Lying directly across the Formosa Strait from China’s Fujian Province lies the tiny island country, Ilha Formosa or “Beautiful Island,” so named in the 15th century by the Portugese, and today called Taiwan. Like Ceylon and Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Formosa remain interchangeable in the world of tea. |
The Chinese renamed the is- land Taiwan in the 19th cen- tury. Like Sri Lanka, Taiwan is small in size, just 235 miles long and 90 miles wide, but is a powerful producer of quality teas, with their main concentration oolongs, although they also grow small amounts of black and green teas.Taiwan’s modern tea industry is relatively new, with their first export of Formosa oolong tea occuring during the Qing dynasty (1644- 1911) in 1869. Formosa oolong was created in the mid 19th century by John Dodd, a British entrepreneur who realized the tea world market was about to undergo massive changes. |
Up until this point most all tea came from China, but Dodd knew a secret that the Chinese didn’t, and it was that the British were about to grow their own Indian tea on a massive scale. He knew the only way to compete against both India and China would be to come up with a completely different tea that could hold its own against the two tea giants.Working in Taiwan, Dodd came up with Formosa oolong, a lighter, fruitier tea than the heavy black teas then on the market. The tea travelled well, and in 1869 Dodd exported the first Taiwan made teas from the island with two fast sailing clipper ships he’d hired to transport Japan’s China Fujian province of China in the 1850’s. By Taiwan’s aboriginal inhabitants are considered to be of a Today nearly 50,000 acres of tea is under cultivation in three main growing areas Taiwan’s climate and geography are near perfect for growing tea, cloud and mist grown teas.With winter temperatures a very moderate 65F (18C) tea can be plucked (and sold) Taiwan oolongs tend to be greener than those from China, with much lower oxidation Fujian province oolongs, ranging from about ten to forty |
Along with Formosa oolong that started it all in 1869, there’s the famous Tung Ting, Ti Guan Yin, Tianhe and Fulu oolongs, and the least oxidized oolong, BaoZhong (or Wen- Shan Paochong), oxidized just 10 to 15%, with a mouth- coating, creamy, rich flavor, no astringency, and a delicate flowery aroma. Other popular oolongs include Bai Hao or Oriental Beauty (also called White Tip oolong), and the famous High Mountain gao shan oolong, Alishan, including Gold Lily, also called Jin Xuan.Work is continually undergoing to develop new and better varieties of tea that is more hardy and vigorous, can better withstand pests and disease and is tolerant to various climates. The Taiwan Tea Research and Extension station provides farmers with new clonal Taiwan offers a wider variety of leaf and oxidation levels than their Fujian neighbors, One thing is for certain, this is a country that doesn’t stand still when it comes to tea making, providing some of the Enjoy. |