Lower Baling TeaLower Baling Tea
Flavour
Delicate aroma with clean sweetness
Lower Baling is at about 1,400 metres, five hundred below the Upper band.
Same name, same people, same method, five hundred metres apart — and the price can double. It is the best available chance to test what altitude does: buy a little of each, brew them side by side on the same day, same water temperature, same timing.
The difference will show in three places: how high the aroma sits, how thick the liquor feels, and how quickly the sweetness returns. Do it once and altitude figures start to mean something.
Oxidation two, firing two. Bright golden liquor, good clarity.
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. 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
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.
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 Xiabaling stretch of the Lalashan area in Fuxing District, Taoyuan, at about 1,400 m. With Shangbaling it makes up the core of Lalashan's high-mountain tea; the whole area covers around 40 ha.
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 (24.6690, 121.3780). 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.