Sun Moon Lake by 奕傑 張 (via 500px)
After learning about tea terroir in my previous posts, let’s take a look at where Boston Teawrights tea comes from. Teawrights works with The Mountain Tea Company. They are a business owned-and-operated by the Chen family in Taiwan. The Chen family has been selling award winning Oolong tea in Asia since 1977 when they owned a small tea shop in Taipei, Taiwan. In 1987 the Chen family planted their first trees in the heart of Taiwan’s tea growing region at the WuShe Mountains in Nantou. In 1991 they expanded their operations to Sumatra, Indonesia because of its mineral-rich, volcanic soil. In 2006 they founded their third garden in China’s most famous tea producing region: Fujian, China in the LongYan Mountains. These three locations vary in climate, mostly due to elevation. The WuShe Mountains and the growing location in Sumatra are 1500m above sea level. The Fujian and the LongYan mountains are 1200m above sea level.
Boston Teawrights receives its tea leaves from Mountain Tea’s first tea farm in Nantou County in Taiwan. Nantou County is right in the middle of Taiwan, and is its second largest county. It is the only county that does not border the coast.
Nantou County Taiwan by Taiwan Junior (via Wikimedia Commons)
Nantou County is known for its Oolong teas. Oolong teas are made very differently than black or green teas and require a lot of attention to detail throughout the process. The environment is ideal for growing sweet oolong teas, and the sharp difference between the daytime and nighttime temperatures allows for the plants to grow more slowly, which adds to their sweetness and aroma.
Nantou is a picturesque place with beautiful scenery, such as Sun Moon Lake and Yushan. These are just a few internationally renowned destinations. Sun Moon Lake is Taiwan’s largest natural lake, which sits on a mountain at an altitude of 762m. The eastern part of the lake is round like the sun and the western side shaped like a crescent moon, hence its name “Sun Moon Lake”. The terrain of Nantou county ranges from small hills to large mountains. Its average temperature range is from 59 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit. These features make it an ideal climate for growing tea. There are tea plantations in almost all of Nantou’s 12 townships. Because of the varying elevation and climate conditions, each area produces tea with its own unique flavor.
If you’d like to enjoy crafting your own batch of tea from the beautiful Nantou County, click here!
(editor’s note: we now source tea from more than Taiwan. Depending on the time of year, your tea can come from somewhere else.)
Discuss this post on our subreddit
[related-posts]