Tunyuan TeaTunyuan Tea
Where to buy it
Flavour
Very pronounced cool mineral aroma with floral-fruity sweetness
Tunyuan is at 2,100 metres, at the trailhead of the Nenggao Cross-Ridge Trail — a Japanese-era administrative road that later carried the maintenance route for the island's east-west power line.
At this height there are two pickings a year. Low-altitude Sijichun can be picked five or six times. The cost structures are not comparable, and half the reason high-mountain tea is expensive is simply how seldom it can be harvested.
A very wide day-night swing, a pronounced cold mineral note, honey-yellow and clear.
Unfired. ⚠️ Forty seconds for the first three steeps, and decant decisively; let a high-mountain tea stew and it turns bitter.
Fair priceestimated
One jin is 600 g. Below NT$1,500, be sceptical.
A reasonable range is NT$2,500–5,000 per 600 g. Below NT$1,500, 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
Near the trailhead of the Nenggao Cross-Ridge Trail in Ren'ai Township, Nantou, at about 2,100 m. High-cold country; the gardens are small and scattered.
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 (24.0700, 121.1800). This marks the growing area, not one specific garden.
Ren'ai Tea Region9
What there is to do here
2 routes Two days possible Qingjing・Lushan・Cuifeng, Cuiluan, Chunyang
Qingjing, Lushan, Cuifeng, Chunyang — all above 1,000 m on average, with the Dongyanshan farm reaching 1,750. This is the gateway to hot springs, high pasture and Hehuanshan; tea is one of several reasons to be up here.