A netizen asked: Last week, I bought 600 g of Dayuling High Mountain Oolong Tea from a traditional tea shop for NT$8,000. Yesterday, I saw a TV shopping channel selling 1.8 kg for just NT$2,600, and they even threw in a tea set! Did I overpay by buying it for NT$8,000 per 600 g? Where is the best place to buy a good deal next time, and are there any recommended Dayuling tea shops?
Dayuling High Mountain Tea Prices: Less Than NT$900 per 600 g?
Liao Chang Xing: Whether NT$8,000 per 600 g is a fair price for Dayuling High Mountain Tea depends on its grade and elevation. Dayuling tea from around kilometer 100 has a wholesale price of NT$3,000 to NT$3,500; the highest grades from kilometer 104 to 105 range from NT$4,000 to NT$12,000 wholesale; meanwhile, autumn tea wholesale prices are around NT$2,000. If you bought autumn tea, you definitely overpaid. But if you got spring or winter tea that has been carefully sorted and packaged, that is actually a reasonable price.
There is a lot of so-called Dayuling High Mountain Tea on the market that isn’t authentic or is blended with tea from other regions. As mentioned earlier, wholesale prices start at over NT$4,000. Selling it for less than the cost of production is simply impossible in business. If a shopping channel sells 1.8 kg for NT$2,600 and includes a tea set, that means losing the equivalent of four 600-g batches for every single batch sold—there is simply no room for profit.
▲ Dayuling High Mountain Tea is grown at high altitudes with scarce yields, making it more expensive. When tea merchants sell it for under NT$5,000, there is barely any room for profit.
To answer your question: whether paying NT$8,000 per 600 g for Dayuling High Mountain Tea is an overpayment depends on the tea quality and origin. If it’s spring or winter tea from past kilometer 100 with Dayuling’s characteristic mountain aroma, that’s a fair price. If it’s from below kilometer 100, it’s a bit pricey, but you still need to evaluate it by its quality. No matter how expensive a tea is, if it doesn’t taste good, it’s worthless.
Additional note: The Dayuling tea region saw most of its tea gardens cleared in 2015. Sections 104K and 105K are essentially gone now, leaving only 100K, 101K, and 103K. Seasonal production in this region is down to about 2,400 kg, with wholesale prices at NT$5,000–NT$7,000 per 600 g. Friendly reminder: Due to extremely low production volumes, retail prices for Dayuling tea have climbed to NT$9,000–NT$12,000 per 600 g. There are many counterfeits out there—cheap ones are definitely fake, but expensive ones aren’t necessarily real either.