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Taiwan is home to some of the finest tea in the world, particularly in the Oolong category. Yet, not all Taiwanese teas are widely recognized or understood by name. So here is an overview of the top ten most famous teas from Taiwan.

Red Oolong offers a smooth, balanced, mildly sweet, rich but not quite bold flavor profile, with elements of fruit compote, pumpkin pie, and a hint of dried flowers. This ultra-friendly character, combined with the fact that almost all Red Oolong is cultivated naturally on the southeast coast of Taiwan, facing the wide open Pacific, where the sky reminds a North American of the northern west coast, is no wonder why it is rapidly gaining popularity on the international market. Once again, Taiwan leads the way in Oolong Tea innovation!

Now over 40 years running, this spring's Lugu Farmers' Association Dong Ding Oolong Tea Competition consisted of 6,441 entries. This pioneering tea competition was designed to maintain and promote a standard of high quality in the production of this traditional type of Oolong Tea.

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.

Andy was asked to present at Taichung City Government's international creative industries seminar that focused on promoting its local specialty products. As tea is Taiwan's primary local specialty, and Eco-Cha is becoming recognized as a leader in representing this product and culture on an international platform, Andy was happy to share his 25 years of experience of Taiwanese tea with Taichung's professionals and government officials.

We spent several days over the last couple weeks filming in tea country (Lugu) and in Taichung City with the Buddhist-based Da Ai Television station. It will a while before the program is aired, but for now we can share some behind the scene shots. Here we are at Tony and Lisa Lin's tea table playing with tea design ideas.