Organic Red Tea Purple Bud This tea represents a special case within the Taiwanese production of black teas. On the island, to obtain this type of tea, reference is often made to the cultivar #TTSE18 (also known as ruby 18), and the area where it is cultivated is near the Sun Moon Lake area. This tea, instead of coming from the lake in the heart of the island, is harvested in different parts of it because its original cultivar is an indigenous variety of camellia that grows in high mountains and produces leaves with purplish color shades. This variety of plants is often protected and cultivated by local ethnic groups who carefully preserve its integrity by performing few harvests per year, all strictly done by hand.