The Oolong tradition was born in Fujian Province on China’s southeastern coast, and the province remains a leading producer, although Taiwan has more recently developed into an equal contender. While green tea is produced throughout China, Oolong tea is largely concentrated in the southern parts of the country. Here, the climate is subtropical and humid, so the tea plantations are situated in the cooler mountain areas. Up in the rugged, inaccessible mountains, the conditions for cultivation are very special and differ from the tea-growing regions further north in China. Here, the terrain is mountainous, the nature is robust, humidity is high, and the plants often grow as large as trees, unlike the small, neat tea bushes that grow in the more northern tea regions of China.
