Lushan Wild TeaLushan Wild Tea
Where to buy it
Flavour
Delicate aroma, mellow and sweet
Lushan is at 1,500 metres and known for its hot springs. Typhoon Sinlaku hit hard in 2008; the hot spring zone was formally abolished in 2012 and the settlement moved.
Growing tea in the mountains is bound up with disaster. One typhoon can take out the road, take away the garden, or halve a year's crop. Some districts disappear; some names go on being sold while the garden itself has moved elsewhere.
⚠️ When a tea carries an old place name, it is fair to ask where the garden is now.
Oxidation two, firing two. Clear honey-yellow, with orchid and a frosted edge.
Fair priceestimated
One jin is 600 g. Below NT$1,200, be sceptical.
A reasonable range is NT$2,000–4,000 per 600 g. Below NT$1,200, 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
Renai only began planting tea in the 1970s; by 1997 there were 850 hectares, and by 2019, 1,186. The township runs from a thousand metres up to two thousand seven hundred, with a wide day-night swing, cloud on the move, and gravelly free-draining soil. The main areas are Lushan, Qingjing, Hongxiang, Wushe, Huagang, Dongyan, Gaofeng and Qilai, planted mostly with Qingxin Oolong, with TTES No. 12, No. 13 and Sijichun behind it. High up the bushes grow slowly and the leaf builds pectin, which is why it takes so many steeps.
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.
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 (24.0300, 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.