Today, let’s talk about Biluxi tea. The traditional Biluxi tea region is located between the 95K and 99K markers of the Central Cross-Island Highway (indicated by the red line in photo 2). Because the tea gardens overlook the Biluxi River below, the tea produced here is known in the industry as Biluxi tea. During its peak, there were four tea gardens with a seasonal yield exceeding 6,000 kg. After 2014, the tea-growing area shrank, and currently (as of 2023) only 2 tea gardens remain, with production dropping to just 600 kg—making it even rarer than Dayuling tea.
Biluxi High Mountain Tea, altitude 2,000–2,100 meters
I’ve purchased Biluxi tea a few times, and the quality is genuinely impressive. Grown at altitudes between 2,000 and 2,100 meters (reaching up to 2,200 meters back in its heyday), and combined with excellent tea garden management and ideal yields, it often produced phenomenal, top-tier teas. However, after the tea-growing area shrank in 2014, and with the Forestry Bureau’s trees around the gardens growing taller and blocking sunlight, quality became inconsistent while prices kept climbing. Feeling that the value for money was on the lower side, I stopped buying it.
In recent years, tea industry insiders have also included the 87K to 90K section of tea gardens into the Biluxi tea region, so there’s suddenly plenty of supply on the market again. To be honest, including the 87K area in the Biluxi tea region feels a bit strange (since it’s on the slopes of the Huanhuan River), but since the local tea community calls it that, everyone just goes along with it by convention.
As for the price everyone cares about, don’t expect it to be cheap. Traditional Biluxi tea crossed the NT$3,500 per 600 g mark many years ago. The 87K to 90K section also consistently stays above NT$2,800 per 600 g. Keep in mind that this is the wholesale price for tea merchants, not the retail price! If you see Biluxi tea on the market for under NT$3,000 per 600 g, take it with a grain of salt and don’t take it too seriously (summer and autumn teas being the exception)~
I was suddenly reminded of Biluxi tea because of the surge in Facebook scams lately, where overseas fraudsters were looking to source top-grade Taiwanese tea and specifically requested Biluxi High Mountain Tea. Even overseas scam syndicates know about Biluxi tea—it really shows how stellar its reputation is. As someone in the Taiwan tea industry, I find this rather heartwarming, so I wanted to write a quick note to commemorate it～
