Taiwan Tea Travel

Taiwan the Country of Oolong tea!

What an amazing trip. The most famous places to travel in Taiwan for Tea is Nantou County. Not only is it amazingly beautiful, it is filled with high quality Oolong tea. Taiwan has been known for centuries for their delicious variety of Oolong teas. Oolong is a cross between green and black tea with oxidation levels anywhere from 15-70% oxidized. The more oxidized the leaf the browner it gets, and the biochemical composition of the leaves change giving it a distinct flavor and aroma. Oolong teas are typically rolled and roasted or pan fired so they last quite a bit longer than green teas. The freshness is kept by rolling the leaves very tight as to preserve the aroma and taste. I was lucky enough to travel to Nantou during peak harvest season around April. I even had a chance to chat and have lunch with a local tea farmer and his wife and was lucky enough to try his prized Oolong, nothing short of amazing! So many amazing things to do here. Between gondolas across the tea farms , lakes, Tea gardens and amazing cuisine. What To look for when selecting a High quality Oolong tea? First you want to make sure that the color is uniform throughout all of the rolled pieces of tea, the darker richer colored pieces are what we are looking for the lighter pieces are more likely to be discarded,the dark green color is which has the flavor and aroma. If it is a green along the dark green color is what you’re looking for and the uniformity across all the rolled leaves.