Wenshan Baozhong

Wenshan Baozhong is made by the Cheng family, who have been crafting Pouchong-style oolongs in Taiwan for over a hundred years. Their home is PingLing, a genuine tea town north of Taipei, complete with tea restaurants, a tea museum, statues honoring the pluckers, and streetlights shaped like teapots. The village sits within a nature preserve full of gardenia flowers, which feels fitting given the character of the tea grown here. Baozhong is only lightly oxidized, placing it at the greener, more floral end of the oolong spectrum. Each year we return looking for the same thing from the Chengs: a lightly twisted leaf that captures the gardenia spirit of its home. This year's lot delivers.