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Step 1
Choose your type of tea. Do you like green? Black? Oolong? Do you like your tea full of flavor or subtle? Many Taiwanese tea shops will happily offer tastings. Explain to the owner what style of tea you enjoy. The knowledgeable owner will produce several options to taste. No purchase is required!
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Step 2
Consider a trip to the mountains. Taiwan has hundreds of high-altitude mountains and many of these produce tea. It is possible to visit the production centers and taste right from the source.
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Step 3
Decide how much you want to spend. Taiwanese tea can be dirt-cheap or very expensive. Make sure whoever talking to understands your budget.
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Step 4
When presented with the tea leaves, feel them to make sure they contain no moisture. Leaves with moisture will degrade rapidly. Check to make sure the tea does not have an excessive amount of twigs, branches or other foreign material.
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Step 5
Look at the color and shape of the leaf. Different kinds of tea have different ideal colors. Taiwan Oolong, for example should be a dark green/brown color. Broken leaves will produce bitterness, a trait many people find unpleasant, but slight bruising may be good for black tea.
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Step 6
Smell the tea. Smelling is just important as tasting. If there is no smell whatsoever from the tea leaves then they are not worth buying. Scent varies widely with Taiwanese teas. Many fragrant teas maintain their smell even after several infusions.
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Step 7
Finally taste the tea. In Taiwan it is acceptable to slurp your tea in order to appreciate the flavor. Try to sample many different varieties of Taiwanese tea to discover which you like best.
