Floral · Roasted · Bright
Our Signature tier, the everyday cup of a tea-literate Chinese household. Same Nantou growers as the Reserve, same spring and winter flushes, same low-slow bake, at the bud-with-two-leaves pluck a central-Taiwanese family actually pours through the week. Rounder in body and more grain-forward than the Reserve's aromatic lift, with the same partial-oxidation chemistry, catechins, theasinensin, and the amino-acid load that gives gao shan oolong its calm-alert mouthfeel. The cup the Chinese tea drinker has poured daily for two centuries, built to drink considered every afternoon rather than rationed for guests. Origin: Central Taiwan · Nantou County · Spring & Winter flushes Tasting: Floral · Roasted · Bright Brew: 85–90°C · 3g / 150ml · 45s first steep, +15s each
Brewing Guide
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, lightly oxidised oolong sits in the temperate middle of the cooling-warming spectrum — neither chilling the stomach the way a fresh green tea can, nor drying it the way a full black tea might. The light bake nudges the Signature a half-step warmer, which is why central Taiwanese drinkers reach for it through the cool months: it is said to support digestion after a heavy meal, ease internal damp (湿气), and clear the head without unsettling the body. The Signature is the daily form of that household cup — accessible enough to pour every afternoon, serious enough to pour with attention.
Modern chemistry tracks the family character of green-style gao shan oolong. Spring and winter pluckings at altitude shift the leaf toward higher L-theanine and a richer amino-acid profile; partial oxidation produces the rare polyphenol theasinensin alongside the catechins of a green tea; the slow bake mellows the harsh tannins. The Signature's one-bud-two-leaves pluck carries slightly more catechin and slightly less aromatic terpene than the Reserve's terminal-bud pluck — the same family of compounds, in slightly different ratios. None of this is a medical claim. It does explain why a careful drinker describes the Signature cup as both alert and calm.
Tradition
High-mountain oolong is the traditional afternoon cup for long reading or quiet work — a "clearing" tea that lifts the head without agitation.
Modern lens
L-theanine from cool-night high-elevation growth, paired with a moderate caffeine dose; well-studied for steady, non-jittery alertness.
Tradition
Drunk daily through the cool seasons in central Taiwan as a general tonic — said to "clear" the body without ever drying it.
Modern lens
Rich in catechins and theasinensin; the fuller one-bud-two-leaves pluck carries slightly more catechin than the bud-only Reserve.
Tradition
The classic cup poured after a long Taiwanese meal — light enough not to weigh the stomach, warm enough to cut through richness without chilling the middle.
Modern lens
Partial-oxidation polyphenols — including theasinensin — have been studied for their role in lipid handling and post-meal blood sugar response.
Tradition
Light, sweet, low in tannin — the everyday cup poured all day through Taiwan's humid spring and autumn months.
Modern lens
High amino-acid content and low astringency make for an easy, low-tannin cup that drinks closer to spring water than to a strong infusion.
The Signature
Mountain Crown Signature is the cup a tea-literate Chinese household actually pours through the week. Same Nantou growers as the Reserve, same spring and winter flushes, same low-slow bake, at the one-bud-with-two-leaves pluck that the central-Taiwanese family has poured daily for two centuries. Oxidation is held back so the leaves keep their fresh jade colour; the cup pours pale green-yellow with a clear edge and a quiet warm undertone from the bake.
What the Signature trades against the Reserve is a fraction of aromatic lift at the top of the cup. What it gives back is a rounder, more grain-forward body and a tin you can pour from every afternoon without rationing. This is the working oolong of a serious drinker — not the special-occasion seal, not the morning kettle pour, the cup that the household opens when a friend stops in for an hour or when the kettle goes on after dinner.
Heritage
Taiwan's modern oolong industry traces back to the early nineteenth century, when growers from Anxi in Fujian carried Qing Xin cuttings across the strait and planted them in the hills of what is now Nantou County. The central tea belt — Lugu, Dong Ding, Shan Lin Xi, the ridges above Sun Moon Lake — has been the heart of the industry ever since. The same gardens that produce the island's Reserve-tier lots also produce the Signature lots; the difference is not the bush, the season, or the bake. It is the pluck.
A serious central-Taiwan grower runs the harvest in passes. The first pickers move through the bushes taking only the terminal bud and the first one or two leaves below it — the smallest yield and the most demanding labour, the lots destined for the Reserve tin. A second pass takes the same bush at a fuller leaf-set: one bud, two leaves. The yield rises and the labour halves; the cup loses a fraction of aromatic complexity but keeps the cultivar, the altitude, and the maker's hand.
In the Western specialty market, the Reserve-tier lot is sometimes presented as the only grade worth drinking. In a Chinese tea household that is not how the cup works. A tin of Signature gao shan oolong is what gets poured after dinner most nights of the week; the Reserve tin stays sealed for guests and considered occasions. Mountain Crown Signature follows that domestic logic — the cup the family pours daily, sold at a price that lets it stay open in the kitchen.
Flavor
Brew with water just off the boil — 85 to 90°C, three grams of leaf to a 150ml pot, a brief rinse to wake the rolled balls, then a forty-five-second first steep adding fifteen seconds to each successive infusion. The liquor pours a clear pale green-yellow with a faintly warmer edge than the Reserve — the fuller leaf-set carries a touch more colour and a fraction more amber. The fresh-leaf nose lifts off the rim with orchid and white stone fruit; the bake reads just underneath.
The arc across the session is the giveaway. The first sip carries a brief lemony tartness on the entry; the floral lift arrives within a beat, then settles into a soft toasted-grain middle. By the third or fourth steep the leaves are fully open and the cup is at its most expressive — a balance of orchid, fresh-baked grain, and a round body that holds longer than the Reserve's peak. A well-made Signature lot gives six steepings before the leaves give up their last quiet mineral sweetness — and the hui gan (回甘) returns on every cup.
Tasting Notes
Fresh florals with a clearer bake undertone — orchid lift on top, warm bread-crumb underneath; the signature of the slow bake on the one-bud-two-leaves pluck.
A bright lemony entry that turns soft and floral within a beat, then settles into a fuller grain-forward middle — rounder body than the Reserve, less aromatic lift, longer hold.
Long and clean, lightly cooling, with a returning sweetness (hui gan, 回甘) that rises in the throat a moment after the cup is set down.
Across the session韻
Awakening
Rolled balls just beginning to loosen — bright tartness up front, the floral lift arriving over the warm bake.
Bloom
Leaves fully open. The most expressive cups of the session — soft, sweet, balanced, with a fuller body than the Reserve's peak.
Settling
Florals recede; the bake quietly carries the cup, the mid-palate turning grain-forward and gently nutty.
Tail
A clean mineral sweetness with the last of the bake — soft, water-like, the Signature leaves drinking themselves quietly out.
Awakening
Rolled balls just beginning to loosen — bright tartness up front, the floral lift arriving over the warm bake.
Bloom
Leaves fully open. The most expressive cups of the session — soft, sweet, balanced, with a fuller body than the Reserve's peak.
Settling
Florals recede; the bake quietly carries the cup, the mid-palate turning grain-forward and gently nutty.
Tail
A clean mineral sweetness with the last of the bake — soft, water-like, the Signature leaves drinking themselves quietly out.
