Lugu Names a 50th Dong Ding Champion From a Shrunken Field
Drought had already cut entries to Lugu's 50th Dong Ding Oolong competition by 16 percent. The county's own agriculture chief says judging stayed just as tough anyway, and the numbers back him up.
Lugu Township Farmers' Association named Su Yu-lun the grand-prize winner of its 50th spring Dong Ding Oolong competition at a June 6 ceremony, judging 3,711 entries, three fewer than the 3,714 a January drought had already left the field with. Nantou County agricultural affairs director Su Jui-hsiang said the competition stayed "quite fierce" this year even as the drought cut both output and entries, down from 4,401 entries a year earlier. The numbers back him: judges eliminated 47.43 percent of this year's entries, above the 44.17 percent cut from 2025's larger field, so a buyer seeking this year's competition-grade Dong Ding is choosing from a smaller vintage that was not judged any easier for it.
Su's winning lot scored on a tight, dark green, oil-sheened roll that judges said poured a golden, bright liquor with a rich floral-fruit aroma from fermentation, a sweet and mellow taste, and a long finish that lingered in the empty cup, the association said.
The association marked the anniversary with a "Grateful for Fifty Years" promotion: buyers of competition tea gift sets received scratch cards for a chance at a Mercedes-Benz, on top of NT$66,000 (about US$2,060) in prize tea sets and tickets to Fenghuang Valley Bird Park and the Xitou and Shanlinxi forest reserves. Legislator You Hao, Lugu township chief Qiu Ru-ping, and Tea Crop Improvement Station director Su Tsung-chen also attended the June 6 ceremony.
Sources: ETtoday, 鹿谷鄉春季凍頂烏龍茶賽50周年「抽賓士催買氣」 特等獎出爐; 新民生報, 鹿谷農會茶賽50週年擴大登場 凍頂烏龍茶特等獎出爐; ETtoday, 鹿谷鄉春季凍頂烏龍茶2大獎同日登場 特等獎、特等茶王出爐.