YangzaiwanYangzaiwan
Where to buy it
Flavour
Light-fragrance style
Yangzaiwan is at 1,200 metres on a sun-facing slope, and frost is common in winter.
Frost is a stress. Growth all but stops in the cold while the leaf stays on the bush, and nutrients keep accumulating slowly. A frosty year gives a more concentrated flavour and a smaller crop. That is why winter tea is prized.
There is a ginkgo wood in the district. The leaves turn at roughly the same time as the winter picking, so a visit can take in both.
Oxidation two, firing two. Bitterness turning sweet, with cedar inside the cold mineral note.
Fair priceverified
One jin is 600 g. Below NT$800, be sceptical.
A reasonable range is NT$1,400–2,800 per 600 g. Below NT$800, ask more questions.
What to ask when buying this
One region can span 700 m to 1,700 m, with several times the price difference. The same name does not mean the same grade.
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
On the border of Lugu Township and Zhushan Township in Nantou (the Dalunshan area). Sunny slopes over a wide area, with the ginkgo forest nearby.
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
Here are the closest teas we can actually ship you:
Alishan High Mountain TeaAlishan 1700m 1700 m Milky Osmanthus2.0–4.0kLocation accuracy: named locality (23.5900, 120.7450). This marks the growing area, not one specific garden.
Shanlinxi Tea Region9
What there is to do here
1 routes Day trip Shanlinxi・Around Yangzaiwan and Longfengxia
Above 1,500 m, forty minutes further up the road from Lugu. This is ginkgo, moso bamboo and cloud country; tea is one thing among several here, though it is the one that keeps.