Eco-Cha Tea Club
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 Tasting Notes | Eco-Cha Tea Club
Batch 93 of the Eco-Cha Tea Club is a Roasted Wuyi Oolong Tea. Learn the detailed background of this tea in the sourcing blog. This month's edition is perhaps our favorite rendition of Wuyi Oolong that we have shared to date.
Eco-Farmed GABA Oolong Tea 2023 | Eco-Cha Tea Club
Batch 90 of the Eco-Cha Tea Club is an Eco-Farmed GABA Oolong Tea. We coined the term Eco-Farmed to designate teas that are sourced from a certified organic tea farm, without representing the organic certifications. This family of farmers implements the most natural farming methods we've seen in the local tea industry here in Taiwan. Our friend has independently pioneered these farming methods, and after more than 20 years of challenging research, is now successfully managing several plots of tea and producing specialty types of organic tea.
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.
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.
Li Shan High Mountain Oolong Tea Tasting Notes | Eco-Cha Tea Club
Batch 82 of the Eco-Cha Tea Club is a Li Shan High Mountain Oolong Tea, second flush of 2022. The weather during the spring growing season that produced the first flush remained unusually cool, resulting in a slower growth cycle that produced a character of tea that was a mix of winter and spring qualities. The weather during the second flush growing period was a combination of spring and summer weather at high elevation. This produced leaves that acted like second flush, but also carried aromatic and flavor notes that are similar to a classic spring first flush.
Li Shan High Mountain Oolong Tea | Eco-Cha Tea Club
The Eco-Cha Tea Club is mostly about finding an unusually distinct batch of tea that is not generally available on the market, we also make an effort to maintain variability in the monthly editions — with the goal of continually offering a different character of tea from month to month. Furthermore, we want to offer Taiwan's renowned specialty teas that are the best of their kind — in the world. Batch 82 is one of these representative Taiwan Oolong Teas: Li Shan High Mountain Oolong 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!
Roasted Shan Lin Xi High Mountain Oolong Tasting Notes | Eco-Cha Tea Club
Batch 79 of the Eco-Cha Tea Club is a Roasted Shan Lin Xi High Mountain Oolong Tea. As explained in the sourcing post, this batch is the roasted version of Eco-Cha's winter 2021 stock of Shan Lin Xi High Mountain Oolong. We were inspired to dedicate our reserve stock of Shan Lin Xi winter tea to the the Tea Club, upon learning that our friend achieved Top Category Award in the world's largest and most prestigious Oolong Tea competition! So we asked him to roast our stock just how he roasted his competition tea — which increased its value about 5 times of the original unroasted version!