Season of tea indicates the time when the tea was produced.

Altitude of tea denotes the altitude of the tea plantation on which the tea was produced. High altitude tea means the teas produced on tea plantations located over 1000 meter above sea level. In contrast, low altitude tea refers to the teas from tea plantations located below 1000 meter above sea level.

Varietal of tea indicates the type of tea leaves used to produce the tea. For a detailed description of Taiwan tea varietals, please click here

The harvest number is a number we assign to each tea we have in stock. All loose tea items we sell are labeled by its harvest number. If you would like to make a subsequent purchase of a tea, just check the harvest number of the tea that you have and the harvest number of the tea in our website. If the two numbers are identical, the tea we have in stock is exactly the same as the tea you have previously purchased.

Origin of tea denotes the tea region where the tea was produced and harvested.

Hand-picked teas are the teas that are produced by hand-picked raw tea leaves. Machine-picked tea denotes the tea made by machine picked leaves. Most of high altitude teas are hand-picked. Machine-pick is mostly used on low altitude teas.

There are three major types of tea: green tea, oolong tea, and black tea, categorized by their oxidation levels. Green tea is not allowed to oxidize at all. In contrast, oolong tea, pouching tea, tikuanyin tea and baihao oolong tea are semi-oxidized, and black tea is full-oxidized.

Some teas sold at IShopO are distinguished by their degrees of roasting. These are actually the same tea but sold as different products. Roasting has a great impact on teas in many ways. Below is a comparison of the difference between unroasted and light roasted teas.