Taiwan is an island more than two-thirds covered by mountains. Tea-growing areas are located at elevations between 1,000 and 2,500 meters. High-mountain conditions provide abundant mist and low temperatures that are ideal for growing oolong tea, while the water used for irrigation comes from pure mountain springs.
Looking at the natural conditions in which tea grows in Taiwan, we might think they could not be better.
Yet nature has found a very unusual way to give us something even more than the rich and very healthy tea from high-elevation organic gardens.
Insects, which we almost always consider pests, help create some of the finest and most expensive teas in Taiwan’s high organic gardens, and they do so in a completely natural way. How is this possible?
The answer is very simple. A tiny insect, the green leafhopper , lives in these mountainous regions exclusively in organic gardens without pesticides and is allowed to nibble on the tea leaves. The leaves then change their chemical composition, begin a healing process, develop beautiful honey notes, and start oxidizing even before the harvest.
Some well-known examples of teas produced in this way are the high-quality oolong teas Oriental Beauty and Gui Fei, as well as Honey-Aroma black tea.
Once you taste them, you will surely love them and be reminded that nature, in its most unusual ways, always creates the healthiest and finest little wonders.
