Sun Moon Lake GABA Oolong 🇹🇼

Sun Moon Lake GABA Oolong 🇹🇼
Taiwanese Oolong Tea
From Yuchi Township, Nantou County, Taiwan


15g Tin
or
Zero Waste Refill (compostable bag) with discount code: REFILL
This tea is organically grown!

A ball rolled oolong opening up to reveal large leaves with forest green & lush flecks with a sweet baked aroma. A bright orange amber colour to the tea soup with high clarity. Super smooth, creamy mouthfeel with rich raisin notes, a pleasant milky sweetness with a fruity fragrance providing a high concentration of GABA. A great depth and lasting flavour with the feeling that this tea just keeps going.

During the last week of our R&D trip to Taiwan (April’25) we drove the mountain road, Highway 21 from Alishan to Sun Moon Lake across Alishan & Yu Shan ranges experiencing beauty in both sunrise, sunset & cloud sea over the mountains, a very scenic route indeed driving around the lake itself & arriving in Puli to explore the most beautiful organic tea gardens of Tea master Yen & family, we were shown 3 in total, full of a clean, rich & diverse environment of flora and fauna for the tea plants to thrive in, with even tea trees of 100 years age. Their dedication and enthusiasm for organic principles and cultivation is apparent in the the high quality of their teas and is a true inspiration. Their wish is to bring out everything that is within the leaves, every nuance, every variety with a offering rich in specialities.

This tea is organically grown in the Sun Moon Lake area at an elevation of around 1000m above sea level. Processed in Puli Township by Tea Master Yen & Family. This tea is a hand picked harvest in Spring from the Jin Xuan (Golden Lily) cultivar. This cultivar is normally used to produce Milk Oolong. After picking the leaves then undergo GABA Oxygen Free fermentation processing. Producing a very small batch, high quality tea.

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GABA(Gamma aminobutyric acid) is an amino acid found within the human brain aiding efficient neuron communication. The same amino acid is naturally found within the tea plant.
In 1984, Dr. Tsushida Tojiro's team at the National Institute of Vegetables and Tea Science, Japan, developed a new technology in order to boost the natural levels of GABA through an Oxygen Free (Anaerobic) Fermentation Process, whereby the unfinished tea is placed in a nitrogen filled drum that displaces oxygen. Introducing the tea to this process after six to ten hours resulted in the conversion of glutmatic acid in the tea to GABA without interrupting caffeine or catechin content, leaving the  leaves enriched with large amounts of GABA.

Since the introduction of GABA enriched teas in the late 1980's, the popularity and its production has been particularly embraced in Japan & Taiwan. Further research found that GABA rich tea is beneficial for people with hypertension, the tea's overall calming effects and also, its ability to aid the reduction of blood pressure.