Moonlighting at making tea under a full moon

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Last May 24th, we were graced with a beautiful full moon night in our little tea making village of Songboling, on the edge of the Baguashan ridge in Nantou County. Coincidentally, this was also a busy night in the village, not in the bars (there are none) or in other hangouts, but in the tea making workshops all lined-up next to each other along the Main Street. All the ground levels of the typical 3 story concrete dwellings that make up the street were lit-up and workers were busy feeding the chirping drum heaters, dryers and ball rolling machines required to process and make Taiwan oolong tea. In one of those workshops, a special tea was being made: it was ours. Made from leaves freshly picked earlier that day from our recently acquired fields of Si Ji Chun bushes, it was now in the skillful hands of the Yi family to turn it into a finished tea. Follow-us today as we give a chronological account in pictures and video on the making of our Four Seasons Oolong Tea, Lot 244 and pay a well-deserved homage to the people that make your tea.

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A garden of teapots in the middle of Hong Kong island

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It’s summer time and summer is conducive to taking a break from our routine. So we did! And, in the same spirit, this blog takes a break from its usual self-imposed subject matter of showcasing Taiwan by leaving the island for one short picture essay. Hong Kong is our destination. A city that never ceases to fascinate me and that I can now say has become nicely familiar after many visits in the last 25 years. I’ve seen it under the British rule, and now under Chinese one. I’ve seen it lose its lustre a bit to the competing mega cities of the mainland, like Shanghai, and I am now witnessing its charming civility being roughed-up and challenged by the incessant influx of mainlanders flooding in for a weekend trip. Despite all this, Hong Kong is still a unique city that one must experience at least once in his lifetime.  So, today I propose to you my personal take on Hong Kong as I attempted, once again, to get lost and let the city entrap me in its maze of little alleyways and staircases that organically traverse the island. There are no cliché shots of of the skyline with lasers, no busy shopping street scenes, no Disneyland, but, some of you may be reassured that tea remains an integral part of our travel plans and still inspires our itineraries as we feature a “must visit” spot for tea and tea ware enthusiasts: the Flagstaff House, home of Hong Kong’s Museum of Tea Ware.

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Going wild for Shan Cha: Hunting down Taiwan’s indigenous tea tree

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Of all the tea cultivars that are unique to Taiwan, none is more precious and intriguing as the wild indigenous mountain tea bush also known as Shan Cha (山茶). If you think that centuries-old wild tea trees with 30 cm leaves can only be found in the forests of Yunnan (not to forget India, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam), think again. You must add Taiwan to the list! This unique specimen is not only of great interest as a varietal tea, it is also important and revered as the father (or mother) plant to some of the most unique and distinctive tea hybrids of Taiwan. For example, it is from this unique wild strand that the Taiwan Research and Experiment Station (TRES) has successfully developed the now famous TRES-18 Red Jade black tea which has fueled the black tea revival on this island since the turn of this new century. Four distinct protected areas have been put in place in central, south and eastern Taiwan for the preservation of this national treasure. Of these four protected areas, the one that is reputed to make the best varietal tea happens to be just up in the eastern range close to Taiwan Tea Crafts’ base, in the Township of Yuchi of our Nantou County. Follow us as we climb the hills to hunt down specimens of these wild bushes and witness at the same time the transformation of a local economy brought about by the revival of black tea.

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It’s the season to get rid of the walls around your teapot

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I’ve been keeping a file of pictures on my computer for a while now, named: “Reminder to bring a tea kit next time”. Nearly all of the these pics are featured in today’s post. As the file’s name implies, these were taken as a visual reminder to bring the necessary wares to make tea and fully enjoy the special outdoor settings encountered on the days when I wished the camera I was carrying could’ve been a humble gaiwan instead. This collection of pictures of inviting scenes is our way to salute the arrival of summer and invite you to make the best of it in the great outdoors. “It” being tea, of course!

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Meeting the spiritual guardian of Lishan High Mountain Oolong Tea

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Fresco at the entrance of the Atayal Village of Cuiluan

Today we introduce a new category of postings called: Meet the tea makers. Most of our followers will have noticed that there is not so much space on our site devoted to long exposés on how such and such a tea tastes, or even worse, on how it should taste. We let our teas do the talking and convincing, or reviewers and bloggers give their unbiased opinions on the subject. Nor do we have, or will ever have, a section called “tea knowledge”. We believe tea is not something that can be taught. It needs to be experienced, and one must follow his own path at its own pace in his or her journey in discovering the pleasures of tea. There are different levels to this enjoyment, from casual to more ceremonial, and we don’t put any of these expressions above the other. Again, the concepts of right or wrong in the way one enjoys his tea has no bearing on the pleasure one experiences in drinking it. Enhancing this pleasure is, and will always remain, our fundamental guideline at Taiwan tea Crafts. We believe the best way we can do this is to be as transparent as possible by emphasizing accessibility to the best teas and proposing the most unbiased information about them. This is why we don’t splash our faces everywhere on the site, nor do we waste your time in imposing our wisdom on the subject. if this is you cup of tea,there are already many who do this if you like this kind of approach, and there is certainly no need for another one here. Our aim is to be the best conduit possible between you and the Taiwanese people, culture and land that bring you such exceptional teas. We will admit to one thing though: we are biased about Taiwan and we tend to use many superlatives when talking about anything from this island. Please see in this tendency nothing more than a mere expression of our enthusiasm and love for this country and its people, and a passion for our work here at Taiwan Tea Crafts.

This being said, giving space on our website to present some of the people responsible for the teas we propose and make available to you was the next natural step for us. And to launch this series, we chose the hardest person to present as he has become a good friend of ours, Mr. Gao, the maker behind our Lishan High Mountain Spirit Oolong Tea. If you wish to follow us, let’s travel together in words and pictures up to his village in the Lishan range, as we did last Fall to pick-up our Winter Lot from him.

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What to do on a rainy day? Well, drive up to the tea gardens in the mountains, of course!

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Waves of tea in a sea of bamboo

An entry full of pictures and very little words today. If it’s a rainy day in your neck of the woods like it has been for weeks here in central Taiwan, we’d like to cheer you up and show you how overcast days are probably the best moments to visit high mountain tea gardens here in Taiwan, as well as put a bit of colour in your day. We invite you to follow us as we move up into the central mountains to visit Lugu, the tea gardens of the Dalun and Longfengxia ridges of Shanlinxi and move back down the mountain into Zhushan Township and its “sea of bamboo”. We promise it will be breathtaking, and we will end out trip with a very rare sighting that’s well worth the peak. All you need for the full 3D effect is a good cup of high mountain oolong to enjoy the ride. Hop in!

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A few acres of Taiwanese tea in the middle of China

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Last April, I was in China for a short tea sourcing trip. The main purpose of this trip was to visit my father in law in Huangshan. He happens to own a tea garden and factory in the middle of one of the mythical tea terroirs of China. You might have heard of Huang Shan Mao Feng Green Tea? Yet, this not tea that he makes at his garden. You see, my father in law is Taiwanese and a pioneer in his own discreet but original way. He chose to plant Taiwanese cultivars to make Taiwanese style teas right in the middle of China. And to add to the challenge, he decided to go organic right from the start, over 12 years ago. Now that’s what I call a true pioneering spirit! And very often, pioneers don’t have it so easy. This is even more the case when you’re a Taiwanese tea maker making tea in China.  This blog entry is my humble way to pay homage to him and his oeuvre.

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A journey to the source of the dragon’s well. Or, finding the secret source of the purest Longjing Green Tea

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After our blog entry about how Chinese made Yixing clay tea pots can find a justified place on a website dedicated to Taiwan’s teas and it’s uniquely rich tea culture, today, we are again exploring a cross-straight dilemma as we follow the same path to argue the case of allowing the intrusion of a Chinese tea in our selection. Right away we wish to mention that this is an exceptional measure and also circumstantial. Yet again, “how can we justify this?” – you will ask. Well, our case is supported by one sole argument: Whenever we find unquestionably unique teas that are made from the harmonious balance of tradition, a respectful use of the landscape and the environment, and are true authentic treasures of world tea culture, one must share this find with others in the true spirit of tea appreciation. And, when this find calls for an equally authentic and interesting story, we can only be compelled to share it even more! Follow us as we explore in many pictures and a few words the remote high mountain regions of Anhui and Zhejiang where the purest and cleanest Longjing teas come from. Is this authentic Longjing tea we’re talking about ? Read-on and you’ll be able to decide for yourself as we also lift the veil on some myths and dogmas in the world of tea by telling the story as it is.

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Why do we find Vintage Yixing Teapots on a webshop dedicated to Taiwan Teas and Tea Crafts?

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One of our most popular product categories at Taiwan Tea Crafts is our Vintage Yixing teapot selection. We’ve received many inquiries about them and have answered all of them individually. Every time, our response begins with apologies about the incomplete information our pages show about each individual pot we propose as well as our intention to take care of that matter very soon. I will not divulge how many times we wrote these lines to individual inquirers but would like to reassure you that we are not chronic procrastinators. We are simply very busy procrastinators, as our preceding post will attest. Odly enough, I’ve never had a longer list of things to do than today and here I am writing this long overdue post.

To get to the point: the reason we find Vintage Yixing teapots on a website dedicated to Taiwanese Teas and Tea Crafts has a story that starts in a classic fairy tell way: Not far away from us, in a neighbouring village lives an old man

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Giving a new lease on life to abandoned tea gardens

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Tea Field of Cui Yu Tea Cultivar in Nantou, Taiwan

In our quest to secure reliable sources of organic and low pesticide teas, we’ve taken a logical but nonetheless bold step of acquiring tea gardens recently. Being able to fully control the source of your raw leaf material has become a key concern in order to ensure a quality supply of tea that meets our highest standards as well as the required conformity to certification norms. Very soon Taiwan Tea Crafts will be able to propose tailor-made teas for which we will be 100% accountable and responsible for the end result… as I write this, part of me is freaking out at this prospect. In any event, here’s the story of how we got to give a new lease on life to some abandoned tea fields in the hope of making not so bad tea with them. If all fails, at least it will give me something to write about for a few more chronicles.

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