Harvest: Machine harvested.

​Region: ​Songbolin, Nantou County, Taiwan.

​Elevation: ​400m

 

Tasting Notes

This tea is a combination of Four Seasons Spring and Jin Xuan tea leaves that are heavily oxidized in their processing upon being harvested. This combination of hybrid teas offers a broader, more balanced range of character, especially when undergoing these unique curing methods. The proportionately mixed batch of tea leaves is then aged for one year to allow for post production oxidation. After a year of aging, they undergo an extensive roasting process. The leaves are roasted at low temperature for over 20 hours per session, for a total of 3 roasting sessions, with 3 months of "setting time" between each roasting. After the batch of tea leaves has been roasted to the desired result, it is then aged again for one year to mellow and "settle" in its composition. Finally, the leaves are minimally roasted at low temperature to deplete any acquired moisture content before being vacuum sealed in preparation for sale. These processing and curing methods are unique in that they are an integration of various traditional and modern tea making methods to produce a character of tea that is reminiscent of Muzha Tieguanyin from Northern Taiwan. It is not comparable however, given that the tea types used and even the processing methods are quite different. It is simply the character and flavor notes that are experienced in brewing a pot of these tea leaves that bring a traditional Taiwanese Tieguanyin Oolong to mind.

Origin

Songbolin in Nantou County has a rich history in tea production over the last several decades. Initially a source of traditional specialty tea made from heirloom strains since the 1950's, it has transitioned through a phase of large scale mechanized production, and is now returning to its historical roots. The traditional tea production was unable to compete with the development of higher elevation tea production and became a producer of lower quality tea used for the beverage industry. This in turn was phased out by foreign competition for large scale economical tea production.

As a result, we have seen a very positive reincarnation specialty tea production in the last decade. This area is a major resource for an array of hybrid strains, most prominently Jin Xuan, Four Seasons Spring, and Tsui Yu , and most recently a return of heirloom strains such as Wuyi Oolong. These diverse types of tea are now being naturally cultivated and crafted with a fusion of traditional skill and modern methods to produce teas with unique characters.