Customer Question: I’ve seen Oriental Beauty Tea at tea shops sold for NT$300 per 300 g, or NT$500 per 600 g. Why is it so cheap? How is it different from the NT$2,000 per 600 g tea you sell?
Chang Hsing Tea: Hello! Generally speaking, Oriental Beauty Tea is harvested around the Dragon Boat Festival, consisting of one bud and one leaf bitten by the green leaf hopper. This type of tea theoretically must be hand-picked and cannot be harvested or processed by machine, which makes its yield low and price high. With traditional harvesting and processing methods, a tea farmer yields only about 1.2 to 1.8 kg per day. Selling it for NT$500 per 600 g simply wouldn’t cover production costs.
However, some producing regions use different methods. The harvest season is extended until November, the leaves don’t necessarily have to be bitten by insects, they harvest one bud and two leaves, and use machine harvesting. While this harvesting and production method results in lower quality than traditional methods, it significantly increases yield and greatly reduces the price. We aren’t sure if the NT$500 per 600 g Oriental Beauty Tea belongs to this category. Next time you come across it, you can ask about the production method, origin, and harvest date beforehand. If you taste it and find the quality decent, it can still be a great option.
▲ Machine-harvested Oriental Beauty Tea features larger tea leaves and lacks the bite of the green leaf hopper, resulting in lower quality.
Chang Hsing Tea’s Oriental Beauty Tea, priced at NT$2,000 per 600 g, is produced in New Taipei City. It is authentic mid-summer tea, hand-picked, and bitten by the green leaf hopper, which makes the price somewhat higher. The quality is exceptional and well worth the value—you are welcome to try it out.