Black Teas Deep Dive
Mountain Stream Teas Teaducation Subscription Service
March, 2026
Better know for oolongs, Taiwan also has some of the best tasting and innovative black teas in the world. This month we take a look at some Taiwanese Black teas from all over the island to compare and contrast the huge differences in flavor and styles of perhaps the least appreciated of the Taiwanese tea genres.
What are the teas we will look at this month?
Included this month are:
- Sun Moon Ruby 18, 400m elevation, 100% Oxidization, hand picked in fall, 2025, Sun Moon Lake, Nantou, Ruby 18
Tasting notes: Spice, mint and red fruit
- Sun Moon #21, 400m elevation, 100% Oxidization, electric roast, hand picked in winter, 2025, Sun Moon Lake, Nantou, #21
Tasting notes: Strong black tea flavor, spice and cherries
- Peach Garden Black Tea, 200m elevation, 100% Oxidization, electric roast, machine picked in spring, 2025, Taoyuan, Jinxuan
Tasting notes: Smooth warm sweet malts
- 2010s Aged Ruby 18, 400m elevation, 100% Oxidization, hand picked in 2010s, Sun Moon Lake, Nantou, Jinxuan
Tasting notes: Hint of age, strong mint, spice and red fruit, strong body feel
- Charcoal Roast Pear Mountain Black, 2000m elevation, 100% Oxidization, charcoal heavy roast, hand picked in spring, 2025, Lishan, Nantou, Qinxin
Tasting notes: Warm roast, whiskey cask, wood and dark cherries
Tea Breeding In Taiwan
The Taiwan Tea Research and Extension Stations (TRES) dotted around Taiwan’s tea growing regions have had some amazing tea breeding successes. Through years experimentation and skillful propagation many new tea cultivars have been created for the Taiwanese market, and in this month’s box we will look at two of them made specifically for black tea: #18 and #21.
Ruby 18, officially released in 1999 after over 50 years of development, is a hybrid of native Taiwanese wild mountain tea (formosensis) and Burmese Assam tea (assamica) that has a flavor profile like no other! The ‘storage wars’ aged tea that is included this month is extremely rare as these type of black teas are not generally aged.
The more recent #21 cultivar, also known as "Red Rhythm" or "Red Charm" is a modern Taiwanese tea variety officially released in 2008 and the result of the interbreeding of a Chinese Qimun tea with an assamica from India. It is relatively new and widely sought after in the domestic market so we are happy to be able to include some this month.
How to Brew Taiwanese Black Teas
95c(205f) water and short steeps(10-15 seconds) are best for most Taiwanese black teas as the assamica style teas can get very, very strong if brewed too hard. The Jinxuan and Qinxin teas on the other hand, do very well in a western brew, and are much softer and smoother when brewed strongly. Unlike most Taiwanese oolongs, you really do have to pay attention to the brewing instructions with these teas!
Teas To Compare and Contrast
1. The obvious comparison are the two Ruby 18s. One is aged for over a decade, the other is couple months old and the results are dramatic. Especially in the body feel! What do you think?
2. Taiwan’s tea breeding skills are the best in the world and the comparison of the #18 and #21 cultivars are a dramatic example of this.
3. The Peach Garden Black is much, much cheaper than the Pear Mountain Charcoal Roast Black Tea. They differ in complexity, brewing difficulty and flavor profiles. Do you agree with the price points?
The Mystery Tea
This month’s mystery tea is another famous Taiwanese black tea. Can you tell what it is?
**Hint: the name is in the flavor profile.
The April Box
The April box will have some of the freshest teas of the 2026 Spring season! And don’t forget, the 20th of March will be our biggest sale of the year. 20% off everything to mark our 8th anniversary!
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