A 35-Year-Old Oolong, Down to Its Last Dozen Catties, Poured for the Public
At a drought-thinned Nantou competition, a 35-year-old aged oolong valued near NT$100,000 a catty was set out for anyone who came to taste it.
A 35-year-old aged oolong, down to its last dozen catties and valued near NT$100,000 (about US$3,100) a catty, was poured for free at a Nantou tea competition on June 7.
The tea belonged to Su Weide of the Quanmao Tea House in Miaoli, whose Plum Moon aged oolong took the competition's tea-king title, its highest honor. His parents had left about ten catties, he said, kept for some 35 years. A catty is 600 grams. Judges described it as carrying a rouge-floral and sweet-plum aroma, echoing the tea's own name.
The competition, run by the Nantou County Tea Merchants Association at Li's Family Garden in Mingjian, judges spring Dong Ding oolong alongside aged oolong. Drought thinned this year's field to 675 entries, down from 850, and made the crop harder to control. Hongfu Ming Tea took the top prize in the Dong Ding oolong group.
An aged oolong is not simply an old one. It is a roasted tea that its keepers return to low heat every few years to hold off the damp, its sharper notes trading down the decades for something darker and settled. Thirty-five years is a long patience, and for once it was set out for whoever walked in.
Sources: China Times, 南投春季凍頂烏龍茶暨梅月烏龍老茶比賽頒獎 (June 7, 2026, in Chinese).