--- title: "Nántóushì Qīngshān chá" url: https://thetea.app/article/nantoushi-qingshan-cha lang: en updated: 2026-10-01 source: THE TEA — encyclopedia of Chinese tea (https://thetea.app) --- # Nántóushì Qīngshān chá (南投市青山茶) *Nántóushì Qīngshān chá* (南投市青山茶), “the tea of the green mountains of Nantou City”, is a low-mountain oolong from the Baguashan plateau (八卦山, *Bāguà shān*) in Nantou City of the county of the same name in Taiwan. The tea received the name “南投青山茶” in 1988 from an old line of verse; since 1989 the city has held competitions for it twice a year, and since 2013 the name has been secured by a mark of origin held by the city administration. **1. Classification and Origin:** * **Type:** Oolong (烏龍茶, *wūlóngchá*). The competitions are held in the “oolong” group (烏龍組) and the “new varieties” group (新品種組); in winter 2022 both were judged as “ripe-aroma” oolong (熟[香型](https://thetea.app/article/xiangxing)烏龍茶). The text of the rules of the mark was not found in the sources consulted: the class is established from the competitions and the county’s descriptions. * **Category:** Low-mountain Taiwanese oolong; mark of origin (產地證明標章, *chǎndì zhèngmíng biāozhāng*). * **Origin:** Taiwan (臺灣, *Táiwān*), Nantou County (南投縣, *Nántóu xiàn*), Nantou City (南投市, *Nántóu shì*), the Baguashan ridge. * **Zone of the mark:** Four li (里) neighborhoods on the crest of the ridge within the city: Yongxing (永興), Fushan (福山), Fengshan (鳳山) and Fengming (鳳鳴) — according to a review of Taiwanese marks that refers to the rules “南投市青山茶產地證明標章使用管理規範”, and according to the county’s description. * **Mark holder:** The Nantou City administration (南投市公所). * **Geographic coordinates:** Nantou City — about 23.9° N and 120.7° E. **2. History and Cultural Significance:** * **History:** * **The Japanese period.** According to the county government, tea has been grown on the ridge since Japanese rule; mainly “oolong” (烏龍茶) and the large-leaf “Wuyi tea” (武夷茶) were planted. Chinese Wikipedia puts it differently: tea on the plateau is a crop that rose “after the seventies”. * **December 1988.** The former chairman of the Council of Agriculture, Yu Yuxian (余玉賢), proposed the name “南投青山茶” after the old line “何處人間似仙境，青山攜幼採茶時” — “where among people is there a land like the abode of the immortals? — there, where in the green mountains they pick tea with their children”. * **Since 1989.** The city administration and the city farmers’ association (南投市農會) have held tea competitions twice a year — in spring and in winter. * **2013.** According to the list of marks of origin of the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office, certification mark No. 01605644 is registered to the Nantou City administration; it is valid from 16 October 2013 to 15 October 2033. * **Competitions of recent years.** In winter 2022 — 48 samples in the new-varieties group and 88 in the oolong group, in spring 2026 — 49 and 70. Spring 2026 was short of rain: the buds grew slowly and unevenly, the harvest was slightly delayed, and there was less tea. * **Name:** 青山 (*qīngshān*) — “green mountains”, the word from that very line. * **Cultural significance:** According to the county, with this tea many young farmers who had left to work elsewhere returned to the land; the name from a line of verse was given in order to promote the tea in Taiwan and abroad. **3. Botanical Description and Raw Material:** * **Varieties / Cultivars:** The county names as the current varieties 青心烏龍 (*Qīngxīn wūlóng*), [金萱](https://thetea.app/article/jin-xuan) (*Jīnxuān*), 翠玉 (*Cuìyù*) and [四季春](https://thetea.app/article/sijichun) (*Sìjìchūn*), which gradually displaced the former oolong and the large-leaf “Wuyi tea”. According to the magazine “微笑台灣”, *Sìjìchūn* is now the most common. The composition of the “new varieties” group is not spelled out in the sources. * **Raw material:** According to the county’s description, only tender leaves (嫩葉) are taken at each picking. * **Harvest standard:** No exact standard found in the sources consulted. * **Harvest time:** Spring and winter — by the seasons of the competitions; there are no exact dates. **4. Terroir and Cultivation Features:** * **Region:** The city is cut by the Maoluoxi River (貓羅溪): to the east lie the Nantou hills, to the west the Baguashan plateau (八卦山台地) near the border with Zhanghua County. * **Growing altitude:** According to a 1997 handbook of the tea station (as retold by the National Cultural Memory Bank) — 400–500 m. The city farmers’ association in 2022 called the area medium- and low-altitude (中低海拔). According to Chinese Wikipedia, the highest point of the whole plateau is Mount Hengshan (橫山), 443 m, and the Yongxing community within the zone of the mark formerly bore the name Hengshan; the handbook’s upper figure diverges from this. * **Climate:** According to the county’s description, in the morning and evening the plateau is covered by thick fog, the summits are well ventilated, the slopes get a lot of sun, the climate is mild and there is enough rainfall. According to the chairman of the farmers’ association (2022), low-mountain gardens are vulnerable to heat and weather anomalies. * **Soils:** Acidic red soils (酸性紅壤土) with a deep topsoil, rich in organic matter. The tea section of the county website is named exactly that: “red soil nurtures good tea” (紅土壤蘊育好茶). * **Neighbors on the plateau:** Pineapples, ginger and lychees. * **Where else it grows:** Chinese Wikipedia places plantings of “青山茶” on the plateau and in the locality of Qiedongjiao (茄苳腳). **5. Production Technology:** No process chart for this tea was found in the sources consulted. Little is known: the leaf is withered in the sun (in hot weather the judges advise taking it indoors in time), the roasting is adjusted to the weather; the leaf in the low mountains is thin, and in roasting, according to one of the 2026 winners, temperature and time are especially important. Below is the general scheme of Taiwanese oolong, not a description of the technology of *Nántóushì Qīngshān chá*: 1. **Solar withering (日光萎凋, *rìguāng wěidiāo*).** 2. **Tossing and resting the leaf indoors (浪菁, *làngqīng*):** The edges of the leaf begin to oxidize. 3. **Fixation (殺菁, *shāqīng*):** Heat stops oxidation. 4. **Rolling (揉捻, *róuniǎn*).** 5. **Drying and roasting (焙火, *bèihuǒ*).** **6. Organoleptic Characteristics:** * **Dry leaf appearance:** According to the county — tightly rolled, dark green (緊結墨綠). For the 2022 competition winners — even and glossy. * **Dry leaf aroma:** No descriptions found in the sources consulted. * **Liquor aroma:** According to the county — clean and delicate (清幽). For the 2022 winners — fermentation and sweet flowers in the new varieties, sweetness and roast in the oolong. * **Taste:** According to the county — sweetish, mellow and rich (甘潤醇濃); the county considers “sweet mellowness” (甘醇) its main feature. In the 2022 protocols — sweet, with a long aftertaste (甘甜韻足). * **Liquor color:** The descriptions diverge. The county writes “light yellow” (微黃), one producer — “honey yellow, clear” (蜜黃澄清), the 2022 protocols — “golden” for the new varieties and “golden with an amber-red sheen” for the oolong. * **Spent leaves (wet leaves):** No descriptions found in the sources consulted. **7. Chemical Composition:** No physicochemical data found in the sources consulted. **8. Health Properties:** There are no verified data on the effects of this particular tea. **9. Brewing:** Class practice for rolled oolong. * **Water temperature:** 95–100 °C. * **Tea amount:** 5–7 g per 150 ml. * **Teaware:** A gaiwan or a small clay teapot. * **Process:** Warm the teaware, quickly rinse the leaf; the first infusion — about 50 seconds, each next one 10 seconds longer. One producer of competition tea advises 6–8 g per teapot for four or five people and three to five infusions, and for a cold brew a ratio of 1 to 50. **10. Storage:** Class practice. In airtight packaging, in a dry dark place, away from odors; an opened package is best finished within a few weeks. **11. Price and Counterfeits:** No market statistics found in the sources consulted. One tea factory sells the association’s competition tea under the name “優良新品種烏龍” in a box of about 600 g for 1200 New Taiwan dollars, discounted to 1000 (September 2026). * **How to avoid counterfeits:** * Look for the mark of origin “南投市青山茶”: in 2022 the city administration promoted it precisely so that the buyer could choose with confidence. * The association’s competition tea is traceable by a QR code and is selectively checked for pesticides and origin (multi-element analysis, organoleptic evaluation, a DNA database of tea plants). * No organoleptic features by which this tea is distinguished from other low-mountain oolongs of Nantou were found in the sources consulted. **12. Interesting Facts:** * The mark is held not by the farmers’ association but by the city administration; the competitions of recent years are held by the association. * According to farmers quoted on the page of the Fengshan community (2022), many sell fresh leaf to traders from neighboring Songbaikeng (松柏坑), where it is made into “[松柏長青茶](https://thetea.app/article/songbai-changqing-cha)”, while tea under the name “青山茶” remains for a few loyal buyers. * Accounts of how lively the competition is diverge: farmers on the Fengshan community page say there are fewer and fewer samples, while the chairman of the association in winter 2022 noted that there were more of them than in previous years. **13. Comparison with Other Taiwanese Oolongs:** * **Si Ji Chun (四季春):** The variety that, according to one description, is the most common on Baguashan. * **Dong Ding Wulong ([凍頂烏龍](https://thetea.app/article/dong-ding-wulong)):** An oolong of Lugu Township of the same county, also with a mark of origin. * **Jin Xuan (金萱):** A variety that also grows on Baguashan. * **Songbai Changqing (松柏長青茶):** An oolong of neighboring Mingjian from the same ridge; according to the farmers, part of the Baguashan leaf goes there. **In Conclusion:** *Nántóushì Qīngshān chá* is a modest low-mountain oolong of the red soils of Baguashan: tightly rolled dark green leaf, a liquor from light yellow to golden and a mellow sweetness that the county considers its main feature. The documents about it say more about the brand than about the taste: a name from a line of verse in 1988, competitions since 1989 and a mark of origin since 2013, which is what to look for on the package.