Recs for yancha in Taipei?

[AdmiralKelvinator]

I'm here visiting the "Island of Tea" for a few days and looking to restock my yancha stash while I'm here. However, my current yancha source here was recently implicated in a fake tea scandal involving selling mainland Chinese oolong as taiwanese gaoshan. While I've been happy in the past with their quality to price ratio wrt yancha (never bought gaoshan from them), I'd like to use this unfortunate occurance as an opportunity to branch out and find some other sources here. Tho you cant walk down the street in Taipei without tripping over high mountain or pu-erh tea sellers, good, authentic yancha is more elusive and I'm at a bit of a loss for where to look.

So, any recs or local favorites for yancha in Taipei?

[wyardley]

Honestly, I've asked around and looked, and there are not a ton of great options that I've been able to find in Taipei. I had someone ask on my behalf on t4u or one of the other Taiwanese tea forums a couple years ago, and was told that it's better to just go to Wuyishan (which is actually kind of the opposite of what I'd have expected -- having done some yancha shopping in Wuyishan itself, I can attest that there's some truth to the "longjing rule" http://www.marshaln.com/2011/12/the-longjing-rule/). I'm guessing that Beijing or Shanghai may be slightly easier to find good yancha in.

Wistaria House does sell one or two yancha; I actually found the one they sell (no specific name on the packaging, but was told it's a dahongpao), which is not heavy roast, but fairly aromatic. They can possibly put you in touch with someone who carries some more if they don't have it anymore, or if you're not happy with their offering -- they are usually pretty gracious about referring folks to other vendors. Erhuxuan may have some aged shuixian or other yancha, but I don't think any younger stuff. One place to check is this place (吉祥茶業 - 台北市八德路二段135號 (No. 135, Section 2, BāDé Rd, Zhongshan District)); I didn't manage to make it to that shop the last time I was there in 2010, and don't know whether they're still open or how the quality is. If I'm not mistaken, it's a branch of a Mainland Chinese tea company, but could just be the same name.

Silentchaos has some sources, I believe, but don't know if he'll give them up.

Let us know how you fare.

[AdmiralKelvinator]

Thanks for the recommendations! I was able to stop by 吉祥 tea today, and indeed they do sell several varieties of wuyi yancha there. Not a branch of a mainland tea company as far as i could tell, felt like more of a mom n' pop operation. Tho he doesn't mention it by name, i believe MarshalN covered it in this post?

http://www.marshaln.com/2008/04/tuesday ... /#comments

The owner there was very gracious and put up with my limited chinese. Walked away with some rougui and some shuijingui (水金龟） as well. Not particularly cheap, but it felt like decent stuff in the shop so here's hoping.

Ive had wisteria's dahongpao before, but wasn't impressed, especially not at the price they were asking for it. Could have been an off day tho, who knows?

I had someone ask on my behalf on t4u or one of the other Taiwanese tea forums a couple years ago, and was told that it's better to just go to Wuyishan (which is actually kind of the opposite of what I'd have expected -- having done some yancha shopping in Wuyishan itself, I can attest that there's some truth to the "longjing rule" http://www.marshaln.com/2011/12/the-longjing-rule/). I'm guessing that Beijing or Shanghai may be slightly easier to find good yancha in.

My experience in wuyishan reflects yours. Tea shops up and down every block, all selling "Da hong Pao", but good luck getting anything good as a walk in. I visited 4 or 5 different tea shops there and came away with only one tea i would consider even remotely close to real da hong pao quality. Ironically the worst tea i had there was from the official govt shop selling yancha right at the foot of the 6 holy-mother bushes. If you have connections, then i would imagine wuyishan to be a very good place for yancha, but otherwise buyer beware.

Is erhuxuan the name of a shop here in taipei? googling didn't bring up anything.

Thanks again for the recs, any ill be sure to post more here if i find anything significant.

[wert]

Ive had wisteria's dahongpao before, but wasn't impressed, especially not at the price they were asking for it. Could have been an off day tho, who knows?

I had someone ask on my behalf on t4u or one of the other Taiwanese tea forums a couple years ago, and was told that it's better to just go to Wuyishan (which is actually kind of the opposite of what I'd have expected -- having done some yancha shopping in Wuyishan itself, I can attest that there's some truth to the "longjing rule" http://www.marshaln.com/2011/12/the-longjing-rule/). I'm guessing that Beijing or Shanghai may be slightly easier to find good yancha in.

My experience in wuyishan reflects yours. Tea shops up and down every block, all selling "Da hong Pao", but good luck getting anything good as a walk in. I visited 4 or 5 different tea shops there and came away with only one tea i would consider even remotely close to real da hong pao quality. Ironically the worst tea i had there was from the official govt shop selling yancha right at the foot of the 6 holy-mother bushes. If you have connections, then i would imagine wuyishan to be a very good place for yancha, but otherwise buyer beware.

Is erhuxuan the name of a shop here in taipei? googling didn't bring up anything.

Thanks again for the recs, any ill be sure to post more here if i find anything significant.

+1

[wyardley]

Is erhuxuan the name of a shop here in taipei? googling didn't bring up anything.

Yes, mostly specializes in teapots and 70s-00s pu'er, much more so than yancha. I believe she has some old shuixian and similar teas, though can't vouch for their provenance. Main location is in Da'An on Yongkang road (台北市大安區永康街36號). There's also a Yingge location. It's erhu like 'two pots', though presumably also a pun on the instrument. Open late.

I believe the Wuxing publications people have some yancha as well, but don't know if they sell it retail.

[AdmiralKelvinator]

For future reference, there is a shop named "wuzhong hang" (伍中行) down near the bottom of the yongkang neighboorhood that specializes not only in yancha, but aged yancha as well. Address is 台北市大安區潮州街109號. Walked home with some 30ish year old tie luohan that i think has a lot of promise. Not a cheap shop, but has the widest selection of aged yancha ive ever come across in taipei.

[wyardley]

For future reference, there is a shop named "wuzhong hang" (伍中行) down near the bottom of the yongkang neighboorhood that specializes not only in yancha, but aged yancha as well. Address is 台北市大安區潮州街109號. Walked home with some 30ish year old tie luohan that i think has a lot of promise. Not a cheap shop, but has the widest selection of aged yancha ive ever come across in taipei.

Wow, thanks. I will definitely check it out next time I'm able to make it to Taiwan.

How was the younger stuff, and did you pick any up?

[MarshalN]

It's been many years since I've gone yancha buying in Taipei, so I have no clue if they still offer anything decent.

[AdmiralKelvinator]

Wow, thanks. I will definitely check it out next time I'm able to make it to Taiwan.

How was the younger stuff, and did you pick any up?

I had a couple of their "non-vintage" yanchas which were decent provided you like light-to-medium roast. First had a med-roast da hong pao which was decent and then an oddball called "奇香" or something (cant remember the exact name) which was brewed too strong and thus became rather tannic. Might be good under more controlled contidions but hard to say.

Should mention they also have a variety of yixing pots for sale, and even some older, vintage stuff with eye-watering prices to match.

[Haddemall]

Man, that sounds like an exciting shop.