Nantou Tea Region
Dongding is in Lugu, Songboling in Mingjian, the spiral gardens in Zhushan, and Sun Moon Lake black tea in Yuchi. Four places making four different teas, all within an hour of each other by car — the densest square of tea in Taiwan.
Itineraries6
- Two days of tea and bamboo in LuguTwo days possibleDay 1: the tea culture hall → the bamboo tunnel → Fenghuanggu bird park → looking for tea on Dongding → the Xiaobantian centre, with a bamboo-tube feast and a night in a bamboo guesthouse. Day 2: Xitou forest recreation area → a country lunch → brewing and tasting back at the culture hallYou can slot in tea-making classes, pottery throwing and bamboo-lamp making along the way. The bamboo-tube rice is packed into moso stems and roasted.
- A day on DongdingDay tripArrive in Lugu → walk the gardens → an introduction to the leaf → try making Dongding → a bamboo-shoot lunch → a brewing demonstration → tasting → the farmers’ association tea culture hallDongding Guifei has been fed on by leafhoppers and carries honey and lychee — not the same thing as a standard Dongding oolong.
- Songboling in half a day or a dayDay tripHalf day: tea at the Chamixiang farm → Shoutian Temple → cycling the tea-scent trail → picking → sunset → dinner. Full day: the farm → the tea-scent trail → Jiji railway museum → sunflower fields → the green tunnel → the snake kiln → Mingxin Academy → the tank parkThe tea-scent trail runs about 2.3 km, linking gardens and the bike path. The Songboling visitor centre has a tea history exhibition.
- The Maolan hill trail, YuchiDay tripTrailhead beside Mingtan Junior High → the tea research station’s Yuchi branch and its old factory buildings → Taiwania forest and tea gardens → the weather station, looking over Sun Moon Lake and Jiufen ErshanThere is a processing museum and old black-tea trees along the way. The Sun Moon Old Tea Factory is a separate stop: built in 1959, its upstairs withering floor is now a tea room and restaurant, with the cypress beams and frosted-glass frames kept and the roof opened into skylights.
- Shuili: tea, plum and peach togetherDay tripShuili → Yongxing village → Xinshan → the Shang’an leisure farming area → tea gardens with plum and peach orchards → tasting the Yushan oolongMid-altitude, 600 to 1,000 m. The tea here stays free of bitterness even in summer, with a honey-green liquor and a quiet aroma. The local label is Shengfeng.
- Houtanjing: the tea district that watches the trainsDay tripNantou City → Houtanjing on the Bagua ridge, 300–400 m → the red spire lookout → the astronomy and geology hall → tasting Qingshan tea → the Changhua plain lighting up at duskYou can watch the high-speed trains from the tea gardens. Qingxin oolong, Jinxuan and Cuiyu are sold together here as Qingshan tea. The name comes from the “well within a well” conceit built into the site.
Sights and trails
The bushes are planted in rings spiralling out from the summit; from above it reads as a bagua. The most photographed tea garden in Taiwan — but the road is narrow and passing is awkward.
The Sky Ladder is a stepped suspension bridge across the gorge. Around it are a thousand hectares of moso bamboo tunnels.
Nearly a hundred century-old osmanthus trees at the Shifang tea shop, flowering in spring and autumn. Open-air tables, osmanthus dishes and osmanthus drinks.
Zhaojingshan rises to about 250 m in a smooth tilted plane, and the morning sun on it looks like a mirror — hence the name. Pingding above it, at 500–600 m, grows Jinxuan, Cuiyu and Qingxin oolong, and also makes black and green tea. The Ruilong falls and NTU’s tropical plant herbarium are nearby.
Xitou is NTU’s experimental forest at 1,100 m, cool in summer. The bamboo tunnel is the kind of place *Crouching Tiger* was shot in.
Things you can do yourself
Two days and a night with the Minglun organic tea group. Day one: picking (or a demonstration of machine harvesting), sun withering, an introduction to the leaf, first and second tossing, the tea-scent trail, the heavy toss, brewing practice, and fixing at night. Day two: rolling, fruit picking, a nature talk from the Tri-Mountain scenic area, a yam lunch, and packing your own tea to take home. Book ahead; it runs for groups.
Most growers around Dongding take bookings for a run of semi-ball rolled oolong. Pottery and bamboo-lamp sessions can be arranged alongside.