter at all.

All right, let’s begin:

*important note: TRES refers to Taiwan’s “Tea Research and Extension Station,” an organization linked with Taiwan’s Ministry of Agriculture that’s the biggest semi-governmental research association in charge of supporting and promoting Taiwan’s tea industry. They have been selectively breeding cultivars and conducting scientific research on teas for decades.

Tea Cultivars (this is JUST for Taiwan)

• Qingxin 青心 (Other common names: ching-shin, high mountain oolong, oolong, ruanzhi—though it is not the same ruanzhi as the Anxi version)
  • Description
    • Qingxin is by far the most widely grown tea cultivar in Taiwan, making up about 60% of all tea produced in Taiwan. Qingxin traces its origins to the original tea plants brought over by Fujianese settlers in the 1700-1800s. The primary origin was cuttings from Northern Fujian tea plants, but a degree of hybridization with other tea cuttings brought to Taiwan (often from Southern Fujian) has occurred, making it its own unique cultivar. Since it was developed as a result of uncontrolled hybridization and trial-and-error crossbreeding, there’s a degree of difference between different qingxin bushes in different areas of Taiwan. It can be considered an “heirloom” varietal. It is an incredibly versatile cultivar and responds well to all sorts of processing techniques. However, it can be harder to grow than other more modern cultivars, having lower yields and requiring more pesticide usage.
  • Commonly processed into:
    • High mountain oolong (both light and roasted versions)
    • Pouchong oolong
    • Dongding oolong
    • Guifei oolong
    • Red oolong
    • Small-leaf variety black tea
    • Generic tieguanyin
  • Primary Production regions
    • It is grown in nearly all tea producing regions in Taiwan.
    • The vast majority of all tea grown in high mountain regions (1000m+) is qingxin oolong.
  • Fun Facts
    • The environmental degradation of high mountain areas due to qingxin farming is something the Taiwanese government is becoming more aware of in recent years. Many of the highest altitude plantations in Dayuling were shut down in the 2010s for this reason. Current Taiwanese tea research and government funding is going towards expanding lower altitude plantations and newer cultivars for environmental protection and to increase the varieties of teas on the market. Consumer preferences haven’t followed suit, yet, which is why this is still the most popular cultivar in Taiwan, today.
• Jinxuan 金萱 (Other common names: #12, #27, milky oolong)
  • Description
    • Jinxuan was created by TRES through careful selective breeding. It was officially given the name jinxuan in 1981. It is the third most commonly grown cultivar in Taiwan, making up a little <14% of the market. It is easier to grow than qingxin and yields more tea per acreage, having been selectively bred to exhibit these qualities. It has a very unique taste when lightly oxidized/lightly roasted, but also responds well to heavier roasting. Unfortunately, it is not suited for high mountain (1000m+) cultivation as its taste qualities do not benefit from higher altitudes the same way qingxins do. For these reasons, tea made from jinxuan will be cheaper than teas made from qingxin.
  • Commonly processed into:
    • Low oxidized low roast jinxuan oolong
    • Pouchong oolong
    • Generic tieguanyin
  • Primary Production Regions
    • Alishan (including Meishan)
    • Mingjian
• Sijicun 四季春 (Other common names: 4 season spring, 4 season oolong)
  • Description
    • Sijichun is a varietal created by trial and error crossbreading by tea farmers in the Taipei area. Sijicun is the second most widely produced tea in Taiwan, accounting for a little over 14% of the market. It is one of the cheapest teas to produce in Taiwan, as it has very high year-round yields and grows in a pattern that can be harvested by machines. Due to its cheap price, it is commonly used as a base tea for packaged and/or bottled mixed tea drinks. It is almost exclusively grown in low altitude, high yield mechanized tea plantations.
  • Commonly processed into:
    • Sijichun tea (a very lightly oxidized and often unroasted tea that’s supposed to be cheap)
    • Pouchong oolong
    • Generic tieguanyin
  • Primary Production Regions
    • Muzha/Pinglin/Wenshan
    • Mingjian
• Qingxin Damou 青心大冇 (Other common names: Ching-shin dah-pan)
  • Description
    • Qingxin damou, like regular qingxin and sijichun, was developed by trial-and-error selective breeding by farmers in the North-West region of the island. The north-west region (Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Miaoli) is the center of oriental beauty production in Taiwan. Oriental beauty is a bug-bitten tea, a type of tea that is high in a terpene compound that resembles the taste and smell of honey. Certain tea plants release the unoxidized precursor of this terpene compound when bitten by a specific species of grasshopper native to the region (or when neighboring plants are bitten). Qingxin damou is the result of many generations of tea plant cross-breeding to create a cultivar that responds best to this bug-biting process. It is not the only cultivar that produces this honey-scented compound, but it apparently does a better job than other cultivars. About 6% of Taiwan’s tea is from this cultivar.
  • Commonly processed into:
    • Oriental beauty
    • Honey-scented black tea
  • Primary production regions:
    • Hsinchu/Taoyuan/Miaoli
• Cuiyi 翠玉 (Other common names: #13, Jade oolong)
  • Description
    • This was another tea created by TRES to be a high yield, low altitude grown oolong similar to sijichun. It was named in 1981. Unfortunately, since it's not as high-yield as sijichun and doesn't have as unique of a flavor as jinxuan, it’s been falling out of favor to other tea cultivars. It takes up about 3% of Taiwan’s tea production.
  • Commonly processed into:
    • Generic low-oxidized low-roast oolong
  • Primary Production Regions:
    • Mingjian
    • Northern Taiwan
• Hongyu 紅玉 (Other common names: Red ruby, #18, Sun Moon Lake black tea)
  • Description
    • This was a tea created through selective breeding program by TRES. It was the result of crossing a Burmese-origin var. assamica tea plant with an indigenous Taiwanese camelia formosensis tea plant. It is, in my opinion, the most unique tea cultivar in Taiwan, and perhaps the most unique variety in all East Asia. Unfortunately, it doesn’t grow very well, and like qingxin, requires a lot of pesticides and has low yields.
  • Commonly processed into:
    • Sun Moon Lake black tea
  • Primary production region:
    • Yuchi (Sun Moon Lake)
• Hongyun 紅韻 (Other common names: Red rhyme, #21, Sun Moon Lake black tea)
  • Description
    • Another TRES cross, this time between an Indian origin var. assam with a keemun black tea var. sinensis cultivar. Another unique tea in its own right, being a mix between an Indian assam and a Chinese keemun.
  • Commonly processed into:
    • Sun Moon Lake black tea
  • Primary production region:
    • Yuchi (Sun Moon Lake)
• Assam 阿薩姆 (Other common names: Taiwanese Assam, #8, Sun Moon Lake black tea)
  • Description
    • A generic name given to the var. assamica varieties of tea grown in Yuchi Township. These tea bushes were brought over from India/Burma by Japanese colonists in the early 20th century.
  • Commonly processed into:
    • Sun Moon Lake black tea
  • Primary production region
    • Yuchi (Sun Moon Lake)
• Taiwanese Indigenous Mountain Tea 台灣原山茶 (Other common names: formosensis, mountain tea, shancha)
  • Description
    • An indigenous, wild tea variety that existed in Taiwan before Fujianese settlers came over in the 1600s. The origin is unclear, and there is still debate within the scientific community of whether its an independent camelia species (camelia formosensis) or a variety of camelia sinensis. Many commercial versions of this tea cultivar have been hybridized with other tea cultivars, or are cuttings from wild bushes.
  • Commonly processed into:
    • Oolong tea
    • White tea
    • Tea cakes
    • Sun Moon Lake black tea
  • Primary production regions:
    • Yuchi (Sun Moon Lake)
    • Liugui
• Ganzai 柑仔 (Other common names: qingxin ganzai)
  • Description
    • Another trial-and-error farmer selective breeding variety. Due to its smaller leaf size when compared to other Taiwanese tea cultivars, it is suited for green tea production.
  • Commonly processed into:
    • Green tea (Taiwanese biluochun and longjing)
  • Primary Production Regions
    • Sanxia
    • Wenshan/Pinglin/Muzha
• Tieguanyin (正欉)鐵觀音 (Other common names: Tieguanyin, Tie Kuan Yin, Iron goddess)
  • Description
    • Another historical cultivar that can trace its origins to tea cuttings brought to Taiwan from Southern Fujian settlers, probably from Anxi. A level of divergence has occurred between the tieguanyin cultivars in Anxi, but they’re still somewhat similar.
  • Commonly processed into:
    • Authentic tieguanyin
  • Primary Production Region
    • Muzha
• Others
  • There are many more varieties, but few are used in commercial operations. Some are other heirloom varietals whose origins can be traced to Fujian (Xueli, Foshou, Wuyi). Other varieties are TRES produced hybrids that, like other TRES cultivars, are labeled by number, ie. #7, #19, #23, #24 etc. etc.

Tea Processing Methods (including commonly named tea styles)

Green tea

• Description
  • Teas that undergo minimum levels of oxidation through withering, followed by immediate fixing (or firing) to stop enzymatic oxidation as early as possible. Rolling and/or drying happens after fixing. Taiwanese green tea production follows Chinese-styles, so they are dry heat processed rather than steamed like Japanese green teas.
  • Green teas are relatively uncommon in Taiwan, except for the ones produced in Sanxia, New Taipei City.
• Examples and explanations
  • Biluochun 碧螺春 (aka green snail spring)
    • Primarily made from the ganzai cultivar.
    • a tightly rolled green tea that’s processed in the same way Chinese biluochuns are.
    • NOTE: The cultivar used to make Taiwanese biluochun is unrelated to the cultivar used in Suzhou’s biluochun. The only thing similar is the processing style.
  • Longjing 龍井 (aka dragonwell)
    • Primarily made from the ganzai cultivar
    • A pan-fried green tea that’s processed in the same way Chinese longjing teas are.
    • NOTE: the cultivar used to make Taiwanese longjing is unrelated to the cultivar used in Hangzhou/West Lake’s longjing. The only thing similar is the processing style.
• Primary Production Region
  • Sanxia

Oolong tea

• Description
  • A highly processed tea that is partially oxidized (levels vary dramatically) through periodic withering, shaking, bruising, and/or rolling before undergoing fixation to stop enzymatic oxidation. After fixation, teas are rolled and sometimes strongly compressed into little balls and dried before being roasted. Some roasts are at very low temperatures (60-80c), some roasts are at medium to high temperatures (80-160c). Roasting dramatically changes the flavor compounds in the tea.
  • Oolong tea is by far the most widely produced tea in Taiwan. However, oolong tea is not very common worldwide, with production primarily only being done in Min-speaking areas of China/Taiwan.
  • Because of its complex processing and variety of styles, oolong teas can vary widely in taste and appearance.
• Examples and Explanations
  • Pouchong 包種茶 (aka baozhong tea, baozhong oolong)
    • One of the first type of tea produced in Taiwan. The processing method follows Northern Fujian-style oolong processing, which means it doesn’t undergo ball compression (the process that makes the dense little balls of tea).
    • In modern versions, this is a very lightly oxidized oolong (8-15%) that is expected to be highly floral in flavor. It undergoes withering, shaking, fixing, rolling, and roasting. Stems are removed. Historically they were roasted medium-heavily, but now they are roasted at minimal levels to help retain their floral features.
    • Primarily made from qingxin, qingxin damou, sijichun, and many other tea cultivars.
    • Wenshan Farmer’s Association is the primary organization running taste competitions for this style.
  • Qingxiang oolong/Generic low oxidized, low roast oolong 清香形烏龍 (aka high mountain oolong, gaoshancha. When made from the jinxuan cultivar it may also be called milky oolong. When made from the cuiyu cultivar it may be called jade oolong. Many tea producing regions will simply name this style of tea with their mountain name, such as Dayuling tea or Lishan tea)
    • Currently the most popular style of oolong in Taiwan, although this is a relatively recent development. The teas are fixed early on after both sun and shaded withering and shaking. Withering and shaking is expected to oxidize the tea to about ~15-25%. They are proceeded to be rolled for very long periods of time and compacted heavily into dense balls through repeated heating and compression before being dried. Some amount of stem is left on the final product, although thicker, redder stems are usually broken off after drying. Low roast versions are often baked at around 60-80c for a short period of time to increase “sweetness” and lower “grassiness” and astringency. Unroasted versions of this tea are also common.
    • Qingxin, jinxuan, sijichun, and cuiyu are all frequently processed into this style.
    • Renai, Alishan, and Heping district farmer’s associations are major organizations running taste competitions for this style (although there are many more)
  • Beixiang oolong/Generic low oxidized, medium roast oolong 焙香形/半熟香烏龍 (aka roasted Taiwanese oolong, half shouxiang, roasted high mountain oolong)
    • Same as above, but roasting is done at a higher temperature and/or a longer period of time to bring out nutty, sweeter flavors at the expense of floral and grassy notes.
  • Shouxiang oolong/Generic heavy roast oolong 熟香型烏龍 (aka traditional oolong, roasted oolong, mature oolong, aged oolong)
    • Same as the above two styles but leaves usually go through more oxidation and much heavier roasting, often multiple times.
    • Some shouxiang oolongs are aged for 5-30+ years
    • The following two styles (dongding and tieguanyin) are named variations of the beixiang and shouxiang styles
• Generic dongding 凍頂 (aka Tungting oolong, Icy Peak oolong)
  • The overall process is similar to the above tea, except these teas undergo longer oxidation periods through withering and shaking (until around 20-50% of the leaf is oxidized. Modern dongdings are less oxidized, traditional dongdings are more). After fixing, they are often roasted multiple times on low-medium heat. Modern dongding, unlike tieguanyin, is expected to retain some grassy/vegetal/floral notes in addition to roasted flavors.
  • Two versions exist:
    • Seasonal dongding – unaged dongding. Processed then immediately sold.
    • Aged dongding – Processed, roasted, then aged for many years. Sometimes they are re-roasted every few years. Aged dongding can be anywhere from 3-25+ years old.
  • Generic dongding is made from qingxin, or other tea cultivars, grown anywhere in Taiwan
  • Authentic dongding is made specifically from qingxin grown near Dongding, a small mountain in Lugu, and processed in Lugu Township, Nantou. Tea production from Dongding is becoming increasingly low as authentic dongding tea is not as popular as it once was. The majority of dongding tea is now sourced from other mountains.
  • Lugu farmer’s association and Dongding tea cooperative are the two bodies that run tea competitions for this style (note: they accept generic dong ding, not only authentic)
• Generic tieguanyin 鐵觀音 (aka Tie Kuan Yin, Iron Goddess, Muzha tieguanyin)
  • The overall process is similar to above, with varying oxidation levels (20-50%) but with a stronger roast profile. Taiwanese tieguanyin is expected to be heavily roasted at medium to high heat.
  • Generic tieguanyin is made from any cultivar of tea in Taiwan, mainly qingxin and jinxuan.
  • Authentic tieguanyin is made from the original tieguanyin cultivars brought to Taiwan from Southern Fujian. These are rarer and more expensive, as there aren’t many commercial farms still growing this cultivar, except in Muzha.
  • Tieguanyin production in Taiwan has diverged from modern tieguanyin production in China. There can be large differences between the two. One way of differentiating them is using the terms Anxi tieguanyin (for Chinese tieguanyins) and Muzha tieguanyin (for Taiwanese tieguanyin). But do note, generic tieguanyin from Taiwan isn’t only produced in Muzha.
  • Muzha farmer’s association is the main organization that runs tea competitions for this style
• Red oolong 紅烏龍
  • This is a newer style of oolong tea slowly becoming popular in Taiwan. Unlike the other oolong styles, enzymatic fixation happens after rolling/crushing rather than before, which leads to a very heavily oxidized tea (50-70%). This tea is also rolled tightly into balls.
  • Because it’s a newer style, many farmers use easier to grow/more environmentally friendly tea cultivars for production.
  • Luye Farmer’s Association and the Red Oolong Grower’s cooperative run a tea competition for this style.
• Primary Production Region
  • Oolong is produced everywhere in Taiwan, except maybe Sanxia and Yuchi (Sun Moon Lake).

Black Tea

• Description
  • Teas that are withered, bruised, and rolled (cheaper varieties are cut and torn) without fixation for long periods of time to allow for complete oxidation. Once oxidation is finished, they are directly heat-dried. They are almost never further roasted.
• Examples and Explanations:
  • Sun Moon Lake black tea 日月潭紅茶 (Ruby Red, Red Rhyme, Assam, Taiwan indigenous mountain tea)
    • Any black tea produced in Yuchi township (Sun Moon Lake). They are almost never rolled into tight balls and exist as strips of whole leaf or CTC tea.
    • The four main cultivars grown there are hongyu, hongyun, assam, and Taiwanese indigenous mountain tea. Each tea is processed the same way, but have different characteristics based on the cultivar used.
    • Yuchi farmer’s association runs competitions for this style of tea.
  • Small-leaf variety black tea 小葉種紅茶 (aka high mountain black tea)
    • Any generic fully oxidized black tea made using qingxin/qingxin-like tea cultivars. Many high mountain tea production regions produce this type of black tea with their summer harvests, as summer harvest oolongs don’t taste as good as spring/winter ones. They are also rarely balled/compressed.
    • Mingjian and Meishan farmers’ associations run competitions for this style of tea
• Primary production regions
  • Yuchi (Sun Moon Lake)
  • Black tea is produced everywhere in Taiwan, just at a lesser number than oolongs.

Bug-bitten teas (sub-category of oolong and black teas)

• Description
  • These are a type of tea that are high in a terpene compound that resembles the taste and smell of honey. Certain tea plants release the unoxidized precursor of this terpene compound when bitten (or expect to be bitten. It’s a really complicated scientific process that’s not 100% understood) by a specific species of leafhopper (jacobiasca formosana). For the honey flavor to develop, these teas must be heavily oxidized.
• Examples and Explanations
  • Oriental beauty 東方美人 (aka dongfang meiren, pongfong tea, honey-scented oolong, white hair oolong, baihao oolong)
    • A very time consuming and unforgiving style of oolong tea that is oxidized (50-60%) enough to develop the honey-scent flavor, but not too much to lose certain desirable oolong qualities. When produced improperly, the tea can be highly astringent or bitter. They are often roasted at low levels to further develop sweetness. These teas are not compacted into little balls, and higher-grade versions will be comprised primarily of small buds, similar to silver needle white tea.
    • Oriental beauty is produced primarily by the qingxin damou cultivar.
    • Miaoli and Hsinchu’s farmers’ associations run competitions for this style of tea.
  • Guifei 貴妃烏龍 (aka honey concubine, honey-scented oolong)
    • Another bug bitten tea that is produced in a similar way to Dongding oolong. They are tightly rolled and often roasted more than a typical oriental beauty. This is a newer style of tea that is being promoted by Lugu tea farmers in response to less people buying dongding tea, and to take advantage into the growing popularity of bug bitten teas.
    • Since this is a newer style of tea, a variety of cultivars are used in its production.
    • Lugu Farmer’s Association runs competitions for this style of tea
  • Honey-scented black tea 蜜香紅茶
    • A bug bitten tea that is allowed to fully oxidize, unlike the other two partially oxidized bug bitten teas. The full oxidation is more forgiving to the development of ideal flavors, so this is often the cheapest available bug bitten tea (doesn’t mean it’s bad at all). Like other black teas, these are rarely roasted.
    • Like guifei, since it’s a newer variety, many different tea cultivars are used for its production.
    • Ruisui and New Taipei City’s farmers’ associations run competitions for this style of tea.
• Primary Production Regions
  • Hsinchu, Miaoli, Taoyuan, East Rift Valley, New Taipei City, Lugu.

White tea

• Description
  • A tea that undergoes nothing but long periods of controlled withering before being dried. They are not rolled or bruised (but they can be more oxidized and darker than green teas due to their long withering periods).
  • Taiwan historically produced very little white tea, but that is slowly changing due to the current rising popularity of white tea.
  • Since white tea is so minimally processed, they are primarily marketed as a specific tea cultivar’s “white tea” version.
• Examples and Explanations
  • Hongyu white tea 紅玉白茶
    • White tea made from the hongyu cultivar
  • Wuyi white tea 武夷白茶
    • White tea made from a historical cultivar that was brought by Fujianese settlers from the Wuyi mountains. It’s a pretty rare tea.
  • Taiwan indigenous white tea 白山茶
    • A white tea produced from the Taiwan indigenous mountain tea cultivar. Some producers have begun using tea cake production methods to create this newer style of “wild” tea, similar to what’s going on in Yunnan.
• Primary Production Region:
  • Anywhere tea is grown in Taiwan, just in significantly lower quantities than oolongs or black tea. They’re more experimental and produced during processing downtimes out of boredom.

Scented Teas

• Description
  • Teas that have been scented with certain flowers or fruits, usually by using oil and scent concentrates
  • Scented teas are not too common, but there are some producers making them. The majority are made with low oxidized low roast balled or strip oolong base teas.
• Examples
  • Osmanthus scented oolong/pouchong tea 桂花烏龍茶
  • Jasmine scented oolong/pouchong 茉莉烏龍茶
    • I personally am a huge fan of jasmine scented jinxuan tea from Huatan, Changhua. I find it to be much more delicate than jasmine scented teas from China.
  • Orange blossom oolong/pouchong 橙花烏龍茶
  • Pomelo blossom oolong/black tea 柚花香茶
• Primary production region(s)
  • Huatan, Changhua, a region that grows jasmine flowers
  • Ruisui, Hualien, a region famous for pomelos

Pu’er Tea/heicha/aged tea/tea Cakes

• The closest thing Taiwan has to pu’er teas are tea cakes produced in Liugui by Taiwan indigenous mountain tea producers. Some have been wet-fermented (making them a cooked heicha) but others have been processed as white tea and pressed into cakes.
• Some shouxiang oolongs benefit from long aging, often up to 30 years. Dongding is the most commonly aged tea.
• Some distributors age Yunnan pu’ers in Taiwan and resell them from Taiwan afterwards.

Yellow tea

• Taiwan does not mass-produce yellow tea. The only time I’ve seen yellow tea marketed was from an individual producer in Miaoli who picked tea from feral/abandoned tea farms and made yellow tea as an experiment. It was quite pricey.

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Tea Production Areas

(Again, the differences between these regions aren’t as large as some vendors make them out to be. Cultivar and processing technique will have a much bigger impact than production region)

High Elevation Central, Yu, and Alishan Mountain Range 中央玉山及阿里山山脈

• Description
  • This is Taiwan’s current most famous tea production region, but this is a recent development. It is located in a ~120km belt from Alishan (a mountain range) in the south-west to Lishan (a group of multiple mountain peaks) in the center-north. There are lots and lots of subdivisions within this tea region, but commonly named areas are as follows (there can be overlap between these groups):
    • Lishan 梨山
    • Huagang 華崗
    • Dayuling 大禹嶺
    • Fushou Mountain 福壽山
    • Hehuan mountain 合歡山
    • Yushan 玉山
    • Qilai Mountain 奇萊山
    • Shanlinxi 杉林溪
    • Alishan 阿里山
• Cultivars grown and teas produced
  • Teas produced in these areas are high mountain teas (teas grown at an altitude above 1000m). The vast majority are the made from the qingxin cultivar. They mainly produce low oxidized low-medium roast oolong teas. Small-leaf variety black tea is also produced, usually from summer tea flushes.

Low Elevation Central and Alishan Mountain Ranges 中央及阿里山山脈

• Description
  • These are the regions below 1000m that are concentrated along the Alishan Mountain Range and the lower hills and ridges in the Central Mountain Range. They include (some overlap):
    • Portions of Alishan 阿里山
    • Meishan 梅山
    • Gukeng 古坑 (although many farmers have switched to coffee in this area)
    • Lugu 鹿谷
    • Portions of Zhushan 竹山
    • Mingjian/Songbolin 名間 / 松柏林
• Cultivars grown and teas produced
  • Since these are lower altitude regions, a bigger variety of teas cultivars are grown here. Qingxin, jinxuan, and sijuchun are the most common.
  • Lower altitude areas of Alishan and Meishan are famous for their low oxidized, low roasted jinxuan.
  • Authentic dongding (made from qingxin) is from Lugu.
  • 1/6th of all tea produced in Taiwan is from Mingjian (owing to mechanized, low altitude, high yield sijichun, jinxuan, and cuiyu production)

North-West Region 西北部、桃竹苗 (low elevation slopes of Xueshan Mountain Range)

• Description
  • The primary and historic production center of oriental beauty tea is located here. The main townships producing teas in this region are:
    • Tongluo, Miaoli county 銅鑼鄉
    • Toufen, Miaoli county 頭份市
    • Beipu, Hsinchu county 北埔鄉
    • Emei, Hsinchu county 峨眉鄉
    • Longtan, Taoyuan city 龍潭鄉 (this one overlaps with the North region)
  • Cultivars grown and teas produced
    • Most of the tea produced here is oriental beauty from the qingxin damou cultivar. Some places still sell heavily oxidized and roasted aged oolong tea (fanzhuang tea), which the area produced before oriental beauty became popular. Feral “wild” tea from abandoned tea fields can also be found and produced.

North Region 北部、雙北及桃園 (low elevation slopes located in Taipei/New Taipei City/Taoyuan)

• Description
  • This is the historical origin of Taiwan’s tea industry, although it has lost a lot of market share to the Central/Alishan mountain range production areas. There is a lot of varieties grown/produced here. Primary subregions are:
    • Sanxia 三峽 a valley/gorge off the northwestern slopes of the Xueshan Mountain Range
    • Muzha/Pinglin/Wenshan 木柵/坪林/文山 on the farthest northern slopes of the Xueshan mountain range.
    • Longtan 龍潭鄉
    • Lala Mountain 拉拉山
    • Yangming Mountain 陽明山
• Cultivars grown and teas produced:
  • Historical green tea production (made from the ganzai cultivar) is centered in Sanxia
  • Historical pouchong production (made from qingxin, sijichun, and other various cultivars) is centered in Wenshan and Pinglin, also home to Taiwan’s largest tea museum.
  • Historical tieguanyin production (made from tieguanyin, jinxuan, and sijichun cultivars) is centered in Muzha.
  • Smaller regions have been growing more bug-bitten teas in Taoyuan and New Taipei city.
  • TRES’s headquarters is located in Taoyuan, which can be considered as part of this region.

Yuchi (Sun Moon Lake) 魚池、日月潭

• Description
  • This is the historical production area of the 4 primary Sun Moon Lake black tea varieties. The history behind this location is pretty cool, since, unlike most other Taiwan tea production regions which began from Fujianese settlers using Fujian tea cuttings, this area was developed by Japanese colonists using Indian tea cuttings. When colonial India’s black tea market was booming in the early 1900s, Japan decided to develop Indian style var. assam teas in Taiwan to profit in this market. The history behind this area is pretty interesting.
• Cultivars grown and teas produced:
  • This place produces Sun Moon Lake black tea, namely from hongyu, hongyun, assam, and Taiwan indigenous mountain tea cultivars.

East Rift Valley 花東縱谷

• Description
  • This region, as the name implies, is located on the mountainous slopes in Taiwan’s East Rift Valley. The two primary subregions are:
    • Luye, Taitung
    • Ruisui, Hualien
• Cultivars grown and teas produced
  • This is a relatively new tea production region and a large variety of tea cultivars are grown here. TRES is investing a lot in developing this region’s tea industry. The two most famous teas produced here are red oolong (primarily from Luye) and honey-scented black tea (primarily from Ruisui).

Liugui 六龜

• Description
  • This is a region located on the southern slopes of the Central Mountain Range (in Kaohsiung) where many indigenous Taiwanese (Indigenous Austronesians that populated the island before Chinese settlers/colonizers came in the 1600s) grow cuttings of Taiwan indigenous mountain tea. Wild tea can also be found by those who know where the trees are.
• Cultivars grown and teas produced:
  • Taiwan indigenous mountain tea is grown here. White, oolong, and black teas are produced. Indigenous Taiwanese mountain tea cakes (the closest thing Taiwan has to pu’er) are produced here.

Gangkou 港口

• Description
  • The southernmost tea producing region in Taiwan. It is located in Manzhou Township, Pingtung county and is part of Kenting National Park. It is a very small region, but it has a long history.
• Cultivars grown and teas produced
  • A very unique cultivar, called Xueli 雪犁, is grown here. It is usually processed into a green or black tea. This is a very rare tea, and hard to buy unless you visit the region directly.

Matsu Islands 馬祖島

• Description
  • Taiwan’s northernmost tea producing region… that’s not even located on Taiwan. It’s located in the Matsu Island chain, a Republic of China (Taiwan) administered territory off the cost of Fuzhou, Fujian. This is also probably the smallest tea producing region. I don’t even know which island it’s on, what cultivars they grow, and how to buy tea from there. All I know is the area exists and they make black and oolong tea. If I’m not mistaken, it’s all grown by one guy, 邱垂旺。

That took a lot longer than I expected. You guys might want to use ctrl+F to find more specific things that you’re looking for. Feel free to leave comments and questions below. I’ll do my best to respond to them.