2009 Winter Baozhong

Our 2009 Winter Baozhong was shipped out from Taiwan yesterday! I am expecting it to arrive in Seattle in about two weeks; mid-December. Please watch out for our tea tasting schedule in our next newsletter and blog posts.

I heard that tea production is very low this year. In Pinglin during a regular season, there are around 1500 batches of tea that enter the Baozhong competition. This season, there were only about 950 batches of tea entering the competition. My tea friend told me that just a couple of days after the competition, most of the competition tea was already bought!

Xia Guan Puer

As the weather is getting colder and colder for me, I have been craving a nice, thick cup of Puer. I generally don't drink cooked puer unless it tastes "clean" to me.

I recently found a source for a Xia Guan puer brick that is from the 90s. The tea is thick and smooth. Look at the satisfying color of the liquid. Doesn't it make you want to drink it when it's cold out, too?

Latest News For Winter Tea

I have talked to a couple of tea friends in Taiwan and they all said that the tea that has been made so far is average, which is better than the below-average quality tea that some people thought would be produced this winter. There was a drought first, then a typhoon (too much rain), then not enough rain after that, which affected the early harvest.

However, there is a good amount of late season rainfall now, the tea leaves have matured and the harvest will be fully on its way soon. The farmers are waiting for the temperature to drop now to begin plucking.

There is still a good chance for us to get good tea this season!