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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.

One of the best things about learning about tea is learning about tea; the subject is immense and there is always more to learn. There are so many great resources out there, too many to list in this post, so here's a great starting point.

Eco-Cha has been asked to comment on the discussions trending on tea platforms in response to a recent article published by Munchies on Vice. This Taiwan High Mountain Tea related story has brought international attention to an ongoing issue that has been developing

for many years and is known publicly here in Taiwan. This article focused on the removal of tea plots in Taiwan's highest elevation farming region of Dayuling in Hualien County.

We are very excited to announce that we have a very small amount of top award-winning competition tea to share, and it happens to be our personal favorite tea type and locale: Dong Ding Oolong from Yonglong/Fenghuang Community in Lugu. This recent winter batch of tea was entered into the locals-only competition in the historical tea producing villages on and around Dong Ding Mountain.

There are so many amazing places to drink tea, and quite frankly, we will drink tea anywhere, but here are some of our favorite spots around Taiwan.

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.

Many of you have seen the photo by now and certainly have read one of the many theories currently being debated on social media. We wanted to come forward openly and honestly and put a stop to all the rumors.

He was invited to be a guest lecturer to a class of non-university students who are learning about creative cultural representation in the tourism industry, including the sale of local specialty produce, such as tea. It was a great group of people of all ages and backgrounds. Some were B&B owners, others worked in farmers' associations and local governments, and there were a few tea farmers who were developing their own brands.

 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.

Check out the feature on Eco-Cha produced by Marie Claire Taiwan.

This father and son team who manage their farm and process their harvests together have both won first prize in their local tea competition within the last ten years. This is an exclusive competition that only residents of the historical Dong Ding Oolong tea producing villages of Fenghuang, Yonglong, and Zhangya on Dong Ding Mountain are eligible to enter. This is home to the most concentrated population of traditional tea artisans in Taiwan, and very likely in the world.

In our previous post, we gave a brief of description Batch #3, along with its source, and how this tea is a perfect match in terms of what Eco-Cha aspires to promote in our involvement with the local specialty tea industry here in Taiwan. So now we just want to talk about the tea itself, and how we determine this batch to be a unique find, and why it qualifies as our next choice for the Eco-Cha Tea Club.