Eco-Cha Tea Club

Less than 60kg of tea leaves were cured from this early summer harvest. This is a small fraction of the leaves produced for a conventional High Mountain Oolong Tea from the summer crop. But given the fact that the quality of Black Tea made from this harvest is exemplary rather than an inferior harvest of High Mountain Oolong, and it maximizes the potential of the following fall and winter harvests, it is the wisest choice of high elevation tea production. This sustainable approach to world-class tea production, combined with the fact that this is perhaps the finest batch of Black Tea that we have procured to date is why we chose it to share with our Tea Club members.

In the wake of a wave of specialty Black Tea popularity in Taiwan that began with the production and promotion of Red Jade #18 Black Tea about 15 years ago, high elevation Oolong Tea farmers have recently been modifying their seasonal production methods to become more sustainable. Initially, high mountain tea farming methods were based on annual yield — timing the growing seasons and harvests to reap the largest possible annual volume. This basically meant harvesting four times a year, despite the shorter growing seasons at higher elevations. We've listened to many tea farmers relate how it is becoming harder to time these seasonal harvests due to increasingly inconsistent weather patterns over the last several years. This has led to the concept of "three and a half" harvests per year. This "half harvest" is where the recent invention of high elevation Black Tea production comes into play.

There is something about the heady fragrance of this tea combined with its smooth, balanced flavor and substance of character that has us brewing it again and again to figure out what exactly it is that intrigues us. In a word, we keep coming back to this: Heirloom. We can only conclude that this fragrant yet balanced complexity comes from a tea strain that pre-dates modern tea production.

This batch is the very first harvest of a newly planted crop of heirloom Wuyi Oolong that is being cultivated organically. This is a strain of tea that originally comes from the Wuyi Mountains of mainland China, but it was cultivated in Central Taiwan until it was phased out by modern tea production decades ago.

Well, now that we've spent some time getting to know this tea beyond the initial impression it had on us, along with its specs that qualified it as unique batch worthy of sharing with our tea club members, we can offer a closer look into our experience of brewing and enjoying this tea.

Well, the holidays seemed to fly past, with our first two monthly batches of tea we shared with you, and here we are preparing to pack up and ship our third installment of the Eco-Cha Tea Club. As we've described in our Tea Club guidelines, we search for teas that are unique and not offered on the general market (or even in our own store) due to their limited edition, rare batch factor. This month's batch is exciting because it embodies all the main aspects of what Eco-Cha strives to represent. It was cultivated on a residential farm, it's a small harvest, it was processed using traditional methods, and it was naturally cultivated. All this adds up to sustainable practice in preserving the local specialty tea industry by providing tea lovers with what you want — quality, interesting tea. Once again, we feel both privileged and proud to be able to do so. 

Sitting down at the tea table with a fresh clean slate of an open mind, we brewed a Gongfu pot of Dong Ding Tieguanyin Oolong. We focused on noting the character, flavors and aromatic essences that we experienced in brewing the leaves of this unique batch of tea. The character of a tea can first be experienced in the aroma that wafts from the initial steeping. It offered a ripe-fruit, hearty, sweet aroma.

Dong Ding Tieguanyin Oolong — Never Heard Of It? Neither have we. That's why it's the first choice of the recent winter's harvest for January's Eco-Cha Tea Club. We've given it the name Dong Ding Tieguanyin Oolong simply because it is the first crop of Tieguanyin tea trees being cultivated and crafted in the heart of Dong Ding Oolong Country. Planted less than five years ago, and harvested in the last two, this is a batch of tea that we are genuinely thrilled about. Not only because of its uniqueness, but primarily because of how it tastes.

The lasting impression from this brew was a finely balanced, substantial character with a vibrant, heady aftertaste and a subtle warming effect that left me feeling clear and relaxed. I felt like I just had a truly rewarding pot of tea.

We are super-psyched to be initiating the Eco-Cha Tea Club! Considering what type of tea best qualifies as our premier batch was no easy matter here in Taiwan. We made the choice based both on our roots in the tea industry and what we think exemplifies Taiwanese traditional specialty tea.