Wu Yi Mountain: home of Dong Ding oolong tea
Today, the rare, delicious Dong Ding oolong tea from Taiwan is prized throughout the world. Its floral aroma and sweet aftertaste entice any first-time sampler to try one more cup, and the tea enjoys the name the ‘Fair Lady’.
However, few know that the tea is actually a specimen of a Wu Yi oolong tea strain that has been carefully selected from Wu Yi Mountain in Fujian province and re-planted in Taiwan.
It’s a piece of Chinese tea history that was almost 400 years old!
A young Taiwanese scholar named Lin Fang Chi came to Fujian province for the provincial exam that could earn him a government post. Luckily, Lin succeeded in passing the exam.
Upon returning, Lin hoped to bring his friends some gifts. Lin was poor, and if it wasn’t his friends, he wouldn’t have the money for his trip.
Almost immediately, he decided to bring some tea trees of the finest oolong tea variety grown in the Wu Yi Mountain. He personally had sampled the tea and immediately fell in love with the exceptional fragrance and. He wanted to offer his fellow villagers a new oolong tea species that could benefit them financially, as oolong tea was greatly valued in the market.
So, Lin bought some 30 oolong tea trees and set out on his trip back to Taiwan. Months past, Lin and the villagers cultivated their precious oolong tea leaves with scrupulous care. And a few years later, their tea leaves fetched a great price in the market, and made every family in the village a fortune.
Soon afterward, Lin offered his tea to the emperor, who was quite surprised by its strong fragrance and mellow flavor. When the emperor was informed that the tea still didn’t have a name, he named it ‘Dong Ding’ after the mountain where the tea plants Lin had brought back from Wu Yi Mountain were grown.
Over the centuries, the making of the tea was refined, and now it becomes a class all of its own. However, big time tea lovers say that if you linger over the taste, you can still find hints of similarity in between the two teas.
After all, this new Taiwanese tea has its home thousands of miles away in the Wu Yi Mountain.