In early November, our store manager visited Zhuchi and Meishan in Chiayi to check out the tea harvest, and to put it bluntly, it was “an absolute disaster.” This year, winter tea yields are scarce from northern to southern Taiwan, and Alishan winter tea is no exception.
As if low yields weren’t enough, much of what did grow turned out poor. Even the JinXuan tea, which usually has the strongest growth, turned out patchy and sparse this year—giving you a good idea of just how brutal this winter tea season has been. Tea farmers are complaining left and right, and many are struggling just to break even.
When we asked several tea farmers, they mentioned that tea gardens facing east with plenty of sunlight and those harvested earlier showed much better growth and significantly higher quality. Our actual test brews confirmed this. Meanwhile, a few west-facing tea gardens that usually produce great quality turned out terrible this year, resulting in a brew so weak it tasted like water.
For this year’s Alishan winter tea, we’ve only secured the Shizhuo JinXuan so far. Zhangshuhu and Ruifeng Oolong are still up in the air. The reason is simple: tea is scarce this year, and truly good tea is even scarcer. The store manager refuses to spend money on subpar tea, so we’re just going to take our time and keep looking. Worst case scenario, we’ll simply have a smaller selection of Alishan winter tea this year.
