Is High Mountain Tea the Best? A Case Study of the High Mountain Tea Industry in Lishan, Taiwan
Date Issued
2016
Date
2016
Author(s)
Yang, Chia-Hsuan
Abstract
Taiwan high mountain oolong tea has emerging since late 1970s. Based on the concept of “high mountain tea is the best,” the price of tea was more expensive when the altitude of plantation was higher. Thus, the highest tea plantation at Taiwan shifted from 700 to 2,500 meters. In this thesis, I focus on the highest tea plantation area, Lishan. I explain the social construction of “altitude” from three perspectives: natural environment, farming techniques and consumption taste. I find that in the background of industrialization and urbanization, depended on the advancement of transportation system, agricultural production has developed to marginal land such as high mountain area. Lishan oolong tea emerged because of the transformation of tea industry and high mountain agriculture industry. Three policies played an important role in this, including the domestic market of tea industry, the development of Central Cross-Island Highway and the importation of apple industry. The climate of Lishan, cold, rainy, high humidity, misty and weak sunlight, was beneficial to advance the quality of tea leaves, but harmful to the growth of tea. Thus, irrigation, frost protection and other farming techniques were developed to reduce the environmental stresses. The climate was also not beneficial to the fermentation during the manufacturing process of oolong tea, as a result, the high mountain oolong tea was more like green tea. At the same time, “hand picking,” “tight ball shape” and “light taste” were constructed as the standard of quality under the action and discourse of tea art, tea competition and commercial marketing, the consumption taste began to prefer the “greenize” high mountain oolong tea. Finally, the discourse of “high mountain tea is the best” emerged.
Subjects
Lishan
high mountain tea
mountain agriculture
tea industry
tea industry transformation
Taiwan tea
Type
thesis