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June 2^nd was the fifth day of the fifth month in the lunar calendar - Dragon Boat Festival - a national holiday here in Taiwan. I rode up to tea country and visited my friend and Dong Ding Oolong artisan who invited me to come and eat “zhongzi”.

This story was originally posted on the T Ching tea blog site.

The challenges of farming tea are similar to farm challenges everywhere, but how do those variables affect the brew in my cup?

1. We are in a life-long love affair with tea and tea culture.

We took this photo on New Year's Day last week, when we visited this newly planted garden that will be harvested for the first time this spring.

This farmer first showed us how Dong Ding Oolong Tea was made about 18 years ago.

We plan to procure tea from this new young crop that is surrounded by forest and cultivated sustainably.

When Andy, Eco-Cha's tea sourcer, first visited this farm three years ago, it was like a dream come true.

He had just recently become specifically committed to exploring and supporting sustainable practice in the tea industry in Taiwan, and this farm exceeded his expectations. As he was given an extensive tour of the tea plantation by its owner who developed it on his own, he literally had to hold back his emotions so as not to alarm his host.