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Batch 69 of the Eco-Cha Tea Club was originally meant to be entered into Taiwan's National Organic Tea Competition. This competition was just established last year, in an effort to support organic tea farmers, and create more of a market presence for organic tea among Taiwanese tea lovers. This year's competition was cancelled due to COVID related restrictions, hence we were able to procure this batch of Organic Competition Grade Oolong Tea! Oh, and last year this husband and wife team received a Silver Medal Award (second place category) in this same competition!

This batch of tea was harvested last spring, and processed as a medium oxidized Oolong. The stems were then removed in preparation for extensive roasting. Mr. Xie proceeded to roast these leaves four times in total. The first roasting was done in the standard convection type oven to remove all remaining moisture from the leaves. The following 3 roastings were done in an oven designed for roasting coffee beans! 

This crop of tea is the most recent growth picked from new branches on the trees that were allowed to grow for four months or so, similar to our recent batch of Traditional Hong Shui Oolong that we offered last month. As with last month's batch, this tea was also affected by the Green Leafhopper, and other pests. This is inevitable, given that this is an organic farm and the summer months are most susceptible to bugs!

We can see how naturally these tea trees are allowed to grow. It's a wholly different farming method than conventional farming, and the produce from a farm like this is also next level. In our perception, based on visiting tea farms in Taiwan for over 20 years, this source is a rare and precious find. The combination of a pristine geographic location with an ideal micro-climate for tea production, and the natural farming methods are just not to be found. In a word, we love this farms, as well as its caretakers!

Our source of Red Jade Black Tea (Tai Cha 18) is a success story in progress. And his most recent advancement in his operations has been to optimize the quality control of his Red Jade production. He is only using his prime summer produce for making his Red Jade Black Tea, and designating the early and late harvests for Ruby White Tea making. He has also begun to be more precise in timing of harvests, and picky (no pun intended!) about the selection of hand-picked leaves to reap only the proper degree of maturity in the new leaf growth. 

The leaves brew an exceptionally substantial, smooth, balanced tea with a very satisfying savory/sweet profile. The brewed leaves put forth fresh, buttery green leafy aromatic notes, like sauteed Swiss Chard. The tea is viscous, with an evenly balanced complexity of warming spices and unrefined sugary notes — cardamom, palm sugar, and butternut squash come to mind.

Batch #51 of the Eco-Cha Tea Club was sourced from an organic High Mountain Oolong Tea farm located at the trailhead to Taiwan's highest peak — Yushan, or Jade Mountain. This plot of tea is situated high up in a gorge that is the source Dong Pu Hot Springs. 

Our friend who is an organic tea farmer kept this batch separate from his normal practice of combining winter and spring harvests for his high grade produce for retail sale. We discovered that he still had a small amount of this harvest left when we visited his farmhouse a few months ago and inquired if he had any unique batches of tea to share. In classic local manner, he modestly replied that he had a batch of Dong Pian Tsui Yu that was harvested last January. Dong Pian in Chinese basically means late winter harvest, and Tsui Yu is a hybrid strain that is translated as Jade Oolong. We tasted it and were captivated by its character, and were delighted to be told that there was enough tea be shared with the Eco-Cha Tea Club!

These leaves were harvested from young tea trees that were ready for their very first trimming, prompting them to sprout more branches before growing taller. This premier harvest of organically cultivated Jin Xuan Tea plants is what we have chosen to share on the occasion of Chinese New Year with the Eco-Cha Tea Club. The character of this tea conveys the vibrant, nutrient-rich, new growth of young tea trees growing on an organic farm.

When we recently sat down at this farmer's tea table and were served this tea for the first time, we truly felt like it may be the best Black Tea we've ever tasted. It's incredibly rich and smooth yet also carries a complexity and vibrant character that is unique in our experience. The fact that we have been offered the first substantial crop from this newly planted organic plot of heirloom Wuyi Oolong tea only months after we procured our first batch of Wuyi ever from a nearby farm has us very excited! This is living proof that local tea growers in this are reclaiming their heritage for producing specialty teas. And this farmer is an anomaly in his farming practice. Not only is he pioneering farming methods that we have never seen or heard of in Taiwan before. He is also producing some unique and superior batches of tea.

If this were a live conversation, we'd be yapping away in a flurry of excitable acclamations about our recent discovery of an early spring harvest of tea leaves from very young crop of organically grown Wuyi Oolong tea trees. Because it was a minimal crop of young spring leaves, the farmer decided to make them into Black Tea. This is also an anomaly of a spring harvest from a traditional Oolong Tea strain. Making Black Tea is more time consuming and labor intensive. So, when it is a privately run farm like this one that is completely managed and run by a husband and wife couple, the harvests need to be small. And this is why are so wound up.

Mr. and Mrs. Lin harvested their spring crop of organic oolong tea today!