Sixty Stone Mountain in Hualien County, Taiwan, is just as spectacular as the premium, high-grade teas made in the region. In the summer, a blanket of orange daylilies covers its slopes like an Impressionist painting. Beneath the summit, rolling green hills and a pagoda-like observation deck offer panoramic views of a sheet of cloud that resembles the distant mountain range to which it clings, while sun rays search every inch of this magnificent landscape. Here lies a unique tea garden, only two-thirds of a hectare in size, where luxury sparkling-tea brand Saicho has created a remarkable black tea, of which there are only 1288 bottles in the world.

There are many reasons to call the drink elevated, among them the fact that it is grown at an altitude of 945 metres. At this height, the moisture carried by the Pacific Ocean’s Kuroshio Current works alongside a rare ecosystem to produce an equally rare tea. By nibbling the tea plants’ budding leaves, tiny green leafhoppers trigger a chemical change in the plants, resulting in a fragrant honey aroma.

It’s a delicate balancing act. Too much summer rainfall would mean too few leafhoppers eating the tea buds. Too much eating, conversely, would drastically diminish the yield. To help modulate the presence of the insects, farmers cut the surrounding grass 20 days before each harvest.

The fine-tuned process continued when this exclusive tea was harvested by hand in July 2023, then transformed by tea master Junjie Lin into a black tea with about 90 per cent oxidation. It was re-roasted for several months, to enhance its rich aroma and complex flavour profile, in particular its honey-like qualities.

Needless to say, this isn’t one of those bland sachets we masochistic Brits stuff into our kitchen cupboards so we can make what Guardian journalist Joel Golby once described as ‘hot brown slop you dip biscuits in’. Like the other sparkling teas in Saicho’s collection, Sixty Stone Mountain is best served chilled in a champagne flute. Its rich notes of dark honey are joined by mango, apricot and lemon, which dance on the palate until they’re supplanted by those of ripe pear, grilled pineapple, cedarwood and a hint of smoke.

The beautiful box the bottle comes in pays homage to Taiwan through the majestic Mikado pheasant and mountain scenery depicted on it. As Saicho co-founder Charlie Winkworth-Smith explains: ‘This sparkling tea is a tribute to the meticulous cultivation practices and the unique terroir of Fuli, Hualien, which produces tea of unparalleled character and quality. Our commitment to sourcing single-origin teas ensures each sip tells the unique story of its birthplace.’

Before they founded Saicho, Charlie and his wife Natalie, who met during their Food Science PhDs, realised the degree to which tea, for which there are now sommeliers, boasts many of the elements for which winemaking is revered in the West. In addition to fine-tuned, climate-permitting teamaking processes such as Sixty Stone Mountain’s, her teetotal lifestyle saw Natalie, who hails from Hong Kong, realise how different foods can be complemented by tea pairings.

The couple also appreciated that with tea there would be none of the scrimping on flavour suffered by many dealcoholised wines. They spent two years experimenting with hundreds of tea varieties from around the world before settling on their first three teas, now joined by Sixty Stone Mountain, through which they aim to show Westerners why tea is so celebrated throughout Asia and elsewhere. Hence the reason that Saicho takes its name from one of the Buddhist monks credited with importing tea from China to Japan in the early ninth century, where it soon became a central part of the culture, complete with its own ceremonies.

The Saicho portfolio is already appearing in prestigious hotels and restaurants around the world. Take, for instance, Kioku by Endo on the top floor of the Raffle London at The OWO hotel in Whitehall, where patrons are opting to complement the eponymous sushi master’s fare with Saicho’s full collection. If you want to enjoy a sophisticated tea pairing for yourself, Saicho recommends enjoying Sixty Stone Mountain with dishes ranging from miso black cod and glazed pork to crème brûlée.

Discover the flavours of Taiwan’s tea culture through Saicho’s Sixty Stone Mountain Sparkling Tea, available to purchase for £60 per 750ml bottle from saichodrinks.com and at its exclusive retail partner, Harrods