Xinshan Wild TeaXinshan Wild Tea
Flavour
Light-fragrance style
Xinshan is at around 1,100 metres, with a moderate day-night swing.
This one is about reading prices. Taiwanese tea is sold by the catty, which is 600 grams. Faced with 2,000 a catty and 500 for four taels, convert first: four taels is 150 grams, so 500 is the same as 2,000 a catty. The two cost the same.
Packaging matters too. Vacuum and nitrogen-flushed packs keep far better than a plain zip bag; the same tea packed differently will last very different lengths of time.
Unfired. Clear honey-yellow, herbaceous with light florals, sweet without being cloying.
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
In Xinyi Township, Nantou, part of the Yushan area. A small 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.
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
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 (23.6800, 120.9000). 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.