Today’s theme for Organic Island Tea is the fifth in our series — “Flower.”
And Professor Feng Zhong-tian is like a flower herself: gentle in presence, soft-spoken, and instantly soothing to listen to.

Alongside today’s fine tea, we’ve invited Ya-Fei from Yi Wan Shí Pu to design a flower-inspired dish —
so that between the fragrance of tea and blossoms, we can all taste the tenderness of the land.

Taiwan: The Master of Oolong

Taiwan is the world’s greatest maker of oolong tea.
Japan is known for green tea, India for black tea —
but here in Taiwan, over 90% of our tea is oolong.
It is our foundation.

And today’s star, Red Oolong, might remind you of Oriental Beauty.
That honey-like aroma? It comes from the tiny green leafhopper’s bite.
When the tea leaf is wounded, it defends itself —
and in that struggle, develops a gentle, natural sweetness.

So, is Red Oolong a black tea or an oolong?
The answer: it’s oolong.
It wears the robe of black tea, but carries the soul of oolong.

 From Decline to Rebirth: The Story of Red Oolong

The story begins in Luye, Taitung.
In the 1960s, the government expanded tea cultivation eastward.
Under Taitung’s strong sun and warm climate,
farmers could harvest both early-spring and late-winter teas.
But when the export market was flooded with cheaper teas from Vietnam and Sri Lanka,
Taitung’s black tea industry began to fade.
The once-vibrant 300–400 hectares of tea fields dwindled to less than 100.

Then, researchers at the Taitung Branch of the Tea Research and Extension Station stepped in.
They asked local farmers,
“Could we create a new kind of tea — one that fits this tropical land?”
And so, a quiet revolution began.

They experimented — blending oolong’s fragrance, black tea’s depth,
and the warm caramel and honey notes that come from careful roasting.
By 2008, the first batch of Red Oolong was born.

up That Carries the Summer Wind

When the Hot Air Balloon Festival took off in Taitung,
visitors sipped chilled Red Oolong beneath the blazing summer sky.
That honey sweetness, that hint of caramel —
made people smile and say, “This tea feels so gentle.”

As the fragrance spread, so did new life in the region.
Once, 90% of farmers made only light-fragrance oolong;
now, 90% are producing Red Oolong.
It redefined the value of low-altitude tea —
and proved that the land itself still had stories to tell.

This wasn’t just an economic shift —
it was an act of faith in the power of the land.
Taitung’s tea farmers used their own climate, their own hands,
to craft a flavor that belongs only to Taitung —
the sweetness of tropical sunlight, the depth of the soil, the gentleness of human care.

So the next time you hold a cup of Red Oolong,
pause for a moment.
Let its story unfold in the steam —
the story of farmers who refused to give up,
and of a land that found its way back into the light.

A cup of tea, a journey of renewal.
May you, too, find the scent of hope within its warmth.