Green Tea World

The origin of every tea culture is China. As Luk Yu wrote in gus "Chaijing" opening; "Tea is a useful plant from the south", the home of the tea plant is considered to be southern Yunnan Province. It was first used as edible wild plant and evolved into the present form through solid and powdered tea.

Green tea producing area
Approximately 2/3 of the total amount of green tea produced in China comes from around the Changjiang River. The southern area of the river which covers the provinces of Anhui, Zhejiang and Jiangsu, is the primary area for producing well-known fine green tea.
Also Hubei, Hunan and Sichuan Provinces have been producing the most well-known varietes of green tea.

Oolong tea producing area
The major areas of oolong tea on the China mainland are Fuijian and Guangdong provinces. Guangdong, the home of oolong tea, has a long history of famous high-quality tea, especially around the mt.Fenghuang area.
Fujian Province features the famous mt.Wuyi and the well-known Anxi, which are the present centres for oolong tea production. It also produces high-grade Jasmin tea aswell as green, black, white, and smoked teas.

Other famous producing areas
Yunan Province located on the border of Vietnam and Laos and Guangxi have their own unique culture and have been producing a variety of teas such as puer, green and solid teas.

One of most popular tea-producing regions in world having produced tea for home consumption from old days. Later immigrants from Fujian started producing oolong tea using method of mainland China. 1895-1945 under Japanese rule, several tea testing centres were established and full-scale production and export of different types of teaa began. After WWII some tea plantations were destroyed but in 1970s-80s, improvement of tea species and factory facilities helped establish the "Taiwan oolong brand" with a sophisticated flavor. Today Dong Ding Oolong and alpine tea produced in highliands of over 1,000m now surpass Mainland China oolong tea.

Quality season of tea
Taiwan Island is located south of Okinawa and it has mountain range in central area of island with Taiwan's highest mountain, Yushan.(3,952m) Areas located at foot of mountains over 500-1000m have wide range temperature difference and 4 distinctive seasons. This geographic feature produces superb Taiwanese tea with different seasonal flavors and 4 picking times; Spring tea, Summer tea, Autumn tea and Winter tea.
Please refer below for characteristic of each tea.

Tea-producing regions in Taiwan
Centered around Taipei Xian in the north and the central mountain areas around Nantou Xian. Most famous Dong Ding Oolong is produced in Lugu of Nantou Xian. Mingjian, and Meishan also produce high-quality teas. Major areas for alpine tea produced at over 1000m, are Alishan, Lishan, etc. Maokong, south Taipei, is well-known for Mu Zha Tie Guan Yin, and Pinglin, east of Taipei, is famous for Wen Shan Bao Zhong.

Name and species of Taiwanese tea
The name of Tawiwanese tea are generally indicated as "place name + species name".
For example, "Alishan Jinxuan" means a tea of Jinxuan species produced in the Alishan. New species with a distinctive aroma are specified and include Jinxuan (milky aroma), Sijichun (refreshing flavor), Cuiyi (slightly lighter aroma of Jinxuan). In contrast, traditional Qingxin has the characteristic of a long lasting aroma and is usually indicated simply as "oolong" tea.

Japanese teas grown throughout Japan except norther Tohoku and Hokkaido districts. Tea drinking came to Japan from China with the Japanese envoy to Tang Dynasty in Nara-Heian era, though some claims older origins. Roots of present tea plantations trace back to 12th century priest, Eisai, who planted tea bushes brought back from China in Saga. Their ffspring spread to Kyoto, Nara, Wakayama, Shizuoka, Saitama etc. From Meiji to Showa era tea and silk thread played an important role in export to help Japan modernize and build a sound economy.

Japanese tea species and its best seasons
There are many Japanese tea species. Though "Yabukita" is by far the present major species, we can also enjoy the species which take root in areas such as "Yutakamidori" or "Fujikaori". An interesting note is that during the season tealeaves in spring, the tea front gradually moves up north from Okinawa.