A Short Video On Tea Picking And Outdoor Oxidation At PingLin

This video was taken by Jake on our April Taiwan tea trip. We were lucky that it was not raining the day that we visited Farmer Chen at PingLin. We got to talk to some tea pickers and participate in spreading tea leaves for outdoor oxidation.

Enjoy the video!

I have been buying Baozhong from Farmer Chen for over 10 years. He is hard working, dedicated, and kind, and I think these qualities show through in his tea. Try his Baozhong! I bet you will find a lot of beauty and happiness!

*The video is provided by Jake Knapp.

2016 Spring Tea Trip: PingLin

I was very happy to be at PingLin. PingLin is very beautiful and it's a very relaxing place for me. We met Farmer Chen and his family and they were very busy harvesting and processing tea that day. It was one of the few days without rain in April!
Our new Spring Baozhong is expected to arrive in the end of May. I will be writing more to share my experiences from the April tea trip.

Here are some photos from PingLin. Enjoy!

picking tea

spreading tea for outdoor oxidation

outdoor oxidation

a feast!

2016 Spring Tea Trip: A Quick Tea Update

Due to the snow in February, and lower temperature after that, Taiwanese spring tea harvest is delayed for roughly two weeks.

I visited Muzha for Tieguanyin in April 12th, they were just starting to harvest the Si Ji Chuan( Four Season Spring). This cultivar grows faster than the majority of cultivars in Taiwan. The True Bush Tieguanyin was not ready for harvesting yet. Farmer Zhan told me that there was no sun for two weeks before this day.
I was at Dong Ding Mountain on the 14th and 15th, farmers were harvesting JinXuan( Tawan Tea #12). It was misty with sunshine breaking through here and there. Farmers were deciding if they had to pick Soft Stem varietal, because the weather was not looking good for the following week.
Same thing happened in PingLin. Farmers are waiting for Chin Xin varietal to get mature enough for harvesting.

I did bring back some amazing roasted Dong Ding and traditional Tieguanyin. For darker roasted style teas, I like them at least one year old, so that the roast can have time to intergrate. I will put them on my website as soon as possible.
For High Mountain Oolong and Baozhong, my two tea buyer friends will be sourcing them when the spring harvest is ready.

There will be more posts about this spring tea trip. Stay tuned.

An Update on this Spring's Oolong - Spring 2014

A view in PingLin. Photo provided by Matthew Kraus.

A couple of days ago, I was talking with one of Floating Leaves Tea buyers, Mr. Tsai, about our Baozhong. So far, he thinks this season's Baozhong is better than last season's. I am excited! He will go out to Farmer Chen's place and get us some Farmer's Choice Baozhong. He is hoping to send it out this Wednesday or Thursday. Our Spring Baozhong might arrive by the middle of May!

Our Dong Ding Traditional will be return to our tea lineup. It is scheduled to arrive around mid-May as well. I can't wait to taste this tea. A traditional Dong Ding is one of my favorite Oolongs from Taiwan.

Our other tea buyer, Rob, will be out next week to look for some good High Mountain Oolongs. Stay tuned. I will have more Spring Oolong updates soon!

PingLin, May 23, 2012

Konghai and I went to YiLan for a couple of days before we headed over to PingLin. YiLan is in the northeastern part of Taiwan. It feels much quieter than Taipei and the beach area is gorgeous.
It only took us about 40 minutes to get from YiLan to PingLin. There is a freeway going through the mountains and we go through one of the longest tunnels in the world.

When we arrived, Mrs Chen was already waiting for us. Farmer Chen was weeding outside. Mrs Chen immediately prepared the tea table for us to sample tea. I was pretty happy with the Baozhongs I tasted. I think they're better than the previous winter's Baozhong. Farmer Chen came in to see us with a baby in his arms. He looked so happy! He told me it was his grandson who just turned one. Farmer Chen joined us for tea and Mrs Chen went to the back with the baby boy.

He asked me which Baozhong I liked. I pointed at two cups and told him I was still deciding which one I liked better. He told me one of them got left in the roaster longer than he intended to. I told him it turned out just fine. Then he took out a different tea and let me taste it. He said that was the same one without roasting. After tasting both, I told him I preferred the one that with the extra roasting.

Mrs Chen came out from the back and told us to have lunch. She amazes me. She probably left for only about an hour and in that short amount of time, she had prepared a table full of food for us. On the top of that, she was watching a baby boy!

After lunch, we continued to taste more tea. Farmer Chen would leave the table from time to time to play with his grandson and Konghai. It is clear from watching his face how much he loves children.

It's always nice to visit the Chen family. They are so kind and generous. I made the decision to choose one of the teas that I tasted as our Farmer's Choice Baozhong. I can't wait to share it with you.

Baozhong Farmer

Ever since I started to visit Pinglin for Baozhong tea, I've continued to have a special love for that place. I simply love the landscape there. It's so green and full of life, which makes me feel energized when I'm there. Usually when I talk about loving a place, a lot of my good memories include the people there that I know.

I was introduced to Baozhong Farmer Chen and his wife back in 2005. They graciously received and shared tea with us, as well as taking us to visit his tea farm. I still remember that day so well. At the time, I had not been back to Taiwan in a long time, so it was great to be in a place where I felt familiar with the food, customs, weather and the people. It was also a different trip that time. I went back with a new interest: tea.

That day was a usual humid and warm (28C) day for Taiwan. I greedily took in the air and was so excited to be in the hot climate. As we got out of his van, Farmer Chen led us to a winding dirt road that slowly crept up the hill. After 5 minutes of walking, he suddenly stopped and said, " Ah! I love this weather! It makes me sweat!"

After knowing him for over five years now, Farmer Chen strikes me as a very straight forward person. He is confident about what he knows and he won't pretend to know things that he doesn't. Once I asked him about his views on other teas. He told me he didn't know much about them, since he only makes Baozhong tea ( In recent years, he starts to make some Black tea and Oriental Beauty). His father was also a Baozhong farmer, so he learned the skills of tea making through his father and eventually took over the family business.

One time I was asking him about his aged teas and he brought out the aged Buddha Hand that I liked a lot (I am glad that some of you liked that tea a lot, too!) I asked him how old that Buddha Hand was and Farmer Chen told me "about 10 to 20 years." I burst out laughing so hard and said, " Mr. Chen, do you realize what you just said spans 10 years?" He looked at me with a smile and looked at his wife to see if she had an answer. He said, " To be honest, how can I keep track of those things?" We continued to drink tea and later I stood up to look around. I opened the container where they stored the aged Buddha Hand and found a note on the lid stating how old the tea was, with a date of their last roast as well. I said, "Mr. Chen! The tea is 18 years old" and showed him the lid. He smiled and said, "You see, I was right. 10 to 20 years old!"



Farmer Chen and his wife work on the farm together. Mr. Chen processes all of his teas himself and Mrs Chen helps. They own a retail shop on the main street in Pinglin so she spends a lot of time there, too. They have a son and he is in Taipei so that he can have "a better life" than farming. Tea making is very hard work. I asked Chen once if his son is interested in growing tea and he said no. I asked what is going to happen when he no longer can farm. He said he doesn't know. "Can you adopt me?" I asked. He answered with a smile, "Do you know how hard this is, Miss Tai?" "I can try. I am a very tough person." "I don't think you can do it." Mr. Chen replied (In the past, I have asked some farmers to adopt me so that I can learn more about tea, but I've always been rejected. How frustrating!)

We have carried Farmer's Choice Baozhong from Mr. Chen for five years. Each year, we have tried to find a Baozhong that has a heavier body than the competition style Baozhong, which is known for its strong floral notes. After I tried teas with Mr. and Mrs Chen last year and made my purchase decisions, I told Farmer Chen, "Mr. Chen, you are the farmer. You should be the one to choose 'Farmer's Choice Baozhong' for us." He stood up and came back with some tea leaves in his hand. I tasted a sip of that tea and looked at him with my eyes wide open, "Are you serious? This is not even Qingxin Oolong!" (Yes, I sounded snobby. What an impolite way to act towards a respected tea farmer!) He said, "Miss Tai, I am a farmer. I work on the fields all day. I don't have time to drink tea Gongfu style, so something with a big flavor is what I would drink as a farmer."

It is always a delight to spend some time with the Chen family. I am looking forward to many more years of my tea relationship with them.

Grilled Shrimp with Wenshan Baozhong

Here is one more recipe that uses Baozhong Tea. This one is very easy to make (even I can do it!) so please try it. The aroma and bouquet of the Baozhong will show up after you eat the shrimp. It's a great dish to serve as an appetizer. Enjoy!





Grilled Shrimp with Baozhong

-Brew Baozhong tea and let it cool down to room temperature.
-Peel the shrimp (keep the head), butterfly the shrimp and twist it from the back.
-Arrange the shrimp in a shallow dish and pour the tea broth over it. Let it marinate for 2 to 3 hours in the refrigerator.
-Before grilling, pat-dry the shrimp and season it with salt and pepper.
-Grill until it turns pink. Do not overcook.
-Serve and enjoy!

Pinglin

A view in Pinglin

Today, my friend Jennifer and I went to Pinglin to taste spring Baozhongs. My friend Mr. Tsai was very kind to meet us at the subway station and drive us up to Pinglin.

Mrs. Chen, the Baozhong farmer's wife, was there waiting for us. As soon as she saw us, she started to heat water on the stove. We tried five different Baozhongs first and then we switched to two aged Buddha Hands and three aged Baozhongs. So much good tea to drink! Farmer Chen came back from picking up his competition tea and joined us for tea. Mrs. Chen was busy, but she made the time to cook us a delicious lunch.

The delicious meal by Mrs. Chen

After lunch, we continued to drink more Baozhong tea. I decided on an Honorable Mention Baozhong, Farmer's Choice Baozhong and I will also bring back an aged Baozhong and Buddha's Hand oolong. My friend, Jennifer Sauer, is a professional photographer and she took a video of me choosing the teas with the farmer. We will share the clips when they are ready.

Tasting Baozhong

Unloading Baozhong Tea

After our tea purchasing, we said goodbye to the Chens and Mr. Tsai took us for a brief tour of Pinglin. It was a great day and the view was beautiful. I can't wait to share the tea I chose and more of my stories with you. The teas are quite interesting and I am excited about the quality and taste, and thankful that the weather and growing conditions have been good to Taiwan this season.

Tea leaves waiting for bugs to attack - Oriental Beauty Oolong

Pinglin Trip, Part One

After my Dong Ding trip, my head was still thinking about Farmer Lin. I couldn't stop thinking about what he said to me, "When you drink a tea, can you tell if it is a good tea?" I was confused with what exactly I was looking for in the tea learning.

My friend, Mr. Tsai, met me and Konghai outside of the subway in Hsin Dien. Today he was going to take us to Pinglin. Before we went to see Farmer Chen, he told me that we were going to meet his friend, Mr. Den, and Den was going to take us to see the farmer who made our Shui Xian Oolong. We met Den at the Shui Xian farmer's farm. My heart got lighter because there was so much greenness in that area. Den was taking pictures when we arrived. He told us that the farmer was not at home at this moment. We would go to his house later to see if he was back. That was so Taiwanese-style. Friends or neighbors just show up at your door without an appointment. I sometimes miss that way of living.

Den told me that those tea plants in front of me were Shui Xian varietals and the farmer used organic farming methods to take care of the plants. They had really large size leaves compared to the more popular Taiwanese varietals.

Den told us we should go to another farmer's place to say hi (I didn't think he made any appointments with that farmer either). We showed up in front of a typical three-story apartment-type building. The farmer, his wife, three young babies, and the farmer's parents lived there together. When we showed up, they were all very friendly. Den told him that we would like to try some of his teas. He immediately put water on the stove. In no time, his mother came out with a huge plate of really juicy looking watermelon.

After the first pot of Jin Xuan varietal Baozhong, he asked me what I liked to drink. I told him if he had any Baozhong with a nice round mouth feel and yet heavy body. He left and came back with some different looking leaves. He told me that it was made from Da Yeh(Big Leaf) varietal. The tea liquid did have a heavier feel to it. Sometimes when I said I wanted something heavier, people would think I wanted it to be brewed heavier, too. I asked the farmer if Baozhong was like this 15 years ago. He smiled and said:"Oh no, tea at that time was even heavier than this." I asked him why he stopped making tea like that. He smiled again and told me that nobody wanted tea like that. I said, "that's not true. I am interested in that." In my brain, I was asking myself if tea at that time really tasted better. We said thank you and went on to see Farmer Chen.

坪林包種比賽茶評分的標準

坪林包種比賽茶評分的標準

這裡是坪林比賽茶較詳細的質料：

外形佔百分之二十 (20%)：在比賽之前農夫都會把茶梗挑去，茶葉外形要整齊、一致，且不要有雜色。

茶湯顏色佔百分之二十 (20%)﹕ 茶湯以蜜綠色﹐ 翠綠色為上等。而且茶湯不可以混淆，要清澈。

香氣佔百分之三十 (30%)﹕要有花香，且要單一香氣﹐ 不要有悶味﹐ 也不要有雜味。單一香氣的原因是不要有混茶，而且很有明顯的品種香。

滋味佔百分之三十 (30%)﹕ 茶的滋味要圓潤、甘甜、有活性。茶喝起來要無異味、無酸性。

New Winter Baozhong

Two boxes of Winter Baozhong came in today. What a nice surprise! I was not expecting them to arrive for another week. And it's good timing, too. My friends, Michael, Klaus, Rich, and Todd were all here.

I decided to taste these four Baozhong in white bowls. This is a wonderful way to compare teas and to judge a tea quality. And what a nice way to try some fresh new tea with good company!

The Four Baozhongs are: First Place Winning Baozhong, Second Place Winning Baozhong, Honorable Mention Winning Baozhong, and Farmer's Choice Baozhong. Rich helped to put those teas in four different bowls so that we wouldn't know which tea is which. I like to compare tea this way so that my tasting won't be affected by pricing, prize winning or which place the tea is from.


After hot water was poured into the bowls, we all picked up a porcelain spoon, dipped it into the tea liquid, and started to smell the spoon. Wow, some of tea is so floral! I started to tell them about the criteria for the bouquet and the color that judges are looking for. Todd immediately decided which Baozhong won a prize. And he was right on!

The first run of tasting, I didn't want to decide the sequence of the teas, but I knew what I liked. The first tea is very floral and the tea color is just the right color, jade green. The second tea was voted by Michael, Todd, and Klaus as the best Baozhong out of the four. They all agreed on that tea has floral note and body. I personally like the third one the best. I like Baozhong with just a light floral note and a nice mouth feel. The fourth one came very close to the third Baozhong. People were all very happy with the quality. Todd was especially happy because he just ran out of good Baozhong.

By the end of the tasting, I thought the teas were exactly what I was expecting from these Baozhong. The one with a nice bright green color and a big floral fragrance won first place. Second place is a very balanced tea. Honorable Mention and Farmer's Choice represent Farmer Chen's tea making style, with a bit more oxidation than the prize winners. Some people like Baozhong tea with a big floral note and others prefer it with a bigger body. I am happy that I can offer both styles.

Pinglin Baozhong Tea Competition 坪林包種茶比賽

I have seen the Baozhong tea competition three times so far. The first time, our friend Mr. Tsai took us to visit Farmer Chen back in 2005. My ex-husband Rob and I showed up at Farmer Chen's tea shop as he was just about to leave to submit two batches of Baozhong for a competition. Mr. Tsai did a quick introduction and Farmer Chen told us to get into his car and submit the tea with him.

Tea Submitting 交茶
The place where farmers have to submit their tea is in a high school. Before we entered the place, Chen turned and said to Rob:" Why don't you submit a bag of Baozhong as well?" Rob took the bag and we walked into the hall. The man that sat behind the submission's table raised his head and looked at Rob. You should have seen his expression when he saw an unknown foreigner carrying a bag of Baozhong tea. Farmer Chen went forward smiling and said to the man at the table " This is my tea. He is a friend from Seattle. Maybe he will bring me good luck and this tea will win the grand prize!" Everybody laughed.

The man at the table gave Farmer Chen some paper. Later on, Farmer Chen told us that the paper has numbers for the tea that he submitted. Everyone who submits the tea receives a number. When the competition results are posted, people check their numbers to see if they won anything. For the competition to be fair, the town hall which hosts the competition will come up with different numbers for the tea. They don't want to judges to know which farmers have what numbers.

In the room, there were three big wood tables. Each table has four or so women surrounding it. They threw whatever tea they received on the table, measured it and packaged it in individual foil bags. Each foil bag has 150 grams of tea and there are 42 bags for one batch (一點). After they bagged the tea, 40 bags of tea will go into a white paper box with a number on the box. One bag is for tea judging and one bag is for the town hall for "building relationships" (公關茶). Each competition, they receive over 1000 batches of tea. They have to keep good records on which tea belongs to which farmer.

Tea Judging 評茶
The actual tea judging place is in a building that belongs to the Pinglin government. There is no decoration in that room at all. I saw two judges in two of the competitions and four judges at one of them. I was not allowed to talk to them at all. The Pinglin competition normally lasts four to five days. There are usually over 1000 batches of tea to be tested. This Winter, there were 1059 batches of tea.

For the first three days, judges are pretty much eliminating teas and choosing Honorable Mention Baozhong. There are two men that help to measure tea and time the tea's brewing. For the competition, they use three grams of Baozhong and brew for 5 minutes in the standard tea judging cups. After the brewed tea is poured into the white porcelain cups, judges will go over to the table, look at the dry leaves, smell the brewed tea leaves, and then taste the tea. After that entire table of tea is judged, a secretary will go over with the judges and write down the grades for each tea.

Judging Criteria 評審標準
What are they looking for in a competition: 20% of the appearance on the dry leaves (外型); 20% on the color (顏色); 30% on the fragrance (香氣); 30% on the mouth fell (口感).

The Winners 得獎人數
Grand Winner (特等獎): There is only one batch of tea for this prize
The Top Tens (頭等一到十): The top winners are ranked from 1 to 10. You can see their rank on the boxes that competition Baozhong is packaged and sold in.
1st Place Winners (頭等獎): There are around 50 batches of tea that received 1st place prize, so don't think that you might be buying the only first place tea.
Second Place Winners (二等獎): There are about seventy batches of tea for this prize.
Third Place Winners (三等獎): There are around 180 teas for this category.
Honorable Mention (優良獎): There are many winners in this category.

Tea competitions are ways to promote a specific tea. You can choose to believe in the judges' tastes or not. I personally believe that there are certain qualities and characteristics in good teas, but I don't believe that they can necessarily choose the best Baozhong. They might be choosing the best ones according to their criteria, which could be different fro your tastes.

Baozhong Farmer - Mr. Chen

I finally had a chance to talk to the Baozhong Farmer, Mr. Chen. He told me that he has been making tea for 40 years. He owns tea farms in the Pinglin area, just south of Taipei. He and his wife mostly make tea, and in the busy tea making season, they will hire tea pickers. Farmer Chen handles the entire tea making process himself.

He thanked me for liking his Baozhong tea.

I asked him what he thinks about the tea competition. He told me that it's not all that fair. However, since the tea judges decide what is a good tea, he only can do his best. I asked him about Taiwanese Oolong getting greener and greener. He said it's the trend. He still wants his Baozhong a bit more oxidized than the current trend. I asked him why he doesn't like really lightly-oxidized Oolong and he said it's because the tea has less taste (滋味) and mouth feel. He thinks a true Oolong tea should have a nice mouth feel. If a Baozhong becomes much greener, we can all change and just make a Green Tea.

I noticed that in recent years, Farmer Chen almost never wins first place. I think it's because he still wants to make Baozhong with a bigger taste. I asked him if I can learn how to make tea from him. He laughed and said it's a really tough job. I told him that I can do it, but he still repeated that it's a very tough job.

I asked him about this winter Baozhong. He said that in the beginning, the temperature was not cool enough. I asked him what's the problem with higher temperature and he said that the tea won't taste like "winter tea".

He told me that since the weather is warmer, the "stirring green" (浪青) process has to be fast because the tea oxidizes faster ( Please see the note for "stirring green). So there should be a shorter period of time between each "stirring green" interval. He told me that he prefers that the temperature be below 20c. He said that for a few days this season, the temperature dropped, so even yesterday, he was making tea. It takes him about 24 hours to finish one batch of tea.

I asked him if he can still make more oxidized Baozhong. He said that if people ask him to make it, he will do it. I was so excited to hear it. He told me he likes tea that way, too. Fragrance in a tea is important, but how a tea feels in the mouth should be important as well, if not more so.

Farmer Chen hasn't seen me for a couple of seasons, so I told him that I will for sure visit him whenever I am in Taiwan and remind him again that I want to learn how to make tea from him.

"Stiring Green": After tea leaves are oxidized to the right degree outdoors, farmers will take those tea leaves indoors. Leaves will stay in tea baskets indoors without the farmers touching or shaking them. The purpose of this is to let the water content evaporate from the edges of tea leaves and the water content in the leaves will distribute evenly. At the right moment, farmers will decide to stir tea leaves. We call this process "stiring green". The first goal of "stiring green" is to let the water in the tea leaves "evaporate" evenly. The second purpose of this process is to let leaves rub each other so that oxidation of tea leaves will continue.