Description of tea leaves:
When Portuguese sailors discovered Taiwan 450 years ago, they praised it with the phrase “Formosa”. While Han settlers were not as prosperous as Soalian 300 years ago, up in the mountains of the Sun Moon Lake region, they had already discovered the fertile, beautiful scenery here with a stunning alpine lake. Thus, the settlers called Sun Moon Lake “Shui Soalian”.
The origin of the name Shui Soalian comes from the territory of aboriginals in Zhanghua’s mountains called Soalian (tualihen). As Sun Moon Lake is located here, shui (water) was added to form the name Shui Soalian. Assam tea from Ceylon and India is commonly regarded as the best black tea in the world. However, black tea produced in Yuchi Township, Nantou County of Taiwan has undergone continual strain improvements at the Taiwan tea research and extension station since the Japanese occupation. This has made Yuchi Township the leading producer of black tea in Taiwan.
Sun Moon Lake has diverse forest forms at mid-to-high altitude, and a fertile and unpolluted field stratum. In addition to annual temperature average and steady humidity, these elements made the top grade black tea produced in Yuchi Township and the Sun Moon Lake region, renowned as Assam Variety, one of the main teas exported from Taiwan decades ago. It was also offered by the Japanese people to their emperor as royal tribute, and won considerable acclaim alongside Ceylon and Darjeeling black tea on the Western tea market. Its quality and charm is widely accepted and recognized by consumers, making Sun-Moon Lake Black tea world famous even today.