Place of Origin
Aowanda, Nantou County, Taiwan

Month and Year of Picking
April 2016

Tasting Notes
A delicious fruity tea with hints of sweet plums and wine gums

Sourcing Notes
This silky smooth Taiwanese oolong warrants a little explanation. ‘GABA’ is in fact an acronym, and stands for ‘Gamma Amino Butyric Acid’. Contained in some measure in all teas, GABA is actually an amino acid also found in your nervous system. Its your body’s main inhibitory neurotransmitter, and this means that ingesting GABA works like a very subtle, natural tranquilizer; decreasing anxiety, improving alertness, and helping lower blood pressure.

Health benefits aside, the tea is still worth drinking for pleasure alone, and our GABA Oolong brews to a smooth, dark liquor with a subtly sweet taste, and distinctive fruity undertones. GABA tea was accidently discovered by the Japanese in the 80s, when they found that GABA accumulated in tea when exposed to an oxygen free, nitrogen rich environment. Since then, and after research studies showed GABA to have a blood pressure reducing effect, GABA tea has become a familiar part of the Japanese diet. But while GABA tea has been known to Japan for over 20 years, its health benefits are greater, but lesser known in the West, than those of green tea.

Taiwan is an important supplier of GABA tea to Japan, not only because they produce some of the best tea in the world, but because Taiwanese tea technology is some of the best in the world. Our GABA Oolong comes from Nantou county in Taiwan, a mountainous region famous for its production of high-quality oolongs and great tasting teas.

[Read more about GABA tea on our blog]