Cuiluan TeaCuiluan Tea
Where to buy it
Flavour
Elegant high mountain floral notes
Cuiluan divides into a north line and a south line around the settlement, with gardens strung along the forestry road at about 2,000 metres.
There is a reason they follow the road. Picked leaf has to reach the withering floor the same day. Left too long it heats and ferments inside the sack, and the flavour is gone before it ever reaches the factory. Whether a vehicle can get there decides whether a plot can grow tea at all.
It is also part of why high-mountain tea costs what it does: the same weight of leaf costs several times more to move off a mountain than across a plain.
Unfired. Slow growth, with a natural pear note.
Fair priceverified
One jin is 600 g. Below NT$1,700, be sceptical.
A reasonable range is NT$3,000–6,000 per 600 g. Below NT$1,700, ask more questions. "High mountain tea" has no legal definition in Taiwan. Ask for the exact elevation and the road marker (K number). Competition-grade lots command a large premium. Ask which association ran the competition, which year, and for the seal.
What to ask when buying this
"High mountain tea" has no legal definition in Taiwan. The K number is a road milepost — the most concrete way to pin down origin. Asking it signals you have done your homework.
Grading standards differ between associations, so awards are not comparable across competitions. Genuine lots come with a seal and certificate.
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
Centred on the Cuiluan settlement, split between the north and south lines, with the gardens strung along the service road. The area is limited.
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.
The window for temperature and timing is narrow. On your first try use slightly less leaf and shorter steeps.
Rolled-ball leaf needs the first infusion to open up; the second is then shorter.
Best drunk within two months.
What to eat with it
A chilled jelly has almost no flavour of its own; a heavily roasted tea would bury it. A fragrant, lightly oxidised tea lifts it instead.
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 (24.1170, 121.2220). This marks the growing area, not one specific garden.
Lishan Tea Region9
What there is to do here
2 routes Two days possible Lishan・Fushoushan farm・Wuling farm
Two thousand to 2,600 m — the highest tea district in Taiwan. It is a long drive, but the same road gives you peaches, apples, the Xueshan trailhead and the country’s protected salmon. Give it two days at least.