Ruby 18
Cinnamon, menthol, and ripe stonefruit. Taiwan's signature wild-hybrid black tea.
Ruby 18 (紅玉, Hong Yu, "Red Jade") is Taiwan Tea Experiment Station's cultivar #18, released in 1999 after a long breeding program that crossed a Burmese big-leaf Assam line (B-729) with a selection of Taiwan's native wild mountain tea, Camellia formosensis (B-607). The cross was deliberate: TRES wanted a black-tea cultivar that married assamica body with the aromatic character of Taiwan's indigenous tea, and Ruby 18 revived the once-dormant black-tea industry around Sun Moon Lake in Nantou.
The cultivar's signature is a natural cool-mint and cinnamon-bark aroma that no other black tea reproduces — a trait traced to the wild formosensis parent. Brewed gently it gives a smooth, honeyed cup with stonefruit sweetness; pushed harder the menthol-cinnamon top note dominates. Ruby 18 is almost always sold as a single-cultivar tea rather than blended, and genuine Sun Moon Lake Ruby commands premium prices.
Teas produced
Flavor signature
Growing regions
- Taiwan (Sun Moon Lake, Yuchi, Nantou)
Origins where Ruby 18 grows
Brands likely carrying Ruby 18
Direct-sourcing operations with focus areas that align with this cultivar's typical growing regions.