Just to give you an idea of what high mountain tea costs in Taiwan so that you can have a better idea of why it is so expensive in North America: Taiwan tea (grown in Taiwan) start at NTD $150/150 grams. This is usually for Siji chun, because it can be grown virtually anywhere in Taiwan, and so there is lots of it around. the next price jump is up to about NTD $200-300 for "Wulong tea" which is grown in the western part of Taiwan, almost all machine picked and is quite ordinary tea. The next price jump is between NTD$250-600 for low mountain teas such as jinxuan. the price typically depends on which region of Taiwan you are buying in, the temperment of the person from whom you are buying, and quality. Next price jump is NTD $400-800 for high mountain teas such as Alishan, Lishan, Shanlinxi and so on. These teas are mostly grown below 1000 M, but some of them are really mind blowing. Next price jump is NTD$700-1500 for either very high altitude or very well made teas. The next price jump is between NTD$1600- 2000 for really top shelf stuff. All these prices are quoted for bags of 150 g. To give you an idea, NTD $150 is about $5 USD, making 600 g of tea (a common way to round up wholesale prices in Taiwan) about $20. So the cheapest grown in Taiwan tea already costs about $20 per 600 grams and wouldn't impress most people who have lots of experience drinking Taiwanese tea products. Anything cheaper is usually grown outside of Taiwan. The reason why I name off these prices is to explain why Taiwan tea tends to cost so much once it gets sent overseas. imagine that the average price many of these companies is paying is already upward of $60-300 USD/600 grams, plus adding shipping, which adds at least $30/kg, and you can see what some of them charge a lot for their teas. If you get a really good Taiwanese tea in Taipei such as Dayuling, high altitude lishan or alishan teas, shanlinxi and so on, it can be very normal to see local people paying several hundred dollars USD equivalent to get their cha. I know it sounds crazy, but that is just what the tea market is like in Taiwan. The mainland Chinese tea market can be even crazier if you want to buy tea of equivalent quality of those grown in Taiwan.