Need help finding out more about this Alishan Oolong

[Cifer]

Hello everyone,

A while ago I bought this tea in Taiwan:



The "brand" seems to be 清香茗, but I cannot find any official stores or supermarkets sell it under this name. All I could find were private persons or sellers on eBay-like websites selling this specific tea, or a handful of others.

Some of these sellers mention "名池", a big Taiwanese tea shop. I checked their website but couldn't find the tea there.

There is no further information to be found on the box or the rest of the packaging either.

Does anyone know this tea and can tell me

1. How much it sells for in stores?

2. Which cultivar it is made from? I assume qing xin since the packaging shows a train in Xi Ding, where the oolong cultivated is usually qing xin.

3. Of what quality the tea is?

Thanks a lot!

(If there is a better subforum for this question, please move it there!)

[Bok]

this is generic packaging that farmers and shops buy as it is from suppliers. It doesn’t indicate anything in relation to the contents or origins…

It’s quite common in Taiwan that shops use off-the-rack packs. Alishan is a popular tourist spot, so packaging with motives from there is a good sales point for many shops - even though the tea might not even be from there… if you are familiar with the taste profile of Alishan teas you might be able to get better clues than by relying on the packaging.

[Bok]

One more thing to add: does it even matter what exactly this tea is? Matters more if you like it, I think.

And if you got it in Taiwan, how come you don’t know the price?

[Ethan Kurland]

One more thing to add: does it even matter what exactly this tea is? Matters more if you like it, I think.

And if you got it in Taiwan, how come you don’t know the price?

+1

Pretty package, I hope to take that train ride some day.

[Cifer]

Thanks everyone. I know this is generic packaging as it says so on the packaging itself. The company making them is called 青山包装. However, the tea in it always tastes the same, so it's clearly not used by a large variety of farmers. It is Alishan High Mountain Tea, too, as one can tell by the taste.

The reason why I want to know what it is is because I am not in Taiwan all the time and would like to see if I can find the specific tea abroad as well. I don't remember the price because I normally just buy it without paying attention.

[LeoFox]

Thanks everyone. I know this is generic packaging as it says so on the packaging itself. The company making them is called 青山包装. However, the tea in it always tastes the same, so it's clearly not used by a large variety of farmers. It is Alishan High Mountain Tea, too, as one can tell by the taste.

The reason why I want to know what it is is because I am not in Taiwan all the time and would like to see if I can find the specific tea abroad as well. I don't remember the price because I normally just buy it without paying attention.

http://www.chinshan.com.tw/index.html

[Ethan Kurland]

... I don't remember the price because I normally just buy it without paying attention.

Great. Please buy from me!

Friendly joking aside. As you probably suspect & hope it does not play out that way, knowing the cultivar & region is no guarantee that what you buy will be the same. Tea processing has an effect, when tea is harvested matters, & each season can be different. There is always some risk.

I often recommend describing the flavors one wants etc. & taking advice from there. Of course, that method is not perfect either.

Good luck.

[Bok]

However, the tea in it always tastes the same, so it's clearly not used by a large variety of farmers.

That’s highly unlikely… that catalog Leo posted is used by hundreds if not thousands of farmers and shops, btw also by people abroad in other countries to pack their non-Taiwan tea.

Or are you telling me you bought the same packaging over many years in dozens of different places and it always tasted the same? Which is also by itself unlikely as each season tastes a but different every year…

I have literally personally seen the same packaging 100s of times in places all across the island. Even have that catalog lying around in our office haha

[Tillerman]

@Cifer, @Bok is absolutely correct - the packaging tells you nothing about the tea. As to cultivar, in addition to qing xin, the tea might be jin xuan as a great deal of this cultivar is grown in Alishan.