Taiwanese Tea Culture

Taiwan makes some of the most sought-after tea in the world, and the reason is altitude: oolong grown on ridges above a thousand metres, wrapped in cloud for much of the day, ripens slowly and develops a thick, creamy, floral character quite unlike anything grown lower down, with Alishan, Lishan and Dong Ding the famous names. The tea is drunk in a style of its own, gongfu brewing, where a small clay pot is filled generously with leaf and infused many times in quick succession, each steeping tasted and discussed, and the same leaves yield a dozen different cups over an afternoon. That seriousness sits alongside the other Taiwanese contribution to tea, invented in the 1980s and now global: bubble tea, sweet milk tea shaken with chewy tapioca pearls, sold on every street. Maokong, reached by gondola from Taipei, is the easiest place to try both.

What you actually see

• High-mountain tea plantations - the terraced ridges of Alishan and Lishan under cloud.
• Gongfu brewing - the small-pot ritual of repeated short infusions.
• Maokong - the tea hills above Taipei, reached by gondola.
• Bubble tea - the drink Taiwan invented, at its source.

When to go

The spring harvest around April and May and the winter harvest in late autumn produce the most prized leaf, and visiting then means seeing picking and processing. Tea houses operate year-round. Mountain roads to the high plantations are winding and can close after typhoons or heavy rain.

Honest expectations

Genuine high-mountain tea is expensive and widely counterfeited, with cheaper leaf from elsewhere sold under famous mountain names, so buy from a reputable house or directly at a plantation. The best plantations are on long, winding mountain roads that take hours to reach. A proper gongfu tasting takes an afternoon and is a conversation rather than a quick stop, which is the point.

Nearby

Alishan's forest railway and Sun Moon Lake sit in the tea country; Maokong is above Taipei.