Eco-Cha Tea Club
Award-Winning Tie Guan Yin Oolong Tea Tasting Notes | Eco-Cha Tea Club
Batch 97 of the Eco-Cha Tea Club is an award-winning Tie Guan Yin Oolong Tea from Taiwan. It received 3rd Place Category Prize (top 18%) in the spring 2023 Muzha Farmers' Association tea competition. We were fortunate enough to procure the remainder of this batch of tea, and we purposely allowed it to rest and mellow until now to share it with the tea club.
Award-Winning Tie Guan Yin Oolong Tea | Eco-Cha Tea Club
Kicking off our ninth year of the Eco-Cha Tea Club with batch 97 — an award winning Tie Guan Yin Oolong Tea from Muzha, Taiwan. Shown above is our friend who made this tea, and from whom we source our in-store Tie Guan Yin Oolong. On the wall behind him are the numerous awards he's received in recent years — including Champion Award at the top.
Ying Xiang Small Leaf Black Tea | Eco-Cha Tea Club
Batch 94 of the Eco-Cha Tea Club is an Ying Xiang Small Leaf Black Tea from Lugu, Taiwan. Ying Xiang means "alluring fragrance", and it is the name given to this tea cultivar that was produced by Taiwan's Tea Research and Extension Station (TRES). It is also known as Tai Cha #20 — being the 20th cultivar to be promoted by the TRES. This cultivar is a cross between the most commonly grown tea strain on Taiwan — Qing Xin Oolong, and the second most commonly grown cultivar — Jin Xuan Tai Cha #12, also known as "milk oolong'.
Roasted Wuyi Oolong Tea | Eco-Cha Tea Club
Batch 93 of the Eco-Cha Tea Club is a Roasted Wuyi Oolong Tea from Songboling in Nantou County, Taiwan. This plot of tea was planted about 10 years ago and has been naturally cultivated — without the use of pesticides or chemical fertilizers.
Eco-Farmed GABA Oolong Tea Tasting Notes | Eco-Cha Tea Club
The leaves of this batch of tea were hand-picked from organically grown Four Seasons Spring tea trees. It was a very minimal harvest of new-growth from late summer 2022. We've learned that this singular hand-picked crop of tea produces the best quality GABA Oolong Tea that we've ever tasted. They only make it once a year, and it's very limited in quantity. So we feel like it's a perfect pick for the Eco-Cha Tea Club!
Mr. Lin’s Eco-Farmed Oolong Tea | Eco-Cha Tea Club
Batch 85 of the Eco-Cha Tea Club is the 7th anniversary commemoration of Eco-Cha's cooperation with Mr. and Mrs. Lin. Seven years ago as of this winter's harvest, Mr. and Mrs. Lin produced their very first crop of certified organic tea from their newly established farm. In support of their endeavor, we ran a crowd funding campaign to procure the entire inaugural harvest. After reaching our initial goal, we ran a booster campaign to raise funds for the renovation of the cabin on their remote homesteaded farmland where Mr. Lin was born and raised.
Red Jade #18 Black Tea | Eco-Cha Tea Club
Batch 84 of the Eco-Cha Tea Club is a Red Jade #18 Black Tea from the historical Sun Moon Lake tea growing region of Taiwan. This cultivar, given the name Red Jade (紅玉) is registered as hybrid #18 by Taiwan's Tea Research and Extension Station. You can learn all about its background in our recent blogpost, but this Black Tea hybrid strain is unique to Taiwan, and was "born" in the 20th century. It has become quite popular over the last 20 years since it was first commercially introduced in the early 2000's.
Alishan Small Leaf Type Black Tea | Eco-Cha Tea Club
Batch 83 of the Eco-Cha Tea Club is an Alishan Small Leaf Type Black Tea made by our source of Alishan High Mountain Oolong and Alishan High Mountain Jin Xuan Oolong. They picked some of their Jin Xuan summer crop when it was still immature. These young tender leaves from the second flush (summer crop) are ideal for making Black Tea. Jin Xuan is the name of Taiwan's most popular hybrid small leaf type tea.
Wuyi Tie Guan Yin Oolong Tasting Notes | Eco-Cha Tea Club
Batch 81 of the Eco-Cha Tea Club is a first for us! A very minimal spring yield of organically grown Wuyi cultivar was processed by our source of Tie Guan Yin Oolong in the way that he usually makes tea. He planted his own plot of the Wuyi cultivar about 20 years ago on his family heritage farm in Muzha, Taiwan — but it has not been available to us until this spring. We've procured his Fo Shou Oolong before, but not his Wuyi. So, as we approach the completion of our eighth year of the Tea Club, we are excited to share a batch of tea that we've just sourced for the first time ever!
Wuyi Tie Guan Yin Oolong | Eco-Cha Tea Club
Batch 81 of the Eco-Cha Tea Club is an Wuyi Tie Guan Oolong from Muzha, Taiwan. It was made from the spring flush of this small, naturally farmed plot of the Wuyi cultivar, and processed in the traditional Muzha Tie Guan Yin fashion by our ongoing source of Tie Guan Yin Oolong Tea. This is the first opportunity we've had to procure his Tie Guan Yin Tea made from the Wuyi cultivar. His spring crop produced less than 20 kg of cured leaf. That's literally the smallest batch of Oolong that we've ever heard of!
Competition Grade Wenshan Baozhong Tea Tasting Notes | Eco-Cha Tea Club
This month's edition of the Eco-Cha Tea Club is a Competition Grade Wenshan Baozhong Tea made from spring 2022 harvest. This batch won an award in the local competition, although not as prestigious as last spring's entry — which won Top Category Prize (within the top 2 % of all entries). Our friend from whom we source this tea said that the tea judge was a newbie, and it's hard to know how they will rate the teas.
Competition Grade Wenshan Baozhong Tea | Eco-Cha Tea Club
Batch 80 of the Eco-Cha Tea Club is a Competition Grade Wenshan Baozhong Tea from spring 2022 harvest. We sourced this batch at the same time we sourced our in store stock of spring Baozhong. While were tasting the different days of harvest, our friend told us that he will enter this batch into the local competition. We promptly asked if he had enough to share with us, and he did!