Or perhaps “The Real Dayuling Tea” is a more fitting title. Let’s make one thing clear right off the bat: the store manager doesn’t sell this Dayuling tea. The tea farmer is very low-profile, so please don’t message the manager asking for their location or phone number.
First, let’s explain why this is “The Real Dayuling Tea.” Traditional Dayuling tea fields are located between 100km and 106km markers on the Central Cross-Island Highway. Actually, that area is Songquanang, not Dayuling—real Dayuling is another 7 kilometers past the Hehuanshan Tunnel. Logically speaking, traditional Dayuling tea isn’t truly from Dayuling.
What the manager calls “The Real Dayuling Tea” is located right beside the Hehuanshan Tunnel, genuinely and truly in Dayuling.
- It’s the only tea garden in Dayuling. Genuine Dayuling tea.
- This tea garden is pesticide-free. While we initially thought a single harvest would yield around 120 to 180 kg, the owner mentioned that due to the lack of pesticides, the spring tea harvest is only 36 to 42 kg.
- Sometimes even the winter tea isn’t harvested.
- The leaves are exceptionally thick—so thick that they can’t be rolled into a tight spherical shape when making ball-type oolong tea. That gives you an idea of just how thick the leaves are.
- After tasting it, the manager found the flavor completely different from traditional Dayuling, featuring a very unique aroma. This likely comes from what the owner describes as the aroma born from the tea growing amidst the pine forest.
- It is extremely expensive—even pricier than 105k and modern HuaGung. Wholesale prices are confidential, but Chinese tea merchants retail it for 20,000 RMB.
When the manager first saw the tea garden, they estimated a harvest of 120 kg per season. They never expected that avoiding pesticides would limit the yield to just 42 kg. At that moment, they had immense respect for the owner’s commitment to their own orchard management style, as a difference of over 60 kg translates to a substantial amount of money.
Moreover, much of this tea is exported to China at astronomical prices. We have to hand it to Chinese tea enthusiasts—they are truly willing to spend big on high-end teas, especially rare finds like Dayuling that are practically on the verge of extinction. Whether it’s worth it is a matter of personal perspective, but the manager really loves its flavor and felt like drinking it was a true eye-opening experience!
Note: The tea owner is very low-profile, so we won’t be posting photos. The pictures shown are not of this specific tea garden or pine forest.
