TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Prosecutors indicted a mother and her two daughters in Chiayi County for making illegal profits by mixing up different types of tea to sell as a more expensive variety, reports said Friday.

Last year a man bought what he thought was premium-quality high-mountain tea, per CNA. However, when he drank the tea for the first time, he felt there was something not right about the flavor.

The customer directed investigators to a tea business managed by a woman named Tsai (蔡), 52, and her two daughters surnamed Lo (羅). Raids in July turned up 141 bags and 18 cans of adulterated tea.

According to prosecutors, the women started buying low-priced Jinxuan tea from Indonesia and lowland tea from Nantou in 2024. They mixed the cheaper tea leaves with more expensive brands, labeling the packaging with a range of names referring to higher-priced varieties, including Alishan tea.

They sold the tea at a shop in Zhongpu, Chiayi County, and on Facebook, Instagram, and Shopee. Their illegal profits totaled NT$23,000 (US$756), according to investigators.

Prosecutors on Friday said they were charging the three suspects with breaking the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation and with aggravated fraud.