Pear Mountain Fortunes

Li Shan means Pear Mountain, and in the past, the most sought after fruits, particularly pears, came from there. Today, such famous heights as Da Yu Ling, and Fu Shou Shan, has dwarfed the fruits and made tea the most profitable and sought after crop from this region. Li Shan oolongs generally refer to elevations of 1700-2000 meters, while Fu Shou Shan, an even smaller garden, lies at around 2300 meters or so. The mountains are impossibly dangerous, downright scary in its steepness. One look at the prospects of tumbling down the hill from harvesting makes one understand all the fuss.

At harvest season, not only are the farmers busy, the corporate buyers and large scale tea merchants would camp out at the mountain, going from farm to farm day to day, and purchasing entire day's productions if they like what they taste. We visited old Mr. Wu's traditional farm at 2300 meters, Mr. Chen's biodynamic farm, and Mr. Huang's larger scale farm that produces about 3000 jins of Li Shan tea a season.

Li Shan Oolongs are the most intensely fragrant, smooth buttery oolong there is, topping Taiwan oolongs growing everywhere else. Particularly, there is a pronounced taste of 'gan' that lingers for an entire day, with less and less astringency the higher the elevation, no matter how strong a cup of tea you make. Incredibly sweet with a taste of fruit that's been cooked at high heat, Li Shan tea no doubt is so highly sought after, many unscruplous merchants would try to dupe the unsuspecting consumer. It is highly unlikely to buy any Li shan tea less than $200 USD plb. at a retail level, and at that price, one is guaranteed that it came from the second flush or 'second spring', or lower elevations at 1700 meters. Da Yu Ling oolongs are well over $300 p/lb., and difficult to acquire even if one would pay for it, for all of the crops are usually spoken for. We managed to finagle some from Mr. Wu's traditional farm, and folks, we will soon announce when these teas will be tasted at the teashop.

Braving travel sickness, extreme weather, rolling boulders that threaten to bludgeon us flat, and myriad other adverse conditions, we travelled far to get our customers these lots. Don't miss out on this chance to commit the taste of these teas to memory!

Taken from http://teapersonality.blogspot.com/