Meinong TeaMeinong Tea
Where to buy it
Flavour
Large-leaf mountain tea from seed-grown old trees, no two alike
Meinong is at around 500 metres, a Hakka community that once grew tobacco as its main crop.
The state tobacco and liquor monopoly loosened after 1987, and when Taiwan joined the WTO in 2002 the guaranteed purchase of tobacco leaf ended. Meinong's curing barns went out of use one by one. Tea is one of the crops that came after.
What a place grows is often decided by policy. Taiwan's tea map has been redrawn several times in the past forty years.
Oxidation two, firing two. Full sun and fast growth give a strong, concentrated cup with some grip, turning sweet behind it.
Fair priceestimated
One jin is 600 g. Below NT$400, be sceptical.
A reasonable range is NT$700–1,500 per 600 g. Below NT$400, ask more questions. This range is estimated from nearby regions and elevation; it has not been verified against listed prices.
What to ask when buying this
Real honey aroma comes from insect bites and is summer-only. What you find in winter is usually old stock.
This price range is estimated from nearby regions and elevation and has not been verified, so compare for yourself.
Spring and winter lots fetch the highest prices and the best aroma; summer and autumn are a step down in both.
If they will not let you taste but want you to buy 600 g of something expensive, walk away. It is the simplest and most effective filter there is.
Specifications
About the origin
Meugnong has barely half a hectare of tea, on Chading hill in Longdu and Shixingding in Shishan, at 275 and 130 metres. The history of the Tianyun temple on Chading records that the building was consecrated around 1884, and that the Guanyin inside was carved from a local black-tea tree — which puts the bushes here past a hundred years old. They are large-leaf mountain tea, and no two grow quite alike, so they were almost certainly raised from seed.
These figures will be updated if they change.
Brewing
Why this temperature
Ball-rolled oolong is tightly wound, and the first pour only reaches the outside of the pellet, so it needs water close to boiling to open at all. If it does not open, the later steeps swing between thin and heavy. The first and second steeps often take the same time or less, because the leaf does not truly unfurl until the second.
Temperatures follow the official category guidance. Source: TRES — Effects of water quality and temperature on tea liquor
Common mistakes with this tea
95°C or above. Too cool and the roast aroma never opens, leaving it flat.
Rolled-ball leaf needs the first infusion to open up; the second is then shorter.
Best drunk within two months.
The most common beginner regret is buying 600 g on the first try. Buy a jin only after you know you like it.
What to eat with it
Glutinous rice clings and the sweetness lingers on the tongue. A tea with some astringency clears it away.
This one is Taiwan-only — not available overseas
Location accuracy: township level (22.9000, 120.5450). This marks the growing area, not one specific garden.
Southern Tea Region5
What there is to do here
1 routes Day trip Liugui・Meinong
Kaohsiung’s tea is scattered: Liugui and Namasia up in the hills, Meinong down on the plain, with Motianling, Taoyuan and Maolin each off on their own. What sets this district apart is the wild tea of Liugui — trees that were on those mountains before we were. A day can take in the plain at Meinong and the hills at Liugui.