Where Does Oolong Tea Come From?
Around the world, many different teas are produced in many different areas. On the whole, tea fulfills a purpose as a drinking beverage, however that is about where the similarities stop. Indeed, as the years have passed by, new growing techniques, growing altitudes, and variances in soil types have led to the production of a huge range of different teas. Oolong tea is just one of these.
As for the origins of a particular line of tea - that is something which is much harder to tell. In the case of Oolong tea, it is estimated that the first batch of tea leaves were harvested high up in the Wuyi mountain. Because of the time that has passed since this date, we must rely on historical records in order to make such assumptions. In the case of Oolong tea, the historical reference comes from Qing dynasty poems. Poems such as "Wuyi Tea Song" and "Tea Tale" are all leading indicators that the true origin is indeed the Wuyi mountain.
Modern Day Growing Locations.
Clearly however, things have moved on since this time. As the world market for tea grew astronomically through the greater part of 3 centuries, more and more farmers and harvesters took advantage of the profits which tea growing could indeed yield. Hence, mainstream growing of Oolong tea moved from high in the Wuyi mountains, to more easily accessible places.
Due to the huge expanse on which Oolong tea is now grown, we are able to classify the tea in to its own different set of varieties, depending on which province it was grown in. Here is a brief list of the major growing provinces.
- China:
1.Fujian Province
2.Guangdong Province
- Taiwan:
All high altitude landscapes
Interestingly, the tea spread itself in to Taiwan in the mid 19th century. It was then that the popularity and profits were able to be realized in this country also, and hence the number of growers rose exponentially in the few years to follow its arrival.
Unlike mainland China, which is often far away from the coastline and the threat of impeding flooding or water damage, Taiwan is a country completely surrounded with water. To compensate for the additional risk that growing such a tea in this area would bring, harvesters purposely chose high altitude locations for the growing.
