The same cultivar as our Green Heart oolong from the 2024 collection, this year’s iteration moves even higher in elevation, from Shan Lin Xi up to the heights of the Lishan mountains in central Taiwan.

Such lofty elevations have a distinct effect on the nature of a tea’s leaves. Above 1000m, plants mature more slowly, allowing sugars to accumulate in the leaves and sweeten the tea, and the unique weather patterns of these alpine gardens with their clear, sunny mornings increases the development of flavor compounds in the leaves that are then locked in with the afternoon’s incoming mists and dropping temperatures.

We don’t usually put much emphasis on the elevations our teas are grown, choosing instead to focus on the artistry of tea making post-harvest, where skilled craftspeople can transform, emphasize, or unearth qualities of sweetness, flavor, and depth through controlled oxidation, firing temperatures, or deep, caramelizing roasts.

Minimally crafted teas, however, like green teas and green oolongs, maintain their “close to the bush” qualities. In these cases, the onus of great tea making shifts from the craftsman to the garden and gardener. With just the lightest of charcoal bakes to set the flavor and preserve the tea, Lishan Green Heart is an incredibly clear example of the phenomenon of high elevation tea growing, echoing the flora of high alpine regions, with notes of pine and spruce and wild flower, and brewing with a verdant sweetness and the thick, creamy texture of a classic high mountain oolong.