We just released the first teaser for our Taiwan Oolong Documentary! The Dance of the Tea.
This is the first installment in a series of teasers, all organized around elements of tea. This first is focussed on the actual leaves, farms and processing. You can see Dong Ding mountain and the tea fields there. The farmer we have bought tea from for a decade is in there, a thin man with white hair. He will show up in later videos.
Please enjoy and stay tuned for more teasers. We think the way the leaves dance is so beautiful!
Special thanks to Jake Knapp who filmed and edited the video and to Jon Davis who contributed music for this piece.
Aged oolongs can have a soothing energy. They are usually temperamental, and sometimes sour, but if you nurture them they can be full of life and delicious. And they will have a story to tell you. Part of the process of nurturing aged oolongs is waking up the tea.
When I talk about waking up a tea, I do this with heat. This is also called spot roasting, or touching up a tea. It is like roasting it just slightly, right before brewing. The simplest way is to get a candle, like a tea light, with a low flame. You can use a small sheet of paper, resting one pots worth of tea on the paper. Hold it above the flame so that a gentle heat starts to warm up the leaves (and not burn the paper at all!!). The goal is not to roast the tea, but merely to push out the slowly accumulated moisture. You can also make an apparatus to roast aged teas with an old teapot and a candle based teapot warmer as in this picture.
However you wake it up, the tea will taste cleaner, more direct and more full. The moisture that gets stuck in an aged tea can be like a glass wall between the tea and the drinker.
Our ‘66 Aged Beipu, for example, benefits from a quick spot roast. As it is, the tea is herbal, medicinal and smooth. When I feel like using some extra time and energy, I spot roast this tea as a step in my brewing process to produce an even more delicious pot of tea.
The highest tea growing peaks in Taiwan are located on Lishan. Misty, cool, high elevation, this mountain produces some of Taiwan's most famous tea. Tea farmers are growing tea around 1500 meters up to about 2600 meters at the highest point. Da Yu Ling and Fu Shou Shan teas are the most sought after among the wider tea audience because of their elevation.
Other lower elevation tea growing mountains may be growing other kinds of cultivars, like Jin Xuan. Around 1500 meter areas, Lishan farmers may be growing these varieties, too. But Qing Xin cultivar is the only one that can stand up to the highest elevation conditions and still produce a good oolong.
Compared to Alishan, Lishan tea is much more buttery. Alishan has high notes. And Lishan has a buttery texture that coats the mouth. It is balanced and thick, and is very classically representative of High Mountain Oolong.
We will be doing an Instagram live session with Lishan High Mountain Oolong on Tuesday the 10th of October at 11:30. Shiuwen will talk about how she brews and tastes the tea while drinking the tea with you. We want to encourage people to drink the tea along with us. If you have our Lishan then that's great, and if you drink another Lishan Oolong, that should be fine, too. Our goal is to facilitate drinking tea together and share the way we experience our teas.
Our Instagram account is https://www.instagram.com/floatingleavestea/
Written by Noah
Note on Myself: I’m Noah, and I have been an apprentice at Floating Leaves Tea since 2015. Since then, my love for tea has grown deeper and deeper, and I want to share my journey with you all. Thanks for reading!
These past few days of filming has been very full and rich for me. From a tea brewing master I met for the first time to some tea vendors I work with for 11 years, everyone showed me how they love tea. Even though they all have a busy schedule, they have given me so much of their time.
I feel they are loving me through their love of tea, through their open heart and through their kindness. And I love them back with my gratitude. Every day I live in this beautiful space called Affinity.
With all this love and gratitude, we are going to Dong Ding Mountain to capture the beauty of the mountain and the work of the farmers. Stay tuned.
*photography by Jake Knapp.
The first two day of tea documentary filming has been incredible. My body is jet-lagged, loaded with pots of tea, and my heart is filled with gratitude.
I cannot describe fully how beautiful the tea and the tea people are. People showered us with their generosity and their love of tea. Just like what a tea master told us, "the depth, the experience, and the beauty of this tea session will be hard to find words for it." He used his heart to brew tea, and his tea touched my heart. I was in awed with the experience.
Here are a few photos for you to see how beautiful they are. I am looking forward to sharing the experience with you soon!
After all these years, I still cannot say that it's easy to deal with the Dong Ding Oolong Farmer, although I do find it's easier nowadays. He has learned to take "No" from me as an answer, even if he doesn't like it.
I love recalling how our relationship has evolved, from being super difficult and swearing to myself after every visit that I would never go back there, to sometimes arguing with each other, and now to a level of mutual understanding where we have learned to get along with each other.
I think he has realized how sincere I feel towards Taiwan oolong and Dong Ding tea and at the same time how stubborn I am. He knows I will stand up to him if necessary and to push for him to craft the tea that I know my customers will love. And I've learned to see how he "loves" and cares for me and other people in his unique way.
He loves to show people around. I actually really enjoy those moments when he drives us around. I love seeing the mountains and trees. I love listening to the Taiwanese oldies he plays in the car, blasting at a high volume with the windows rolled down as we drive along quiet backroads. I take in the air, the view and the music from my youth. It feels like my past life and current life blending together. I sometimes wonder if the birds and insects would say, "Here he comes again!" When my son was younger, he would hum along with the songs even though he had no clue what they were saying and it would make the farmer very happy and they would sing together. I thought that was one of the most beautiful moments I've witnessed.
Here is a clip of video where he drove us around in the mountains:
He is also very specific with things we eat. He thinks we are eating too much bad food. Their food is simple. Cooking is simple. Most vegetables come out of their own field or from the neighbors. Many times I had to eat some unknown powder which he thinks super good for our health, and drink some Chinese herbal brew which he believes will make me healthier. He also likes to ferment fruit. He has numerous jar of permented fruit "juice." I really dislike drinking those. On my last trip, I was thankful that my friends David and Jake enjoyed drinking them and it made the farmer very happy. He is OK now with me not drinking them.
I am grateful with all the things that farmer has done for me. I think I will never forget the moment he asked me, "When you drink a tea, can you taste if it's good?" I am looking forward to our future encouters. And I am really looking forward to my relationship with his wife, a strong woman behind the scene. I have been able to talk to her more and more during recent trips. She agreed to be in my Dong Ding documentary! It's time we bring her forward and showcase her skills and personality!
My friend Jake Knapp and I are going to be shooting a Dong Ding documentary this July. It's a dream come true for me to be able to showcase a tea that I think represents the soul of Taiwanese oolong. We will have a short two weeks to meet with a lot of people and to collect as many stories and as much footage as we can. The harder work will begin after our trip, when we have to edit the videos and put together a story that I think everyone will enjoy. The fundraiser page is up on my website. We appreciate and are grateful for all of your financial support as we work to preserve important Taiwanese tea culture and the human treasures who produce the finest oolongs.
The next few posts will be all about Dong Ding tea and this documentary project. Stay tuned.
This is the first time I visited this tea farm at Meishan. The tea country at this part of the mountain is absolute beautiful. The farmer and his wife also run a bed and breakfast business. They showed us around and cooked us food. Besides tea farming, they run a bed and breakfast business too. If you ever come to this part of the tea world, make sure you check it out: http://zhulin.okgo.tw/
We spent two days visiting tea fields, taking walks, and drinking tea. We were surrounded in nature and kindness. I hope your 2017 will be filled with beauty, good tea and kind people too!
I am glad to be back in Dong Ding Mountain. I don't get a lot of time to write but would like to share some photos with you. I love Dong Ding Oolong and I am moved by the land and the people here. I look forward to sharing the tea, stories and more photos with you after my return to Seattle.
a beautiful view at dong ding
a nice hike
farmer's hospitality: a homemade riceball treat for winter solstice.
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!
When we visited Dong Ding Mountain this past April, Jake took a short video of tea rolling at a tea rolling factory. Their job is to help tea farmers roll their Dong Ding Oolong.
Here is the video:
From the video, you can see a man tighting up tea in a cloth. I believe each ball has more than 40 pounds of tea. I tried to pick up one and it was heavy! On the left hand side of the video, you can see each tea ball between two serrated plates, being rolled. Behind the man, you can see big metal tubes. After the tea has been rolled, they loosen up the leaves and send them to the tubes to be lightly warmed up. They will repeat the process up to 8 times, depending on how round the farmers want their tea to look.
A traditional style Dong Ding Oolong focuses on a solid tea texture and a very clear throat feel. I am a big fan of this tea. Try it out and tell me what you think.
My fabulous tea travel companions were David Galli, who has been giving me a lot of recordings from this past April's trip to Taiwan and Jake Knapp, who has given me 100+ beautiful photos he took (more are coming - Yippee!).
It was really fun to listen to some of the recordings and look through the photos. They gave me a chance to relive those moments. Thank you, David and Jake!
I love visiting Farmer Zhang at Muzha. Some of you who have been there with me know that I don't like to take the Gondola. I am afraid of heights! However, I would do it because I think it's a fun experience and the view is great! I would do it for my son, too. He loves riding the gondola.
A beautiful view that Jake took from the gondola ride
What a great temple!
I was thankful that it was not raining that day. It had been raining a lot in Taiwan. Seeing the sun break through the clouds, I knew we would be lucky and get to see some tea picking and some tea processing.
We arrived at Farmer Zhang's tea house and it was very quiet. His son came out. I introduced myself. He said his mother is sleeping because she worked very late last night, or I should say until early morning. I asked him not to disturb her. I asked about his father. He said his father should be on the roof processing some leaves. He asked me to wait. In my mind I thought, "No way I will miss the chance to watch him process tea." I said kindly and firmly, "would you please go tell your father that I am here and I hope he won't mind us watching him. I promise we won't disturb him." He left and came back, "my father said it's OK. Come. I will show you the way." Yeah!
We followed him to the next building and went up to the roof. Here's the face I have been waiting to see:
I love his beautiful smile
In the next post, I will write about outdoor oxidation.
For those of you who have read my three posts about our Dong Ding farmer, you have probably got a pretty good idea that he is not an easy person to deal with. Well, good news, this spring trip at Dong Ding went smoothly! We saw some tea being processed, visited a sweet farmer couple, enjoyed astounding views in the mountains, and even got to do some sightseeing! Here are some photos to share:
collecting freshly picked tea
rolling tea
a beautiful tea field with mist
great view!
bamboo forest
beautiful waterfall
These photos might not capture the depth of the beautiful places and things that I actually saw. A photographer, Jake Knapp, went on this trip with me. I will be sharing his photos soon. Another travel companion on the trip, David Galli, recorded lots of our conversations with the farmers and tea people we met. I will be posting some interesting facts we learned on this trip after I receive the recordings.
Ying-Ge is loaded with pottery. It's a very fun and yet challenging place. It's fun because it's like treasure hunting. It's challenging because time is limited. There are so many things to see!
We arrived when few stores were just getting ready to open for business and we left when stores were closed for the day. And we only got to see a small section of this town!
We left with serious tea drunk( we drank 8 different Puer) and bags of treasure to take home.
I was very happy that I could make it to Taiwan with Konghai. It was really nice to see my mother and my family. It was their first time seeing Konghai and they adored him! My mother even made the effort to take extra days off from her work to go to Dong Ding mountain with us.
It was hard for her to to leave part with us so soon, but we promised we would go back to visit next year.
I saw my best friends from high school. One of them came with us on our trip to Dong Ding and we got to spend half a day together. Even though it was only half a day, we both found our friendship to be strong. It will never die off and we care for each other. I saw my other friends in Taipei, got to hang out with them, and one of them was very generous to let me stay at her place. I was very grateful to the farmers and tea people I met on this trip. I met the Dong Ding farmer and the Tieguanyin farmer for the first time. Both of them and their wonderful wives spent a lot of time with me and I can't wait to see them again next year to learn the arts of their tea.
And I really enjoyed seeing my old tea friends and mentors, like farmer Chen, Mr. Tsai and Mr. Lui. I have known Chen and Lui for five years, and Tsai for more than 10 years. It was very relaxing to be with them. They have all had their tea business for many years. I like to be at their establishments, not only to drink good tea, but also to see people come and go. It doesn't seem like time is really an issue for anyone.
I enjoyed learning tea from them, too. Most of the farmers and tea people are not very good at explaining things. They teach by telling me to "experience" tea. This is so different from the logical way of learning. I was frustrated in the beginning, but later, I learned to appreciate this method. If I can't taste the tea, it doesn't matter how many facts I learn about the tea. I knew that I had breakthroughs in my learning when I heard such statements as : " Hey Miss Tai, I am going to brew a tea that will make you smile," or "Miss Tai, the tea that we are going to drink is the taste of heaven."
And food! It was delicious as usual.
I love Taiwan! Good people, good tea and good food! I can't wait to go back there again.
My son Konghai and I arrived in Taiwan 5 days ago. We spent 3 days with our family. It was the first time my family has seen Konghai. They were all very excited and happy to see him!
I have been living in Seattle for too long. It's hot here! My first cup of tea in Taiwan was a cup of bubble tea. It was just plain black tea. In hot weather like this, that cup of bubble tea tasted pretty good.
I was not serious about looking for tea during the first three days. The most important thing was to spend time with my family.
Tomorrow, I will tell you my trip to Dong Ding Mountain.
I grew up in Taiwan and often thought that tea represents my culture. Tea was everywhere. Every time I visited my friends, there was always tea to have. And I will always remember when I visited teahouses with friends on numerous weekends.
I came to Seattle sometime in 2000. My partner at that time and I shared at least a pot of Taiwan Oolong every morning. In 2004, I went back to Taiwan to purchase tea for our new teahouse, Floating Leaves Tea. That trip opened my eyes and I fell in love with Taiwan all over again, because of the beauty of its tea. I met lots of new tea friends and tea farmers. I was so thrilled to be in the tea fields, touching tea, picking tea and participating in the tea making process. I am grateful for the generosity and helpfulness of the people I met, and I am proud of Taiwanese Oolong.
It has been for quite some time that tea friends and my customers have encouraged me to write my thoughts and experiences about tea. Here I am finally starting this journey. Please give me your feedback to my writing and let’s grow together in the tea world. Sit down and enjoy your good pot of tea! I am looking forward to having some tea with you.
.JPG)
