What is Alishan Jinxuan?

In China and Taiwan, many varieties of tea are named by combining their origin and certain characteristics.

One convention is the appearance of the dry leaves- such as Silver Needles (银针) as in the case with Junshan Yinzhen or Furry Tips or Maojian (毛尖) such as Xinyang Maojian and Duyun Maojian.

Another popular convention is the cultivar (see here for more on what is a cultivar) such as Anxi Tieguanyin (安溪铁观音) and in this case Alishan Jinxuan (阿里山金萱).

So to answer what is Alishan Jinxuan, let us look at the 2 components of its name.

Alishan

If you had joined a tour of Taiwan that exceeded 4 or 5 days, good odds are you would have visited Alishan or Mt Ali National Park in Jiayi (or Chiayi) District. Together with Sun Moon Lake, Alishan is one of the most popular scenic spots in Taiwan and no trip of Taiwan’s natural wonders can be complete without it.

Since the Japanese occupation in the early 20^th century, Alishan was developed primarily for its export lush cypress trees. By the 70’s though, logging all but came to an end and tourism became the primary economic activity in the area.

In the 80’s though there was a new source of income for the region- tea- along with the nation’s obsession for High Mountain Teas.

The Teas of Alishan

The most common cultivars planted in Alishan are the Qingxing Wulong and the Jinxuan respectively though there is a smattering of Fushou and Tieguanyin cultivars. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, Alishan Oolong has come to mean teas from the Qingxin cultivar, with its floral aroma.

Though the highest peak in Alishan is about 2,300m, the bulk of the teas are grown at elevations from 1,300-1,700m. The average temperature at that range hovers around 10⁰C in winter which allows winter harvest of these teas, which is arguably the most favored (together with spring) season for Taiwanese High Mountain Teas.

The natural greenery, the springs as well as being designated a national park makes Alishan an ideal spot for producing tea and it is probably the most common souvenir that visitors here come away with.

The Jinxuan Cultivar

Now let’s look at the second part of the name- Jinxuan.

The Jinxuan cultivar is also known as Taiwan No. 12 being the offspring of Taiwan no 8 and the Yingzhi Hongxin cultivars. It is named after the grandmother of its creator, Professor Wu Zhen Ze who christened it after 1 of the 2 most important women in his life, the other being his mother Cuiyu (aka Taiwan Jade).

Created in 1981, it quickly gained popularity among the younger tea drinkers for its brisk refreshing yet milky taste. Soon it was the predominant cultivar in Alishan as it tended to fetch better prices than the Alishan Oolong.

However dishonest merchant quickly hopped on the bandwagon and added milk flavoring to ‘enhance’ the milky taste or in some cases, fake it altogether. This became so rampant that widespread regard for Jinxuan plummeted and a significant number of Jinxuan trees were chopped down and replaced by Qingxin trees by 1993.

It was after some time that Jinxuan began to regain its past glory although today fakes often hail from Quanzhou, Fujian or even northern Thailand and Vietnam. These often ‘masquerade’ as Jinxuan and other Taiwanese High Mountain teas and flood the market but that is a tale for another post.

See Alishan Jinxuan in stores