Batch 120 of the Eco-Cha Tea Club is an Aged Oolong Tea from Lugu, Taiwan. These tea leaves were harvested in spring 2013 from a newly planted plot of Ying Xiang (Tai Cha #20) hybrid cultivar. This plot of tea was planted two years prior, when this new cultivar was not yet available on the market. It had just been registered by the TRES and was offered to this pioneer tea farmer as a trial crop, so we were told some 12 years ago. We had tasted the inaugural harvest from the previous winter harvest and loved it, so we put our dibs in for some of the following spring harvest.

This is Mr. Su on his farm in the spring of 2010, soon after we met him. We had just pulled an all-nighter in the tea factory with his son and 10 year old grandson who obediently went to bed at midnight, after teaching us his job (it was a Saturday). We went out to the farm to bring the freshly picked leaves back to the factory for day two of the harvest... A lot has transpired since then. And as we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Eco-Cha Tea Club this month, we want to stop and put this journey of a life in tea into perspective by sharing this batch of tea we procured in spring 2013.

Old Man Su in his roasting room, winter 2017.

Mr. Su pioneered the modern tea industry in Lugu when he returned to his village after his military service in his early twenties. He and a couple classmates were the first to plant and develop plots of tea for commercial production in the late 1960's. Before that, tea was a local specialty, but it was grown amidst yams and other vegetables in pre-modern farming fashion.

The demand for tea from this area grew, and more and more tea farms were established. The Lugu Farmers Association established the first tea competition in the mid-seventies, which resulted in a boom in the local tea industry. Mr. Su has been awarded First Prize several times over the decades for his skills in crafting what is now known as Dong Ding Oolong Tea.

Mr. Su is now in his late eighties now, and his second son who inherited his tea craft passed away a couple years ago. So the roasting room mostly remains inactive these days. This room has produced hundreds of batches of world-class tea.

Our batch of tea that we purchased in spring of 2013 was one of those batches. This batch was also a life lesson in tea for us. We naively asked Mr. Su to roast the leaves to a similar degree as the previous season's batch we were so impressed by. We were not aware at the time was that this batch of tea was processed differently than the previous season. It was less oxidized — more in the fashion of a high mountain tea than of a traditional Oolong. So it was not suitable for roasting. Mr. Su was too shy or polite to point this out to us, and simply followed our request to roast the leaves we had already purchased! Although he only roasted it once, and not very extensively, it resulted in a distinctly bitter note in the flavor profile. So we determined that further roasting was not appropriate. We decided to give these leaves a good long rest — like a 12 year-long rest!

The tea leaves lived in the ceramic urn shown above that we purchased expressly for this purchase. We would take them out every couple years to put in the oven at very low temperature to remove any moisture they had absorbed. Finally, after 7 or 8 years, the flavor profile had significantly mellowed, and began to take on an aged character. We let them continue to rest for a few more years. And now, on the occasion of the Tea Club's tenth anniversary, we decided it should be shared, along with its story.

It was very nice to visit Old Man Su with this tea and sit down with him to reminisce. We also brought the last pack of Batch 26 of the tea club, and it turns out that he still had a bulk bag of it in his roasting room. We told him he should keep it and he said "For what?". He said we can have it we want it. We will pay him a visit again soon to confirm!

Tea culture is comprised of the lives of individuals that dedicate themselves to it. We are truly honored to know and share the experiences of these people over decades.

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