Tai Cha No. 8 vs Hong Yu (No. 18)
The two black-tea cultivars of Sun Moon Lake, and the reason Taiwanese black tea comes in two quite different forms. One is straightforward large-leaf assamica; the other is a hybrid whose mint-and-cinnamon note is genetic and is constantly mistaken for flavouring.
What is being compared
Why these get confused
The mint-and-cinnamon character is the single most common thing new drinkers assume must be added. It is genetic, it is present in unblended single-garden lots, and it is the reason the cultivar was selected.
Point by point
| Aspect | Tai Cha No. 8 | Hong Yu |
|---|---|---|
| Parentage | Large-leaf assamica stock, introduced under Japanese administration. | A hybrid of Taiwanese wild stock with introduced material. |
| Signature note | Malt and cocoa — a conventional full black tea. | Mint and cinnamon, unmistakable and unlike any other black tea. |
| Vigour | Vigorous and heat-tolerant. | Good, and it is now the more commercially prominent of the two. |
| Where it is grown | Around Sun Moon Lake in Nantou. | Sun Moon Lake and increasingly elsewhere in Taiwan. |
| Milk | Takes milk in the way an Assam does. | Does not; the mint note and milk work against each other. |
| Who it suits | A drinker wanting a full-bodied Taiwanese black tea with no surprises. | A drinker willing to meet a flavour that sounds like an additive and is not. |
The short answer
Hong Yu is the more famous and the more polarising, and Tai Cha No. 8 is the one to reach for when a Taiwanese black tea has to behave like a black tea. Anyone who tried Hong Yu, assumed it was flavoured and wrote off the category has an obvious next step.
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