A thousand guests for tea on the lawn, part 2: The children of tea

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Children and tea, two words that are not frequently associated and certainly not in ways that implies a positive connection in certain western countries. Curiously, it is usually those same countries that consider normal to serve high sucrose content beverages and other processed concoctions from the food industry to their children… and here ends our social commentary. Our aim is not to condemn the idiosyncrasies of the West and certainly not to issue a moralizing critique of it. We aim today to celebrate, by way of example, how tea is an all-inclusive beverage here in Taiwan drunk by all generations, children alike.

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Lunar New Year Day in our Taiwanese tea growing village

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Chinese New Year Day is not a day of rest for everybody in Taiwan. Commercial activity thrives on that day. This is particularly the case in our small tea-making village of Songboling up on the western edge of the Bagua ridge in central Taiwan. Many families from the surrounding cities flock-up to our village making the population swell 10 folds. And on beautiful sunny days like this year, if feels more like 20 times! What are they here for? To visit our famous temple, first and foremost, but at the same time enjoy a leisurely stroll on the main street of our picturesque village while nibbling on the many street food offerings from all the vendors lining up the street, or maybe perhaps trek down the 400 m ridge to go and visit the colony of Formosan macaques that inhabit the escarpment. Whatever brings you here on that day, our shop owners and other enterprising folks are happy to find a way to get you to spend some of the money received from those red envelopes handed out the night before.

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Giving a voice and a face to the never named high mountain tea terroirs of Taiwan

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Everyone with an interest in Taiwanese teas has heard of Alishan or Shanlinxi High Mountain teas, to name only these two contiguous tea regions. But what about Meishan, Shibi, or Sancengping? For most, this could possibly be the first time you hear about these tea producing areas. But, on the other hand, if you drink some Alishan or Shanlinxi labelled teas, there is a good chance you’ve experienced drinking teas from these same areas without knowing it! This is often the case and a reality one must face in the nebulous world of Taiwanese tea marketing. But before jumping to conclusions of fraudulent misrepresentation or mischievous distribution practices please read-on as we reveal some of the underlying practices dictated by the local tea market and, ultimately, attempt to define guidelines as to what constitutes a tea terroir that deserves its own distinctive recognition. What better way to do this than to pay a visit and explore the area for a little fact finding mission in the “no-name” mountains of Meishan, Shibi and Sancengping on a beautiful sunny Sunday in early December. As usual, many pictures accompany the words. And for a limited time, a special offer concludes the entry! Read more

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An afternoon tea along the tortuous ridge of the Dakeng trail

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In Taiwan, typical work weeks hover between 6 and 7 days of work. At least, this is the case in our small tea growing community of Mingjian Township in the middle of the island. Here, life evolves around work. Employees at our facilities are scheduled to call-in from Monday to Saturday inclusively leaving them with a day of reprieve on Sunday. However, customers, tea producers and suppliers can, and do, drop-in any day of the week at anytime they wish during the day… or night making our work week seem just like it is: a week of work! It is not uncommon during the critical growing seasons, like it is the case now with the high mountain winter tea picking season in full swing, to receive the visit of growers coming down from their respective mountains with a trunk load of their just finished, freshly produced tea to arrive at our doorstep in the late evening hours to propose their treasure after we’ve retired to our sleeping quarters. This has been an occurrence for generations now in this house. Read more

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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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100cc of pure fun up to Shanlinxi, and back.

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If you know Taiwan the slightest bit, you are probably aware of the omnipresence of scooters on this island. They are everywhere — scaringly so, some will say. Not only does everybody own one but Taiwan is also a major producer of these two-wheeled contraptions, and good ones too! And, if you know the author of these lines a bit, you will know that I’ve been an adopter of this component of the Taiwanese lifestyle well before I became a resident of this island. Read more

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