In early August, the store manager headed up to the Qilai Mountain tea region to check on the autumn harvest. Much like the Cingjing tea region across the valley, Qilai Mountain autumn tea boasts exceptional quality. While it might not quite match the spring harvest’s over-the-top acclaim, the manager still easily gives it a solid 80 out of 100. This season’s Qilai Mountain autumn tea is definitely shaping up to be top-tier.
Actually, harvesting for Qilai Mountain autumn tea started as early as late July, and the manager had a chance to taste some truly fantastic lots. Peak harvest time runs roughly from August 1st to the 15th, and the manager will be cupping everything carefully once more. In a bountiful year like this where great tea is everywhere, the key is to sort through the exceptional batches to find the absolute best—and stock up while we can.
It’s also worth noting: while past years in the Qilai Mountain tea region saw mainly two large tea factories alongside two or three medium-sized ones, another new factory is set to join their ranks this year (Figure 3). Built right at the highest point of the Qilai Mountain tea region at an elevation of 2,000 meters, construction is currently rushing to completion. Building a major tea factory nowadays easily costs tens of millions of NT dollars. With the owner making such a substantial investment, the manager is really looking forward to seeing their future output.
Finally, hats off to the tea plantation owners in the Qilai region for doing such an outstanding job managing their fields—they certainly aren’t holding back on the fertilizer (Figure 2). Have a look, everyone, isn’t it something else? Word is that a 30 kg bag of soybean meal fertilizer now runs NT$700, and the fertilizer alone for just this row of tea trees costs over a thousand dollars per season. With this kind of nourishing care, it’s honestly hard for the tea not to taste incredible.
Shop High-Quality Tea: Qilai Mountain Tea
