We took the EVA air flight directly to Taipei. As soon as we landed, some group members were excited about the the food on the airplane and asked me about it. I knew I would have an adventurous group at that time.
After 12.5 hours of flight, we decided to walk around the city a little and used the local public transportation to get a good feel for Taipei. We have been lucky that the weather has been mild. It has been around 70F and a little overcast.
I usually like to take people to Wistaria Tea House on Day 1. It's such a peaceful and beautiful space, and they have VERY GOOD TEA there!
We chose a freshly harvested Spring Baozhong (produced on Alishan instead of PingLin) as our first tea. What a great choice! We were so happy with that fresh and light floral bouquet, so pure and clean. That was just what we needed after a long flight.
After lunch, we decided to go for an Oriental Beauty as a dessert tea. This Oriental Beauty has more of cinnamon sweetness and we were all intrigued by it.
Jet-lag plus relaxation made us a bit sleepy. I told the group that a wild tree Sheng Puer might help. I explained to the group that a good Sheng Puer from wild trees would carry a lot of energy. Uunlike most green puers, however, the energy would be strong but smooth. They were all very excited to try the tea. The first infusion surprised them by how smooth the liquid was (a lot of tea drinkers have experience with Sheng Puer being rough and bitter). They were simply thrilled by its quality and the chance to taste it! After a couple of cups, some of us started to feel the "heat" from this tea. We were pretty awake by then.
And did I mention how great this group is? I am honored to be their tour leader and can't wait to show them more of the Taiwan that I love!
4 comments:
I would have thoroughly enjoyed traveling with this group.
Oh? Alishan Baozhong? That seems interesting. Usually I'm disappinted with Baozhong compared to other TW styles and always wondered if the fact that most of that has to do that it is harvested in not very high altitude or ecologically sound locations compared to other famous types. There is a company that has their own Alishan farm, they have a shop in the SW corner of Da An park, I believe. They even have green and black Alishans, which I found very interesting. Their black Alishan is one of the most interesting and deeo blacks I ever tasted, head and shoulders above the usual Nantou/Sun Moon Lake varietal..I wish I still had some.
Marilyn,
I was lucky. This group is really fun to travel with!
Nick,
Maybe you just don't like Baozhong as much. I don't think there is anything to do with the elevation. I find other low elevation tea, like Muzha TGY and Dong Ding to be very delicious.
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