News

Eco-Cha's pictorial post on spring tea harvest 2016, received a lot of compliments in appreciation of our sharing snapshots of our tea adventures in Taiwan. This inspired us to take a few extra moments to stop and enjoy the view on our third ride into 太和村 or "Great Peace Village" in the last couple weeks. Here are some photos from that ride. Our readers know that we've tended to focus on an in-depth perspective of the tea industry in Taiwan. Now we feel like it's time to share some simply pleasurable sight-seeing in the country where all this wonderful tea is produced.

Our visit was too short, but we left feeling good after an overdue visit with an old friend. As we rode back down from his family's highest settlement on the mountainside above Zhangshuhu, we saw many crops being harvested under clear sunny skies — perfect weather for harvest. The tea produced on this mountain has become renowned due to its ideal climate and environment. But like many areas, it has expanded a great deal, and finding farm and factory operations that suit our style is becoming challenging, but still possible. We appreciate it all the more when we find a family run farm that has not expanded into high volume production, and this exploration of rural tea country has been our labor of love for decades.

 There are many remote mountain villages in the foothills of Alishan that are surrounded by tea gardens sprawling over their slopes. The other day we finally got to visit a farm that was referred to us by the proprietor of our favorite neighborhood restaurant a while ago. The home was comprised of four brothers who all grow tea in and around the village called Dragon's Eye.

So, it was on my visit to taste the minimal batch of summer harvest that was filmed by the TV crew that we tasted the "special spring batch" that Mr. Liu had retrieved and put through a single roasting. I reiterated that I would like to buy this tea if it becomes available.

The consequence of this drought in tea country is that there is less spring tea to be harvested, with some farmers reporting a yield of only half the normal amount.   

We are happy to announce that they have indeed, and classic spring weather has commenced.