Tea production costs include land, management, harvesting, processing, and sales. It’s common to see tea marketed as hand-picked Taiwanese tea selling for NT$500 to NT$600 per 600 g on the market, but looking at the actual production costs, that doesn’t really add up. Today, we’ll start by breaking down the harvesting costs so consumers can calculate what a fair price for hand-picked Taiwanese tea should be.
Tea Harvesting Costs
Tea harvesting costs include wages, board and lodging, transportation, and hauling. Picking wages vary between the off-peak and peak seasons and are calculated either daily or by weight. Daily wages generally range between NT$1,500 and NT$2,000. When paid by weight, it’s about NT$50 to NT$70 per 600 g of tea leaves (maocha material). An experienced tea picker can harvest about 18 kg to 24 kg of fresh tea leaves a day.
For oolong tea, about 4.5 kg of fresh tea leaves are needed to make 600 g of semi-finished loose-leaf tea. At NT$60 per 600 g of fresh leaves, that comes out to about NT$270. Calculated by daily wage, picking 21 kg of leaves for an NT$2,000 day rate works out to NT$58 per 600 g of leaves, with a cost of NT$260. These figures are based on lowland tea; high-mountain tea is even more expensive.
Tea Processing Costs
Once harvested, the leaves are handed over to a tea master to make oolong tea. This involves artisans specializing in pan-firing and rolling, with processing costs averaging around NT$200 per 600 g.
In addition to labor, there are utility costs for the tea factory—water, electricity, and gas—which we can conservatively estimate at NT$50 per 600 g.
Other Costs
Beyond harvesting and processing, routine tea garden maintenance, fertilizers, and pest management also cost money. Fertilizer makes up the largest share of this: a 18 kg bag currently costs NT$700, and a 0.97-hectare plot requires 130 bags per application. Let’s estimate this at NT$100 per 600 g.
We haven’t even factored in land rent, packaging, and shipping costs yet.