What Kind of Tea Is Lishan Tea? A Complete Guide to Its Tea Category
China has a great many teas, and many of them are of very high quality. Among them, Lishan tea is a very high-quality tea that is loved by many people. So what kind of tea is Lishan tea?
1. What kind of tea is Lishan tea?
Lishan tea is a kind of oolong tea. Lishan is located in Taichung City, Taiwan, China, bordering Nantou County and Hualien County. Its high-mountain climate is particularly pronounced, and the tea produced there rarely has the raw, astringent, and grassy-green taste caused by insufficient withering, which is the main reason Lishan tea is so popular. The Lishan teas produced in Fushoushan Farm, Cuifeng, Cuiluan, Wuling, Tianfu, Songmao, Hongxiang, Daxueshan, Baxianshan, and other production areas each have their own characteristics, among which Fushoushan Farm, Wuling Farm, and Cuifeng are the most representative. Fushoushan Farm is located in the Lishan area. In the mid-1970s, the Veterans Affairs Council's Fushoushan Farm began planting tea, and it gradually spread. At an altitude of about 2000 m, the soil structure is gravelly loam with shale terrain, and the production period runs from late May to early October, with 2 to 3 harvests per year. Being in a low-temperature environment year-round, the tea plants grow slowly and are often washed by white snow; the tea liquor is fresh and delicious, clean, sweet, and smooth, making it a high-quality environment for cultivating tea plants.
2. Characteristics of Lishan tea
Lishan tea has soft buds and leaves, thick leaf flesh, and a high pectin content. Its aroma is elegant and mild, its liquor color is honey-green with a visible yellow tint, its taste is sweet and mellow, smooth and soft with good steeping endurance, and the tea liquor gathers even more sweetness and fragrance after cooling. Annual production periods: spring tea in late May and early June; autumn tea in early August; winter tea in late October is the best period. It is harvested only two to three times a year, so the leaf surface is large and thick, the tea liquor is long and soft, and the returning sweetness has a strong lingering finish. At the same time, because it is shrouded in cloud and mist year-round, with cold temperatures and snow in winter, the growth period is long, which creates the characteristic of thick leaf flesh. Its flavor is sweet and mellow, with a particularly strong cold mineral taste, and the flavor carries a fruity fragrance, with the exceptional characteristics of color, aroma, and sweet taste.
3. Effects of Lishan tea
1. Antioxidant effect: Tea polyphenols, as a natural antioxidant, are an effective measure for scavenging active free radicals. They also have a wide range of uses in medicine. In addition to diseases such as tumors, they also have satisfactory effects on difficult diseases such as burns and trauma, ischemia-reperfusion syndrome, and cataracts.
2. Detoxifying effect: First, they precipitate or reduce precious metal ions. Tea polyphenols combine with proteins, can inhibit the harmful effects of bacteria and viruses, and have a strong inhibitory effect on a variety of carcinogens. They can also be used as an antidote for alkaloid poisoning.
3. Lipid-lowering effect: Tea polyphenols can improve the body's antioxidant capacity, lower blood lipids, relieve hypercoagulable blood states, enhance red blood cell elasticity, prevent thrombosis, and relieve or delay atherosclerosis and high blood pressure, thereby protecting the normal function of the heart and cerebrovascular system.
4. The anti-cancer and cancer-inhibiting effects of tea.
Lishan tea has a sweet and mellow taste and an elegant, mild aroma. Drinking more Lishan tea is very beneficial, and those who can should drink Lishan tea in moderation.