Vanishing Fog: Alishan Tea under Threat

This spring, temperatures in Taiwan’s Alishan tea-growing region reached a decade-high. The unusually intense heat, combined with the absence of spring rain and vanishing mist, has led to a year-on-year decline in oolong tea production. The region's tea industry, valued at US$30 million, now faces the threat of collapse.

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By Sophie Lin
web only
2024-11-14

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The winding road that leads to Taiwan’s famed Alishan National Forest Recreation Area is lined on both sides with majestic tea plantations hugging mountain ridges.

It is spring, when Alishan’s tea leaves are most abundant, and people are busy in the plantations picking the leaves that will be turned into the area’s renowned oolong tea. Yet, trucks transporting away the harvests are seen leaving before noon.

“It used to be that we would pick leaves the whole day,” said Huang Chang-you (黃昶銪), the head of a tea plantation in the area called “Yu Ming Tang” (銪茗堂).

Huang grew up on Alishan, and he knew as soon as he saw trucks driving off early down the hill that this year’s tea harvest would be disappointing.

This was not how Alishan’s prime tea-picking season was supposed to look.

Check out the graphic story: Vanishing Fog: Alishan Tea under Threat