Misty Heights #8, Taiwan’s very own Assamica black tea

Seeing the sea of clouds from the tea farmer’s backyard in Yunling is quite an experience.

*notes

Yuchi

Yuchi is the key location in which black tea cultivation and production was first systematically and scientifically developed in Taiwan under the Japan colonial government in 1906. It is where Tea Hong’s Red Jade and Hong Yu Deep White are produced.

Jaipuri

After a few local cultivars failed to produce a black tea with a strong enough taste profile to compete in the international market, the Japanese colonial government imported the seeds of a few major production cultivars of the Assamica variety from India, the key black tea exporter in those days. Jaipuri was one. The plant adapted naturally in Taiwan and had been well accepted by farmers. Through the century, continual selective process of better individual bushes has made the cultivar a revered one. Taiwan Tea Experiment Station (TTES), the division under the Ministry of Agricultural responsible for the development tea production in those days, named the cultivar as Taiwan cultivar number 8 in 1973. That is why it is often referred to as TTES#8.

Another fun fact is that this cultivar is one of the parents that gave birth to the Jin Xuan cultivar, from which our Winter Alishan Jinxuan, a smooth tasting bouquet style oolong, is produced. A tea with a distinctly different taste profile.

Yunling

There is no formal translation of the original name of the place: 雲嶺之丘, only the partial romanisation of Yunling. It basically means the hills over a crest that is always submerged in clouds. We think the term Misty Heights conveys that image most optimally.