Hegang Black TeaHegang Black Tea
Where to buy it
Flavour
Rich honey aroma with a mellow, full body
Hegang black tea comes from Ruisui in Hualien at around 200 metres, and was once one of the mainstays of Taiwan's black tea export trade.
Taiwanese black tea peaked in the 1960s, exporting over ten thousand tonnes a year. Cheap black tea from Sri Lanka and Africa then took the market; by the 1980s the trade had all but collapsed and large areas went out of cultivation.
Honey black tea is how that line came back: leaf bitten by leafhoppers gives an aroma no commodity black tea can copy, and the price follows.
Oxidised ninety-five per cent, unfired. Brilliant red liquor, strong honey and ripe fruit, and the honey shows even more clearly cold-brewed.
Fair priceverified
One jin is 600 g. Below NT$800, be sceptical.
A reasonable range is NT$1,500–3,800 per 600 g. Below NT$800, ask more questions.
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.
Hand-picking costs 1.5 to 3 times more. Check the spent leaves: hand-picked leaves are whole and uniform.
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
The Hegang terrace is planted with large-leaf Assam and works it into black tea. The Land Bank invested in a model estate here, building a factory while teaching growers how to plant and process, then contracting them to supply. Every leaf is picked by hand, a bud with two leaves; the make is neat and the taste round, and it sold worldwide. That is how the name Hegang black tea was built.
These figures will be updated if they change.
Brewing
Why this temperature
Black tea is fully oxidised: its polyphenols were already converted during processing, so it takes heat well but does not carry ten steeps the way oolong does. Pour it off within three minutes; longer and the grip turns to astringency. For milk tea, use half again as much leaf rather than a longer steep, which only draws out bitterness.
Temperatures follow the official category guidance. Source: TRES — Effects of water quality and temperature on tea liquor
Common mistakes with this tea
90°C or above. Too cool and the roast aroma never opens, leaving it flat.
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
A dense, creamy sweet needs a tea with comparable body. A light fragrant tea reads as thin beside it.
This one is Taiwan-only — not available overseas
Here are the closest teas we can actually ship you:
Yuchi Sun Moon Lake Black TeaYuchi 700 m Mint Cinnamon1.0–2.2kLocation accuracy: named locality (23.4400, 121.3800). This marks the growing area, not one specific garden.
East Rift Valley Tea Region3
What there is to do here
3 routes Two days possible Ruisui, Hualien: Wuhe・Yuli, Hualien: Chikeshan・Fuli, Hualien: Liushishishan
Chike mountain and Liushishi mountain, where daylilies and tea grow on the same slopes. August’s gold is the famous picture, but the tea is here all year.