Dongpu TeaDongpu Tea
Flavour
Light-fragrance style
Dongpu is at around 1,200 metres, a Bunun settlement and a well-known hot spring resort.
Tea after a soak is pleasant, with one caution: straight after a hot bath the body is sweating and the pulse is up, and a lot of strong tea at that moment will make the caffeine's effect on the heartbeat more noticeable. Wait ten or fifteen minutes, or brew it weaker.
Strong tea on an empty stomach is also a poor idea; the polyphenols irritate the stomach lining.
Oxidation two, firing two. Bright honey-green, mountain florals with a little cold mineral.
Fair priceestimated
One jin is 600 g. Below NT$800, be sceptical.
A reasonable range is NT$1,300–2,600 per 600 g. Below NT$800, ask more questions. 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.
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.
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
The Dongpu area of Xinyi Township, Nantou is known for Yushan high-mountain tea and Shalixian high-mountain oolong — sweet, with the elevation clearly in it.
Setting: the gardens lie high among the Yushan peaks and around Dongpu and Shalixian, with a wide day-night swing.
Character: mostly high-mountain oolong and the Jinxuan family, sweet with an aroma the ground gives it.
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 (23.5520, 120.8900). This marks the growing area, not one specific garden.
Yushan Tea Region9
What there is to do here
1 routes Day trip Caopingtou・Yushan visitor tea gardens
Caopingtou and the Yushan visitor gardens in Xinyi township, 1,250–1,500 m up on the flank of Jade Mountain. There is a giant teapot landmark here, and the whole run of the New Central Cross-Island Highway.