Taiwan Turns Its Only Wild Tea Into a High-GABA Oolong
The Tea and Beverage Research Station has processed a GABA oolong from Tai Cha No. 24, the island's only domesticated native wild tea, at 249 milligrams of GABA per 100 grams.
Taiwan's Tea and Beverage Research Station has made a high-GABA oolong from Tai Cha No. 24, the island's only domesticated wild tea, at 249 milligrams of GABA per 100 grams.
Named Shan Yun, Tai Cha No. 24 is Camellia formosensis, the only tea species native to Taiwan, and the station spent 19 years bringing it into cultivation, it said in a release reported by STiR Coffee and Tea. The tree grows to 10 meters in mountain forest between 600 and 1,500 meters, and entered Taiwan's list of permitted under-forest crops in December 2021.
To raise the GABA, the station worked the leaf through alternating anaerobic and aerobic steps, starving it of oxygen and then returning it. The result carries 249 milligrams of GABA per 100 grams, above the 150 milligram threshold a tea must clear to be sold as a GABA tea, and 11.45 milligrams of L-theanine per gram, the station said.
The cup is not the usual high-mountain register. The station describes woody and mushroom notes over a mellow sweetness of sugarcane and roasted chestnut. An oolong that tastes of the forest floor is a rare thing to be handed.
GABA and L-theanine are the compounds a GABA tea is sold on, the first studied for stress and sleep, the second for steadiness of attention. The station cited such studies but claimed no proven benefit for this tea. Director Su Tsung-chen said the work showed that a rare endemic species could be turned into a premium functional tea.
For the drinker, the figure is the useful part. A tea sold as GABA oolong should clear 150 milligrams per 100 grams. This one nearly reaches 250. A label can say GABA. Only the number says how much.
Sources: STiR Coffee and Tea, Taiwan Explores New Possibilities for Wild Tai Cha (June 19, 2026); Tea and Beverage Research Station (Taiwan), news release.