High mountain red Oolong from Shan Lin Xi

June 19th, 2024 harvest

Do you know what is the first tea that you drank in your life? I don't have any precise recollection of when I had my first cup, but I do remember that, when I was a child, my parents were drinking black tea in Chinese style decorated square metal boxes. Tea was their daily breakfast and afternoon beverage and it has stayed so until now! In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the brand they bought most is Twinings. The tea was usually Earl Grey, if I remember well. Earl Grey is a bergamot oil flavored black tea and most likely the first tea I had! In those early days, the quality was quite low and I remember that the tea set also consisted of bowl of sugar and you would add a piece of sugar to the tea in order to transform the bitter taste of the brew into something sweet. Milk might also have been added, but they never added lemon.

The tea ritual, twice a day, became a fixture of my family's life. It gave a classic, elegant cachet and it was an imitation, in a good sense, of the aristocratic European way of life. My parents didn't drink tea as a social occasion to entertain guests. Most of the time, they are drinking their tea just the two of them. But if someone comes at 4 PM, he or she will be able to share a cup with them! This tea pause in the morning for breakfast, but even more in the afternoon, is also what gave my father strength to work in his private practice from 5 PM to 7 PM and sometimes continue with visits to his bed stricken patients in the evening.

Qingxin Oolong leaves at the start of the Red Oolong process

2024 summer red Oolong from Shan Lin Xi

20 years ago, when I started selecting teas in Taiwan for Western tea lovers, my parents naturally received my red teas for their personal consumption. (I also source the jasmine scented tea for my mother. It's a lighter tea she prefers during summer afternoons). And each time they run out of my teas, the feedback I receive from them is that my teas are so much better that anything else they can purchase locally. They feel spoiled and find it difficult to go back drinking other red teas, even when they come from specialized tea shops!

2024 summer red Oolong from Shan Lin Xi

Actually, in 2004, Taiwan was still very much an Oolong producer. The closest to red tea was Oriental Beauty, a very high oxidized summer Oolong. Tea farmers in all regions tried to make better use of their plantation during the summer harvest. For most, this meant imitating the original OB from Hsin Chu county. In the Dong Ding area, farmers would soon create the Concubine Oolong tea, inspired by OB: a high oxidation, jassid bitten tea that is rolled like a regular Dong Ding Oolong.  

In 2006, an international tea competition took place in Taiwan and it changed how people looked at red tea. Why? Because a jassid bitten red tea from Hua Lien (Taiwan East coast) won the competition against the other teas of Taiwan (Baozhong, OB, high mountain Oolong, roasted Oolong...)! Tea farmers in Taiwan realized that red tea had its own appeal. Indeed, for a long time, if you wanted to drink red tea in Taiwan, a consumer would typically purchase a tea from a famous British or French tea brand (what my parents had drunk for years)! 

What also helped is the rise of the Chinese local tea market. Large numbers of Mainland Chinese were able to afford quality teas again, for the first time since the end of the Qing dynasty. This created fads for various teas. Jin Jun Mei, a very tippy red tea made from Lapsang Souchong buds (but without the pinewood smoke) helped to raise the quality expectation for red tea.

Now that customers were willing to pay premium prices for great red teas, Taiwan's tea farmers improved their skills as they gathered experience year after year. This red tea, for instance, comes from the highest elevation (1600 m) in the Long Feng Xia area in the Shan Lin Xi mountain. The cultivar is Qingxin Oolong and it was harvested by hand on June 19th. Since this tea farm is Oolong focused, he uses the red Oolong process to transform these leaves. The oxidation process requires kneading by hand, which helps to keep the leaves whole. It takes 4 days for the leaves to achieve a full oxidation level. And it's called 'Oolong', because at the end of the process, the leaves are rolled, according to the traditional Oolong process. That's why one can easily mistake the dry leaves with Oolong leaves.

The flavors are amazingly ripe and light at the same time. The finesse and energy of the high mountain leaves create a crisp and distinguished feel. And it has excellent clarity through the sunset light!

With this quality level, you can drink red tea without any sugar, milk or lemon! It even has a dry, smooth aftertaste, like a good Oolong. The fresh high notes will progressively diminish and add depth to the tea. This evolution shows that this kind of tea is alive. It matures with time.

I'm sure my parents will enjoy this Shan Lin Xi Red Oolong tea immensely with their next tea shipment. Now that they are retired, they enjoy these natural and healthy tea leaves even more! I wish them a very long life...