2011 Spring Tea

It has been a great trip and it was great to see our tea farmers and wonderful tea-industry people again.

Due to a colder and longer winter, the tea is being harvested later in the season and production is low, too. It seems like everyone has been waiting impatiently and excitedly for the Spring tea to be finished and ready. I was deeply grateful that my tea friend saved me some good high mountain oolongs for me to taste; I went back home to southern Taiwan for a while and the Spring teas were selling quickly. Yes, tea sells really fast in Taiwan, especially at the beginning of a new season! I am pretty excited about the Lishan and DaYuLing, and can't wait to share it with you.

As for Baozhong, the Competition tea is not ready yet, so a tea friend that is a Baozhong expert will choose the tea and send it to me when it's ready. I personally chose Farmer's Choice Baozhong and will bring some back with me. I think this season's Baozhong tastes better than the previous season's.

I was very happy to meet up with Mr. Zhan, who is quite an expert at roasting Dong Ding with charcoal. He is such a gentle person and it feels really peaceful to drink tea with him. He doesn't have much charcoal roasted tea left. He told me that his health hasn't been too good these years so he can't roast too much tea. Before I left, I took hold of his hands and asked him to take care. I told him that we will continue to love his tea for many years to come.

A lot of new gaiwans have been sent out, so we should have them in stock sometime in June. I also found some yixing pots that should work especially well with Taiwanese Oolongs.

I am leaving for Seattle tomorrow. Floating Leaves Tea shop will be open again starting on Wednesday. See you soon, with some tasty new teas to try!

2011 Spring Baozhong

Today I went up to Pinglin to taste some Baozhong. Due to the colder weather, the Baozhong is being harvested later than usual, so all of the competition tea is still at the competition hall. Today is only the second day of the tea competition.

We focused on tasting Farmer's Choice Baozhong today. Farmer Chen likes to work with a lot of tea varietals, so he brewed us not just Baozhong from Chin Hsin Oolong, but he also let us try Baozhong tea that is made from the "Slow Growth" varietal and also one made from the Shui Xian varietal. It was so interesting to try different types of Baozhong. We all agreed that the Shui Xian Baozhong tasted very different from the others, but it will taste even better if it's roasted a bit. The Slow Growth varietal of Baozhong tasted interesting and it's noticeably sweeter than the rest. Farmer Chen told me it will really open up after a couple of months.

My tea friends and I agreed on the one we liked the most and I am very excited to share that tea with you soon.

As for high mountain teas, I have tasted a some from Alishan and Lishan. So far, my impression is that the quality is good and the tea has a very soft tea broth. Tomorrow, my day will be spent focused on tasting high mountain teas. After my initial impressions from tasting a few of them already, I think this season's high mountain oolongs are good and I am excited to bring some delicious teas back to Seattle!

Taiwan Tea Trip - Muzha

We took the special cable car up to Muzha and the view was quite fantastic. It was very hot that day! The Tie Guan Yin farmer's wife was so thoughtful to prepare some cold brew tea for us so that we would have something refreshing to drink when we arrived. After the delicious cold tea, we proceeded to taste several different kinds of hot Muzha Tie Guan Yin. Farmer Zhang poured tea for us all afternoon and he was very proud to show us some Lupine flower photos. He told us that he used them as a fertilizer for his TGY tea plants.

After an afternoon of tea drinking and tea learning, Mrs. Zhang cooked a wonderful lunch for us made up of locally grown foods. I have to say she is a very good cook!

Tomorrow I will share more from our Muzha experience.

Shrimp cooked with tea

Tea fried rice

Farmer Zhang brews tea for us

Cold brewed tea

View of Taipei from the Maokong cable car

Cable cars to Maokong / Muzha

Thank You to My Dear Tea Tour Travelers

We had another great trip to Taiwan this year with many wonderful memories. I want to sincerely thank the fantastic tour group members with whom I was able to share many delicious meals and experiences with. I am so happy to have been able to teach you more about my beautiful homeland, our excellent teas and of course, the good cultural, shopping and eating experiences that we have. Thank you for making this such a fun and worthwhile trip for everyone.

Also, a big thank you to my co-guide Maggie. She is a fellow foodie from Taiwan and a trained chef as a well, so she added a lot of useful knowledge to the group.

I have many more pictures and stories to share in the coming weeks, after I finish this season's tea buying. I'll be back to the shop in a little more than a week and would love to see you all again then.

Taiwan Tea Trip - Alishan, Hiking

I have always enjoyed hiking on Alishan. There are beautiful tea fields, bamboo forests and many varieties of rare trees. We hiked from 1600 meters to around 2000 meters. The view was fantastic and we could see the far-off mountains from where we were at.

Hiking through the bamboo forests

The forest of trees that we passed

The view from the top

Beautiful high mountain tea plants

Enjoying a break after our hike