Wuhe Honey-Aroma Black Tea

Wuhe Honey-Aroma Black Tea is a black tea from the Wuhe Plateau in Ruisui Township, Hualien, made from tea leaves bitten by small green leafhoppers, giving it a natural honey fragrance. Drive west from the Ruisui Township Office for 10 minutes, climb up to the Wuhe Plateau, and rows of neatly trimmed tea gardens unfold before you. The plateau has a large day-night temperature differential, and the air carries a faint tea fragrance. This is Hualien's most important tea-growing area, and in recent years it has broken into international tea competitions under the name "honey-aroma black tea," becoming one of the few Hualien teas to win a world gold medal.

The Wuhe area was selected for tea cultivation by the Taiwan Provincial Department of Agriculture and Forestry in 1971 due to a shortage of tea leaves in northern Taiwan; in 1978, Dr. Li Chung-tao, then head of the Executive Yuan's Council for Agricultural Planning and Development, visited Wuhe, tasted the local semi-ball-shaped oolong, and named it "Tianhe Tea." The honey-aroma black tea itself won its category's first World Gold Medal in an international competition in 2006, earned by Jiaming Tea Garden owner Gao Zhao-xu, and in 2007 Ruisui tea farmer Ye Bu-qiang was selected for the Council of Agriculture's "Taiwan Top Ten Classic Teas."

What is Wuhe Honey-Aroma Black Tea

The core of honey-aroma black tea is a tiny insect called the small green leafhopper. When tea plants are bitten by these insects, the leaves release natural defense compounds, giving the tea shoots a distinctive honey-like aroma. Tea farmers harvest these bitten shoots and process them using black tea methods — heavy withering, rolling, and fermentation — to produce a "honey-aroma black tea" with an orange-red liquor and a natural honey note on the palate. It shares its origin with Oriental Beauty (Pengfeng Tea), though fermentation levels and processing differ slightly. Wuhe Plateau honey-aroma black tea is noted for its high-mountain character and lingering sweetness: the brewed liquor is bright orange, neither astringent nor bitter, with a long, sweet finish.

Why is Wuhe the home of honey-aroma black tea? Agricultural travel resources clearly record that Wuhe has been a tea-producing area since the Japanese colonial period; in 1973 Chiang Ching-kuo's visit led to the naming of the local tea "Tianhe Tea." More recently, honey-aroma black tea won a world gold medal in 2006 and was selected as one of "Taiwan's Ten Classic Named Teas" in 2007, elevating Wuhe from a regional tea zone to an internationally recognized origin. The Ruisui Township Farmers' Association and Wuhe Scenic Tea Gardens have long supported tea farmers and visitor experiences, with strong quality and brand credibility. Provincial Highway 9 passes near the Tropic of Cancer Marker Park close to Wuhe, making the tea gardens part of a complete tourist corridor.

How to brew and drink it the authentic way

Local know-how

Data compiled from Hualien County Government Tourism Department, local township farmers' associations, and large-scale public reviews; sponsored content has been filtered out. Photos will be replaced with exclusive channel footage after Dio's on-site shoot.