Maokong is a small hillside neighborhood in the outskirts of Taipei, part of the broader Muzha region. It’s well known for its tea plantations and the many teahouses you can visit for lunch/dinner. It’s also really fun to get there, because you take a cable car (called the Maokong Gondola) up over the hills with a spectacular view along the way.
The main tea grown in Maokong is a heavy-roasted tieguanyin oolong. It’s famously one of the darkest roasted oolongs in Taiwan. Traditionally it was roasted by hand over charcoal, though today it’s more common to find machines being used (which causes the tea to be less smoky but also frequently less sweet; personally I prefer the charcoal-roasted style). It can be a truly wonderful tea, and has become a favorite of mine since living in Taiwan. The heavy roast can be a bit ashy in taste (this settles down over time), but it also makes for a very smooth brew that’s easy to drink and has a pleasant lingering sweet/sour aftertaste. If you like this kind of tea, Maokong is a must-visit.
At first glance, there’s lots of touristy attractions in Maokong that might not be what a serious tea drinker is looking for. Like oolong flavored ice cream (which to be honest sounds pretty good). A lot of people just come up here for the day to ride the gondola and have a meal at a teahouse. But if you just really want to drink tea, there’s plenty of opportunities for that too.
It’s worth it to take the time to venture a bit further from the main intersection by the gondola station. For one thing, the teahouses get quieter and are better suited for those who just want to relax and slowly drink their tea (as opposed to the many restaurants-that-also-serve-tea variety). If you walk up to the right on Zhinan Road, you’ll also be rewarded by sweeping views of terraced tea gardens.
On this trip, the highlight was a visit to the Tea Master Chang Nai-Miao Memorial Hall (張迺妙茶師紀念館). This is a tea shop that also has a small museum. The family that owns the shop is credited with bringing the tieguanyin cultivar to the region in the early 20th century, which jumpstarted the entire tieguanyin industry in Taiwan.
The husband and wife owners are very friendly, a wealth of information on a range of teas, and generally fun to spend some time with. He’s an accomplished potter, so in addition to all the tea they sell, his teawares are available (he was actually in the middle of glazing some teapots when we arrived). She’s originally from Hong Kong and because she speaks excellent English, is the designated tour guide for the museum.
For 150 NT, you can have a guided tour of the museum, which covers both the history of tea in Taiwan and oolong cultivation techniques. For an additional 50 NT per person, you can have a tasting session with three teas of your choice. They have some interesting teas, so I was excited for this option.
We ended up sampling a range of aged oolongs. First, a 2002 Oriental Beauty from Hsinchu. It was nice, quite light, still fragrant. I couldn’t particularly discern aged characteristics in it and it didn’t really blow me away but it was still tasty.
Then we had an aged baozhong from 1978. This had the typical ginseng note that’s common with older baozhong with wetter-leaning storage, and was particularly strong in this example. I quite liked it though, it was smooth, filled the mouth nicely, was fairly light.
Next was an aged tieguanyin also from the late 1970s. Twisted leaf style, not ball-rolled. While it too had a pretty noticeable ginseng fragrance and flavor, it was a striking contrast to the aged baozhong. Much stronger. Noticeably more bitter. Big mouthfeel. I found very little of the hints of sweetness I like in tieguanyin but it was interesting nonetheless. The owner brewed this tea quite heavily; I wonder what it might be like brewed with a lighter hand.
With our official tasting over, the owners brought out one more tea that they felt like drinking themselves: an aged Oriental Beauty from 1979, this one grown in Pinglin. I was really impressed with it. Very smooth and provided a wonderful soothing sensation in the throat. And the aftertaste lingered for hours. I couldn’t help myself and bought some to bring home.
I also bought some charcoal-roasted tieguanyin that I didn’t try in the shop. It’s ok. It’s a bit plain. Pretty inexpensive though, 300 NT for 75g. It feels like some of their teas are more for tea tourists than highly discerning tea drinkers. They have a fair amount of pu’er too, though I wasn’t very enthusiastic for it. What I saw was pretty wet-stored and the prices were suspicious. For instance, a 1985 sheng pu’er cake that’s only about 2000 NT, which had warning bells going off in my head. Though I think the aged oolongs are a pretty decent value, and in particular if you like aged baozhong it’s worth a visit; there were at least 10 of them.
It turns out they also have a website, and even sell some of their tea online. Though if you can get up there in person, the experience is worth it. www.tiekuanyin.com.tw
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