Taiwan Ruby 18 Sun Moon Lake Tea

Ruby 18, or Hong Yu, is a Taiwanese tea cultivar bred from a Burmese Assam-type tea and a wild Taiwanese tea, registered in 1999 and grown around Sun Moon Lake. Its black tea has cinnamon, mint and ripe fruit with little bitterness. Brewed in a teapot at 90°C.

Origin & Story

Ruby 18 is a tea plant made in Taiwan. The Taiwan Tea Research and Extension Station crossed a wild Taiwanese tea bush with a Burmese Assam-type variety, and by one account the work began in 1962 and ended with the cultivar's registration in 1999. Its formal name is Taiwan Tea No. 18, Hong Yu in Chinese, which means red jade, and Ruby 18 is the English trade name.

It grows around Sun Moon Lake in Nantou, where Assam plants have grown since the Japanese era. The leaf is long, dark and even, without the golden buds typical of Chinese black teas.

The cup is the draw. Sellers describe malty cinnamon with a cooling, minty finish, honey and ripe fruit, sometimes licorice, dark chocolate or brown sugar, and very little bitterness or astringency, so it needs no milk or sugar. Not everyone agrees on the notes: one seller finds sweet milk and cypress.

Use water at about 90°C and 2.4 g of leaf for 240 ml, steep for three to four minutes in a teapot, and taste it plain. Sellers also brew it gongfu style in 30 second infusions, or in a bowl, which suits the long, even leaf.

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