Eco-Cha Tea Club
High Mountain Concubine Oolong Tea | Eco-Cha Tea Club
Batch 96 of the Eco-Cha Tea Club is a High Mountain Concubine Oolong Tea from the Shan Lin Xi High Mountain Tea growing region shown above. Our mentor Lisa Lin procured this batch of bug bitten tea from her friend in Lugu, Taiwan following last fall 2022 harvest. She roasted it three times over several months time. We tasted it a few months ago in Lisa's home and immediately asked if we could procure enough to share with our tea club, and she happily obliged. It's an exemplary batch of Concubine Oolong Tea!
Charcoal Roasted Honey Oolong Tea | Eco-Cha Tea Club
his month's batch of tea is from a crop of naturally culitvated Jin Xuan harvested in the summer of 2017. The leaves were significantly affected by the Green Leafhopper and other pests, so they were stunted and gnarled and far from the standard of quality that is commonly followed. But as our friend who sourced the raw leaves and processed them using traditional Oolong Tea making methods once told us "I'm more interested in odd and unusual tea!" (我現在比較喜歡奇奇怪怪的茶!).
Alishan Late Spring Oolong Tea | Eco-Cha Tea Club
We discovered this batch of tea through our mentor, Lisa Lin, who had already purchased a significant amount of this day's harvest. We introduced Lisa to Mr. Ye a few years ago, and she has been sourcing batches of bug bitten spring tea from him every year since. About a month ago, we were sitting at Lisa's tea table, and just happened to ask if she had bought any spring tea from Mr Ye. She said yes, and promptly brewed some for us to try. We were impressed, and called Mr. Ye the next day to see if any of this day's harvest was still available. He said yes.
Light Roast Concubine Oolong Tasting Notes | Eco-Cha Tea Club
We were captivated by the flavor profile with the first sip when our mentor Lisa Lin brewed for us on an impromptu visit to her home. It's vibrant, fresh, complex, and also smooth and balanced. Its overall profile carries delicate floral aromatic notes, and a distinct honey-like flavor suspended in a thick, smooth composition. The most distinctive aspect of this batch is that it maintains a very fresh character while having no green vegetal or herbal qualities. It's an amazing balance of delicate floweriness and freshly baked scones. In sum, it's a proper tribute to the magic of bug bitten tea!
Light Roast Concubine Oolong Tea | Eco-Cha Tea Club
Andy visited the farm a second time because the older brother had told him that he had transitioned his own plots of tea to completely natural farming, i.e. not using any chemical pesticides or fertilizers. The image above clearly shows the contrast of a transitional plot of tea in the foreground, compared to the commercially farmed plots of tea on the neighboring farm below in the background.
Honey Oolong Tea | Eco-Cha Tea Club
A mom, dad, and son team manage their small family farm and process their crops on their own. And the recent spring harvest offered the pleasant surprise of one day's harvest turning out to be Honey Oolong. This name is properly used when the flavor of the tea has a distinct honey character that results from the Green Leafhopper working its magic. The Leafhopper (jacobiasca formosana) is a tiny green bug that likes to feed on the sap of the tender new leaf buds.
Roasted Leafhopper High Mountain Oolong Tea
Last November, Eco-Cha Tea Club members got to experience the original unroasted flavor profile of a Leafhopper High Mountain Oolong, also referred to simply as "bug bitten tea", or "yeh nah day" in the Taiwanese dialect. When we sourced that batch of tea, we conceived of a "secret" plan to first share half of this batch of tea unroasted, then roast the other half in order to give our members the opportunity to taste the difference between the unroasted and roasted versions of the very same batch of Leafhopper High Mountain Oolong Tea.
Leafhopper High Mountain Oolong Tea | Eco-Cha Tea Club
Our expressed intention in sharing this batch of tea is to offer Eco-Cha Tea Club members a chance to experience the original unroasted flavor profile of a tea type that, in the local Taiwanese dialect, is simply called "Leafhopper Tea".
Shan Lin Xi High Mountain Concubine Oolong Tasting Notes | Eco-Cha Tea Club
Pictured above is the Little Green Leafhopper (小綠葉蟬), the tiny insect that is responsible for the creation of Concubine Oolong Tea. It's a bit of Nature's magic at work. Only about 0.5 cm in length, this "mini grasshopper" loves to feed on the sap of tender tea leaf buds. Bug-bitten Tea (as it is called in Taiwanese), has a distinct honey-like note in its flavor profile. Concubine Tea is made from bug-bitten tea leaves that are processed in a similar fashion to traditional Dong Ding Oolong Tea. The name was chosen in reference to the original, or at least the most renowned form of bug-bitten tea — Oriental Beauty.