Everything You Need to Know about Wen Shan Oolongs
If you’re reading this blog you’ll likely at some point have tried an incredible oolong from somewhere in Taiwan. You’ll be among the many tea lovers world wide that think that some of the best oolongs come from Taiwan. But are you familiar with the districts within Taiwan where those oolongs come from?
Starting from today and going on for the next few months, we’ll be doing a series of posts that will highlight the tea producing districts of Taiwan and the teas we have from each of them, starting with Wen Shan.
Wen Shan District
Wen Shan is a district within Taiwan and is the most northern tea growing region on the island. The mountains of Wen Shan are particularly well suited for growing tea with altitudes around 800 meters. The region maintains four distinct seasons, high elevations, abundant rainfall and fertile soil. Wen Shan has been growing tea for around 200 hundred years and is known as the birthplace of tea growing within Taiwan. The tea-growing areas of Wen Shan district include Shiding, Wulai, and Hshintien, but Pinglin Town is considered the "tea capital" of Wenshan.
This region is most famous for producing some of the world's finest Pouchong and Baozhong teas. It is surrounded by mountains on three sides, with the hilly land on the east side partially cultivated into tea plantations, orchards and bamboo groves; the rest and majority remains woodland.
Should you be planning a visit to Taiwan and want to center all or part of your vacation around tea, there are numerous tea gardens in the Maokong (貓空; cat's hollows) and Muzha Tea Plantations (木柵觀光茶園) area, most of which are concentrated in Zhinan Road, Sec. 3. Some tea makers have tasting rooms for sampling the latest teas, or will do so by appointment. Taipei Tea Promotion Center (台北市茶研發推廣中心) at 8-2, Lane 40, Zhinan Road, Sec. 3 offers introduction to tea picking, processing, brewing and free taste testing. They also have examples of different machinery from throughout the years that showcase just how much the processing methods have changed over the years. You can also sample a selection of teas from local growers in the place of origin which sounds like the ultimate all encompassing team experience doesn't it?
The long history of tea in Taiwan (previously known as Formosa) is defined by two things: small family gardening and oolong. A whopping 90% of Taiwan's total tea production is oolong. Because it is the smallest of all traditional tea producing nations, Taiwan does not have the ideal geography for mass tea production thus limiting the amount of tea Taiwan can produce each year.
Oriental Beauty
Master's Teas currently offers two teas from this region: firstly our Formosa Fancy Bai Hao from tea farmer Yu Kui Weng. Grown at an Elevation of 650m, this rare Formosa Fancy Bai Hao is a true treat for the senses. The leaves are quite tippy with a fragrant bouquet when dry. Once brewed, the cup is filled with notes of peach blossoms and a deliciously sweet lingering honey note. Bai Hao, or Oriental Beauty is a Taiwanese oolong unlike any other. Its notable reddish color gives away its high oxidation, sometimes as high as 80%.
Often left not roasted, it is dried using a prolonged withering process. However there are some farmers out there who roast their Oriental Beauty oolong. As each farmer's personal choices will affect their cultivation and processing, you can never truly rule out that someone out there isn’t experimenting with their tea and creating something new and incredible.
To experience this tea in all of its glory it is best to prepare it gongfu style with your water at no higher than 195F. It can be prepared western style or grandpa style as well, so be sure to play around with preparation methods and see which one is best suited to you.
When it comes to Oriental Beauty, what helps to give it its trademark distinctive flavor profile is the fact that farmers / producers actually encourage an insect known as the 'leafhopper' to bite the tea leaves. This is the reason why it usually isn’t harvested until summer. The insects bite the leaves, which causes the leaves to produce either repellents to keep the bugs away or create aromas that will attract the predators of the leafhoppers. Should you want to find out more about bug bitten oolong you can find a post all about here.
Though each farm will vary due to personal choice, most farms in Taiwan harvest four times a year. The altitude of some farms however means that the harvesting needs to be limited to twice a year instead. The cool, humid and mountainous landscape, coupled with centuries of tea expertise inherited from both Japanese and Chinese tea cultures make Taiwanese teas unparalleled in quality and incredibly unique.
Muzha Tie Guan Yin
The second tea from this region is our Muzha Tie Guan Yin from farmer Jin Yi Li and grown at an elevation of 300m. For those of you that are unfamiliar with it, Muzha Tie Guan Yin is a traditional Taiwanese oolong. It's highly roasted and just like your usual Tie Guan Yin, its leaves are tightly rolled. Its liquor is exquisitely aromatic with hints of honey, blossoms and a touch of mineral. Just like the previously mentioned tea, to enjoy this tea at its best you should prepare it gongfu style, but it is a very forgiving tea and stands up well to grandpa style brewing and western style brewing. Surprisingly, despite its flavor profile leaning more toward notes that would usually be paired with the fall, it makes for such a delicious cold brew.
It is smooth and complex, it even gives off a flicker of spice that gives you the feeling of the last days of summer before the fall arrives. An offshoot of traditional Tie Guan Yin, Muzha Tie Guan Yin was developed during the 1920s in Taiwan. It is known for its oxidized and highly roasted character, Muzha Tie Guan Yin distinguishes itself from its much greener counterparts with its stronger flavor profile, making it a classic in its own right.
While Tie Guan Yin is produced in both China and Taiwan, the styles differ greatly by country. Despite both being rolled into their ball-like style shape to begin, Anxi Tie Guan Yin are greener in appearance as they are typically only lightly roasted if roasted at all. These end up with characteristics that are much fresher, floral and buttery in taste. Taiwanese oolongs, on the other hand (particularly Muzha Tie Guan Yin), have higher oxidation levels and are roasted for longer amounts of time. The result is a more complex flavor profile that truly stands out from the crowd and is a world apart from its green counterparts.
We hope this post has helped you learn something new! Keep your eyes on the blog over the next few months for the next few posts within this series focusing on different tea growing districts within Taiwan and the teas that they are famous for.