Velvet Moon (Roasted Oolong) VN101 (spring 2026)

Grown at close to 2,000 metres on south-facing slopes, this tea carries the signature character of the Qilai terroir: aromatic, full, and grounded. Where high-altitude teas from other regions can read as delicate or airy, Qilai oolongs tend toward substance — a rounder body, a fragrance that fills rather than floats. The Qingxin cultivar, the standard-bearer of Taiwan high mountain tea, finds particular expression here in the extended growing cycles that altitude enforces. Unhurried growth.  Roasting draws out what the mountain built into the tea — the density of the terroir becomes warmth, the aromatics settle into something deeper and more persistent. 

The Region — Qilai 

Qilai sits in the Hualien highlands of central-eastern Taiwan, at elevations between 1,900 and 2,000 metres. The mountain faces the sun more directly than neighbouring ranges, which gives its teas a fuller, more radiant aromatics — what growers here call 陽香, sun-facing fragrance. The soil is rocky and free-draining, forcing tea roots to work deeper and harder. This produces leaves with density and concentration that the softer, clay-based soils of other high-mountain regions don't easily replicate. The tradeoff is vulnerability to dry spells and a naturally limited yield. At this altitude, the mountain allows three harvests a year.

The Garden — Qilai Yang’s

Qilai Yang’s was founded in 1985 by a former police officer from Taipei who came to the mountains on assignment and never quite left. He retired early, found land, and began growing tea at a time when Taiwan's high-mountain tea culture was just finding its footing. His son runs the garden today — the second generation on the same slopes.

The farm holds tea gardens on both Qilai and the neighbouring Cuifeng ridge. The two are kept entirely separate. Every harvest, every elevation, every day of picking is processed and sold as its own tea. No blending. The reasoning is simple: clean, single-origin tea has a clarity that a blend rarely improves on.