Datong Yulan TeaDatong Yulan Tea
Where to buy it
Flavour
Delicate aroma with clean sweetness
Yulan tea comes from the Yulan community in Datong, Yilan, at around 550 metres in the Xueshan range, within Atayal territory.
Yulan grows Jinxuan, Qingxin Oolong, Cuiyu and others side by side. A small district planting several varieties is usually staggering its harvest: different varieties break bud days or a fortnight apart, so the labour does not all fall in one week.
That is a scheduling problem for smallholders, and it is why a small district always carries a more mixed range than a large one.
Oxidation two, firing two. Clear, bright liquor, a quiet aroma, smooth and rounded.
Fair priceestimated
One jin is 600 g. Below NT$500, be sceptical.
A reasonable range is NT$900–2,000 per 600 g. Below NT$500, 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
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.
A scannable producer record beats any verbal assurance.
Specifications
About the origin
Yulan was a logging area under Japanese rule, opened up by Atayal people in 1921 and called Yougulang; the name later became Yulan. Tea replaced timber, the area was designated for tea, and it became a national demonstration district for soil and water conservation. Forty-odd households remain, among them Atayal, Hakka, mainlander and Hoklo families — and that mixture is what makes the place, and its tea, unlike anywhere else.
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: named locality (24.6330, 121.5520). This marks the growing area, not one specific garden.
Lanyang Tea Region4
What there is to do here
2 routes Day trip Datong: Yulan・Dongshan: Zhongshan
Yilan grows its tea low — Yulan at around 150 m, Dongshan under 500. Low does not mean lesser: the rain and humidity here make a tender leaf and a delicate, high-toned aroma. An hour from Taipei through the Xueshan tunnel.