Taiwan Specialty Tea

　　High-mountain Oolong tea is a lightly fermented tea in the category of partially fermented teas. Among Taiwan specialty tea flavor wheels it is in the category of Fragrant Ball-Shaped Oolong Tea. The fresh tea leaves undergo processes including solar withering, indoor withering and stirring, panning, mass-rolling, and drying, causing the tea to form a tight ball shape. The color of the tea leaves is a fresh emerald green, while the liquor color of the steeped tea is honey-green or honey-yellow. The taste is smooth, sweet, mellow, and brisk, while the fragrance is delicate and stands up well to steeping. It is a unique Taiwanese tea in which equal emphasis is placed on both aroma and flavor. Grown at altitudes in excess of 1,000 meters above sea level, it enjoys the cool climate, the morning and evening mist and fog, and the relatively short average hours of sunlight of the high mountains. The leaves contain relatively lower levels of bitter components like catechins, with higher levels of components that contribute to a sweetish taste such as theanine and soluble nitrogen. The leaves are soft and the mesophyll is thick, with high levels of pectin. It is mainly grown in Zhushan Township, Ren’ai Township, and Xinyi Township in Nantou County, the Heping District of Taichung City, and Meishan Township, Alishan Township, Fanlu Township, and Zhuqi Township in Chiayi County.