Li Shan (high mountain oolong) HB 101 (Spring 2026)
Light Oolong — Highland Blossom HB-101 Li Shan, Taichung · Qingxin cultivar · High mountain · Lightly finished Li Shan oolong is already among the most layered teas Taiwan produces — floral, creamy, with a sweetness that builds across steeps rather than declaring itself upfront. Master Lin's finishing adds another register. The light roast rounds the body, settles the high notes, and gives the tea a quiet persistence that unroasted Li Shan, for all its brightness, rarely sustains. More forgiving to brew. More willing to give across multiple infusions. A tea shaped by altitude and finished by hand. The Region — Li Shan (梨山) Li Shan — Pear Mountain — sits in Heping District, Taichung County, at elevations between 2,000 and 2,600 metres. The name comes from the pear orchards that once defined the slopes; the orchards remain, but it is the tea that has made the mountain's reputation. Li Shan is widely regarded as the most prestigious high-mountain tea region in Taiwan, and among the highest tea-growing areas in the world. The conditions here are severe. Morning sun falls hard on the slopes; by afternoon, the mountain is wrapped in mist. Temperature swings between day and night can reach 20 degrees Celsius. Winters are cold enough for dormancy and occasional snow. These are not easy conditions for farming — but they are precisely why the tea is what it is. Stress slows the plants. The leaf grows thick and concentrated. The flavor that accumulates over a slow growing season cannot be rushed or replicated at lower elevations. Scarcity follows from this. Harvests are few, yields are low, and Li Shan tea commands some of the highest prices in Taiwan's domestic market. It is also one of the most imitated names in the trade — lower-altitude teas sold under the Li Shan label are a known problem. Provenance here is not an afterthought. The Maker — Master Lin, Linkou Linkou sits on a plateau north of Taipei at around 250 meters elevation. It is not a name that appears on tea maps today, but it was once the largest tea-producing area in northern Taiwan. During the Japanese colonial period, Taiwan's first tea training institute was established here. The tea produced on these slopes — a semi-ball-shaped oolong that local farmers named 龍壽茶, Dragon's Longevity Tea — was known for its golden liquor, clean sweetness, and long finish. Urban development has since reclaimed most of those gardens. Only a few hectares remain. Master Lin comes from a family that has worked with tea in Linkou across multiple generations. He selects Li Shan “maocha” — raw, unfinished tea from the mountain — and refines it himself: sorting, lightly roasting, finishing. The roast is calibrated, not categorical. It settles the aromatics, adds depth, and extends the tea's character across more infusions, without obscuring what the mountain built into the leaf. The result is a Li Shan oolong with more layers than most, and more patience.