Upper Baling TeaUpper Baling Tea
Flavour
High mountain light fragrance
Baling sits in the Lalashan range and divides into Upper and Lower; the Upper band is at around 1,900 metres.
Splitting one place name into upper and lower is common in Taiwan's mountains, and altitude is what the split records. The gap is often four or five hundred metres, and that gap is tastable: the higher band grows more slowly and tastes more tightly wound.
So when a place name carries shang, ding or gao in front, it usually marks the higher part of that district.
Unfired. Cool climate, slow growth, substantial leaf, golden liquor with green.
Fair priceestimated
One jin is 600 g. Below NT$1,300, be sceptical.
A reasonable range is NT$2,000–4,000 per 600 g. Below NT$1,300, 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. This range is estimated from nearby regions and elevation; it has not been verified against listed prices.
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.
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.
Specifications
About the origin
The Shangbaling stretch of the Lalashan area — high elevation in the north, with a limited planted area.
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 (24.6900, 121.4000). This marks the growing area, not one specific garden.
Northern Tea Region3
What there is to do here
1 routes Day trip Shimen
Shimen sits at Taiwan’s northern tip, where the Tieguanyin drinks sea moisture all year but is sheltered from the wind by the land itself. Do the tea-hill trail, then the waterfall, then the seafood — that is a day.