Today you'll taste one of the world's most expensive teas and discover its surprising origin. Oriental Beauty (Dongfang Meiren 東方美人) earns its signature honey-sweet flavor and fruity aroma from an unexpected source: when small green leafhoppers (小綠蟬) bite tea leaves, the plant produces natural compounds as a self-repair mechanism. These compounds create the distinctive honey, peach, and fruity notes that make this heavily oxidized tea so prized. Visit an award-winning family tea estate to walk through their gardens, learn to spot the telltale signs of leafhopper activity, and taste different grades to appreciate the nuances. Then explore charming Beipu Old Street with its traditional Hakka architecture before traveling to Miaoli. At POUYUENJI HILLS, experience a fascinating contrast with century-old Puer tea from China's Yunnan province. This aged tea develops complex, earthy flavors over decades, and you'll taste both classic aged varieties and contemporary interpretations to understand how time transforms tea into something remarkably smooth and layered.

Sun Moon Lake is Taiwan's largest lake and most iconic landscape, and today you'll discover that it produces an equally iconic tea. Ruby Red Tea #18 took Taiwanese researchers five decades to perfect by crossing wild Taiwanese tea trees with Burmese Assamica varieties, creating a unique cultivar with distinctive notes of mint, cinnamon, and natural sweetness. Take a boat ride across the sparkling waters to understand why the indigenous Thao people considered this a sacred place, then visit a historic tea factory housed in a beautifully renovated Japanese-era building. You'll learn how authentic Sun Moon Lake Ruby Red Tea is now protected by geographical indication - only tea grown in this specific region can use the name - and taste why this tea successfully competes with the world's best.

Enter the realm of Dong Ding ("Frozen Summit") oolong, one of Taiwan's most celebrated teas. Cultivated in Lugu since the 1850s at moderate elevation (600-1,200 meters), it strikes a perfect balance - high enough for complexity with persistent mist and cool temperatures that create ideal conditions for slow leaf growth and concentrated flavor. Visit a family-operated tea farm to see the entire process from bush to cup, learn about the traditional ball-rolling technique and roasting methods, and taste why this tea has maintained its premium reputation for over 150 years. Later, experience authentic Taiwanese culture at Chiayi Night Market, where locals eat - no tourist traps, just real street food that your guide will help you navigate.

This is the day many tea lovers dream about. Enter Alishan National Park and become a tea picker at a local high-mountain tea farm, learning the precise "one bud, two leaves" technique while surrounded by panoramic mountain views. Grown above 2,000 meters, where temperatures are cool, and mist is constant. Alishan High Mountain Oolong represents the pinnacle of Taiwan's tea production - plants grow slowly and develop extraordinary complexity with a delicate, almost creamy texture, floral aroma, and natural sweetness. High mountain oolong is a relatively recent phenomenon (large-scale cultivation only began in the 1980s), yet authentic Alishan oolong is now among Taiwan's most expensive teas. After your hands-on experience and a guided forest hike, witness Alishan's legendary sunset as the famous "sea of clouds" fills the valleys below, turning golden, then pink, then purple.

Begin with one of the world's three remaining high-altitude forest railways. Built in 1912, this narrow-gauge train winds through pristine forest where some cypress trees are over 2,000 years old - the gentle clickety-clack, the scent of cypress, and filtered light through ancient branches create a meditative journey. Walk among these thousand-year-old giants before driving to Tainan, Taiwan's oldest city (founded 1624), where Dutch colonial architecture stands alongside elaborate Chinese temples and Japanese-era buildings. In Tainan's old quarter, experience traditional tea house culture where locals gather to talk amongst tea sipping. You'll participate in this ritual and understand that tea in Taiwan isn't just a beverage, but a way to connect with others and with history.

Travel south to experience one of Taiwan's most unusual teas. Gangkou (Harbor) Tea is grown right beside the Pacific Ocean at Taiwan's southernmost point, where tea plants are constantly bathed in ocean breezes that create subtle mineral and slightly salty notes you won't find anywhere else. This demonstrates tea's incredible adaptability - while most premium teas require mountain elevation, this proves that unique terroir can create distinctive character even at sea level. The same cultivar grown here tastes completely different from when grown in Alishan. Visit the coastal tea farm to understand how proximity to seawater influences the leaves, then explore Hengchun Old Town, one of Taiwan's best-preserved walled cities from 1875, before continuing to Kenting's white-sand beaches and coral reefs for a refreshing transition from cultural exploration to beach relaxation.

Experience indigenous Taiwanese culture through food before driving one of Taiwan's most spectacular coastal highways - the Pacific Coast Highway clings to dramatic cliffs with endless ocean views. In Luye, you'll discover Red Oolong, Taiwan's newest tea variety (developed in 2008), which combines oolong processing with heavy oxidation to create something entirely unique. Like Oriental Beauty, Red Oolong benefits from small green leafhopper activity - the insects' bites trigger compounds that create honey-like sweetness and fruity notes of ripe plum or longan, amplified by heavy fermentation. Visit a nature-friendly tea farm that practices sustainable cultivation, allowing native plants to grow among tea bushes, and compare Red Oolong to Oriental Beauty to taste how different processing creates different profiles from similar leafhopper influence. This shows Taiwan's tea innovation continues - honoring traditional methods while constantly experimenting to create new varieties.

Travel through the stunning East Rift Valley, a unique geological formation where tectonic forces created a fertile valley between two mountain ranges. Your day begins with a leisurely cycling experience in Chishang, famous for its picturesque golden rice paddies that stretch endlessly toward the mountains - the scenery is particularly breathtaking from March to June and again through the end of November when the rice is golden and ready for harvest. This pastoral landscape has appeared in countless films and advertisements, and cycling through it gives you an intimate feel for rural Taiwan's agricultural beauty. Continue north to stop at the Tropic of Cancer marker, significant because this latitude (23.5°N) affects sunlight intensity and day length throughout the region, before arriving in Hualien city where you can explore at your leisure.

Your final day brings dramatic coastal scenery and a historical conclusion. Drive the spectacular Suhua Highway, carved into sheer cliffs with Qingshui Cliff rising 800 meters straight from the Pacific - one of the world's highest coastal cliffs with breathtaking views. Your journey ends in Dadaocheng, where Taiwan's modern tea story began. In the mid-1800s, this Taipei neighborhood became the center of tea export trade, and today beautifully preserved tea merchant houses line the streets. Visit a family-run tea roasting plant operated for generations, watching traditional techniques still in use today - this connects you to the unbroken chain of knowledge passed from master to apprentice for over a century, bringing your 10-day journey full circle from tasting tea to understanding its complete story.