Tsou Alishan Mountain Breeze 2016 - 30g - Weight: 30g

A high-altitude, highly oxidised oolong from a beautiful part of central Taiwan. I discovered this garden while exploring Formosa this year (2023), trying to find the best of the area.
 
Although I've been to many tea gardens, it was the one in the most remote part of the Alishan Mountains that lived up to my expectations. A garden tended by the indigenous Tsou people of Taiwan, where tea is grown without the use of pesticides and where they approach tea processing in their own way, resulting in truly unique teas worth discovering.
 
This whole leaf tea comes from the Chin Xin cultivar and is hand-picked. These more oxidised teas are left to age for at least 3 years to give them better flavour and character, in fact they are not even drunk fresh. So the old dogma of only bringing fresh teas does not apply here, on the contrary, with age the tea gains its sophistication and refinement.
 
A very complicated tea in terms of aroma and taste :). The aroma is a combination of flowers, maybe peony, a hint of tropical fruit pineapple/mango, mountain herbs. The producer himself says it reminds him of a mountain breeze, hence the name of the tea (meaning the mountains of Taiwan :)).
 
The taste is based on the previous characteristics, i.e. tropical fruits, flowers, the infusion is medium-bodied, slightly sweet after cane sugar.
 
Limited quantity, I bought basically the whole production and there wasn't much of it.

Location: Alishan Mountain Range
Altitude: 1200-1500m
Cultivar: Chin Xin
Leaf type: whole leaf tea
Harvesting type: hand picking, bud and two leaves
Usage: Gong-fu or Cold-brew
Oxidation: 35%
Level of Baking: Unbaked.
 
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Gong-fu preparation per 100ml - Gong fu Cha: 6-7g, 90-100°C, 40-50s for first infusion.
Second and third infusion 35-45s, then extend the interval by 20-30s each time compared to the previous one.
Lasts for many infusions.