Mysterious Taiwan tea

Jun 25, 2009 Last reply: 17 years ago 6 Replies

Over the years Ive drank Taiwan teas such as nantou,pouchong,jade,high mtn,milk,aged. They were identified as such and comparing any two of the same was a simple comparison. My local tea shoppe is very lax in identifying its Taiwan teas using such criteria. The selection comes and goes and what I end up with is the discounted Taiwan tea that doesnt sell. There was a very expensive discounted one Ive been drinking off and on over the past year. It didnt fit any taste profile Im familiar with from Taiwan. All of a sudden Im drinking a cup this morning and it reminded me of a mainland light roast TGY. I know there is a hole in that Ive never bought one identified as such from Taiwan. The last time I had such a revelation is identifying Oriental Beauty as Darjeeling.



Jim


Well, maybe it *is* lightly roasted Tieguanyin from Taiwan.

/Lew

Maybe even a Dong Ding.

Jim

...which Taiwan tea...

I bet you could tell the difference.

/Lew

A lot of "Taiwan Tea" is produced in China. If there are no other identifiers, it might have been produced on the mainland and it IS TGY like Lew said.

I have a Dong Ding TGY Product of China. It is a pale second. The local tea shoppe may not supply enough particulars but I know they get the country right. I also notice all Taiwan teas minus the Oriental Beauty have a particular look which I call 'viney' ie the leaf looks like it came from a vine. There is also a common olfactory note which I can only describe as 'sweet'.

Jim

Jim, Supposedly there is a big problem in Taiwan now with tea being imported from China, Vietnam and Thailand and then being labelled as made in Taiwan. So the vendor could have been told it is from Taiwan but that doesn't mean it is. Alternatively maybe it is a less common varietal like shui xian or something else. Just some thoughts....

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