Yuchi Assam Black TeaYuchi Assam Black Tea
Flavour
Full and thick, citrus fruit, good grip
TTES No. 8, selected in 1974 out of the Assam stock that had been brought in. A large-leaf plant with big, soft shoots.
Fully oxidised, unfired. The liquor is deep red and glossy, the body thick, the grip obvious — this is a tea milk does not bury.
The aroma runs to citrus, which is a different thing entirely from Ruby's mint and cinnamon. Ask which cultivar before you buy.
⚠️ Water at 95 °C, two to three minutes. For milk tea, brew it stronger — half again as much leaf.
Fair priceestimated
One jin is 600 g. Below NT$400, be sceptical.
Assam (TTES No.8) and Ruby (TTES No.18) are different cultivars with different prices and flavours — Assam goes for depth, Ruby for mint and cinnamon. Hand-picked lots cost considerably more than machine-picked.
What to ask when buying this
Hand-picking costs 1.5 to 3 times more. Check the spent leaves: hand-picked leaves are whole and uniform.
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
Large-leaf Assam seed came from India in December 1925 and was tried in several places; only the Yuchi area took to it, with a mean temperature around 20 °C, 2,900 mm of rain a year and cloud all year round — close to Assam's own conditions. In 1936 the Yuchi black tea substation was founded, the forerunner of today's Yuchi branch of the tea research station, working solely on making black tea for export. The slopes around Sun Moon Lake between 600 and 800 metres were later planted widely with this stock, and in 1974 the station selected TTES No. 8 out of it.
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 Cinnamon1.0–2.2kLugu Dong Ding OolongLugu 800 m Charcoal Roast Throat Finish1.2–3.0kLocation accuracy: township level (23.8950, 120.9260). This marks the growing area, not one specific garden.
Nantou Tea Region4
What there is to do here
6 routes Two days possible Lugu・Mingjian / Songboling・Zhushan・Yuchi・Shuili・Nantou City: Houtanjing
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.