Buying tea and shopping for deals can be confusing. The landscape of vendors is intimidating and oftentimes a simple purchase at the cheapest price can be a mistake. Complicating matters, there are no consistent quantity standards and varying shipping policies only add to the already-considerable confusion. This article will attempt to illuminate many of these issues, while specifically analyzing Gaoshan (Taiwanese) high-mountain tea by examining how tea prices vary mountain to mountain and vendor to vendor. High-mountain oolong in particular tends to command the most-demanding price/oz and oftentimes what may seem like a deal is not really a deal at all. Check out our vendor guide for a vendor by vendor breakdown of Taiwanese gaoshan specialists. Please note that high-mountain tea (>1000 meters) excludes many popular Taiwanese teas like Dong Ding, Tieguanyin, Oriental Beauty, and Baozhong (all grown at lower elevations). (more…)
Category: Article
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Taiwanese Oolong Compendium
Taiwan has been described by Marshaln as “The Tea Shop Island” and is truly a tea lover’s heaven. Like Japan and unlike China, the standards for authentic Taiwanese tea are quite high. This doesn’t necessarily mean that all tea marketed on the internet as Taiwanese tea is extremely high quality (or even grown in Taiwan!), but that most tea acquired through reliable sources will be of reasonable quality. While green tea and black tea are also grown in Taiwan, Taiwanese Oolong is the most famous tea type coming from Taiwan. Taiwanese Oolong is also commonly referred to as Gaoshan (high-mountain tea) or Formosa (Taiwan), and you will see these names used interchangeably amongst the tea drinking community. (more…)