Dear tea lovers, there is no early spring tea from Lishan, the areas around Fushou Mountain Farm, or Dayuling. Early spring teas are only found in mid-to-low altitude tea regions. Tea trees in regions above 1,000 meters only finish their dormancy in February, and the spring harvest won’t be ready until late March at the earliest—let alone in Lishan, where tea gardens sit at 2,000 meters.
Experienced tea lovers likely already know that Lishan doesn’t have early spring tea, but many beginners are unaware. This misunderstanding is probably caused by many in the industry selling it. The store manager saw it on online auctions back in February, and plenty of brick-and-mortar tea shops on the street are selling it too. Lishan early spring tea is everywhere—the only place you can’t find Lishan early spring tea is in Lishan itself. XD
If you’re genuinely looking for early spring tea, mid-to-low altitude tea regions such as Mingjian Township, Lugu, and Zhushan Town in Nantou all have harvests, generally from tea gardens below 600 meters in elevation. The chances of early spring tea appearing above 1,000 meters are very slim. It just occurred to me that there’s a place in Zhushan Town called Buzhichun (meaning “Not Knowing Spring”), which you pass by when heading to the Fanzitian tea region, and its early spring tea is quite famous.
I happened to take some photos when I went to Lishan a few days ago, covering tea gardens from 1,600 to 2,100 meters. Forget early spring tea—even the spring buds haven’t sprouted yet. These photos were taken on March 13th and 14th of tea trees in Xinjiayang, Lishan, and around Fushou Mountain Farm. Do these look like they have early spring tea ready for harvesting?
Aside: Last year, a landslide occurred at the 78k section of the Central Cross-Island Highway near Lingfu Bridge, and this section is still under repairs, currently only open to traffic on Tuesdays. Because of the landslide, last year’s winter tea had to be transported via the Techi Reservoir route. The long and arduous journey resulted in a major drop in quality. With less than 2 months left in the spring tea season, I hope we won’t see history repeat itself.
