# Gaoshan (high-mountain tea) (高山茶, gāoshān chá)

Gaoshan cha (高山茶) — "high-mountain tea": Taiwanese oolongs from plantations above a thousand meters. Coolness and mists slow the leaf's growth, yielding a thick, creamy, sweet taste.

Gaoshan — "high mountain" — is not poetry in Taiwan but a category: tea counts as high-mountain if the plantation lies above roughly a thousand meters. At that altitude it is cool, the swing between day and night temperatures is large, and the slopes stand in cloud for half the day. The leaf grows slowly, accumulating amino acids and sugars, while diffused light and mist soften the tannic edge. The result in the cup is the signature high-mountain creaminess: a thick, buttery liquor, flowers, fresh greenery, a long cool sweetness.

The classics of the genre are lightly oxidized, ball-rolled oolongs: Alishan with its soft floral creaminess, and Lishan from the island's highest commercial plantations, ringing with alpine purity. Beside them stands Dong Ding — the historical ancestor of the Taiwanese oolong tradition from lower mountains, more roasted and warmer: comparing Dong Ding with its high-mountain kin is the best lesson in what altitude does to taste. In essence, gaoshan is terroir raised into the vertical.

The practitioner needs a measure of skepticism: "high mountain" has become a marketing magnet, and the word "gaoshan" on a packet guarantees nothing by itself — look at the specific mountain and harvest. These oolongs are best brewed with water just below the boil and brief infusions: their virtue is a delicate creamy aromatic that is easy to scald. And give the rolled balls an infusion or two to open: gaoshan starts speaking at full voice from the second steeping.

Source: https://www.dao-cha.info/en/glossary/gao-shan