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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.

We recently received this question from Eco-Cha Monthly Tea Club member Paul in Norway:

For the tea of the month you said "integrating traditional Tieguanyin oxidation methods with Dong Ding roasting skills." I was wondering if you could describe this process in more detail? 

We thought it worthwhile to share our response to this question with all of the Tea Club members as well as our readership in general for your reference.

Yesterday we traveled up to Taipei to present a selection of aged and charcoal roasted Oolong teas that we sourced for the occasion, hosted in an antique and art collector's home. We brewed leaves of eleven different batches of tea ranging from the most recent winter harvest to leaves harvested over forty years ago.

Eco-Cha was contacted by Penn State Tea Club on their visit to Taiwan over the New Year. The group of Tea Club travelers expressed their interest in visiting tea country in Central Taiwan. So we met at the Lugu Farmers' Association, where Lisa Lin and Andy hosted the new interactive "Lyrical Flowing Water, Dancing Cups of Tea" exhibit.

We were introduced to Mr. Su by our friend who has been his customer for over 30 years. He brought us to Mr. Su's home in Lugu on New Year's Day, five years ago — and introduced him as "Representative Su". This title was due to Mr. Su's position on the advisory board of the Lugu Farmers' Association at the time. But in retrospect, after the last five years of visiting Mr. Su regularly and hearing his stories while tasting his teas, we see a lot more in the name. We have come to know him as the pioneering elder craftsman of traditional Taiwanese Oolong tea that he is — a leading representative of a tradition.

It was a gorgeous day as we slowly made our way back home, stopping along the way and auspiciously meeting some tea people. The first was a local tea farmer who cultivated a plot of Qing Xin Oolong on a remote ridge at 1700m in the valley below Jade Mountain, Taiwan's highest peak. He inherited the tea garden his father planted 30 years ago, perhaps the first in the area. Mr. Wu was a soft-spoken, genuinely friendly guy who served us his winter crop of High Mountain Oolong. It was especially fragrant for a winter tea, and really nice.

The Lugu Farmers' Association standard of quality that they set for their competition is in a class of Oolong that draws our attention due to a synthesis of two general categories: Traditionally cured, heavily oxidized and heavily roasted Dong Ding Oolong combined with a new trend of sufficiently oxidized, lightly roasted High Mountain Oolong.  In the final analysis, it is a relatively light Dong Ding Oolong Tea, especially when put in perspective of the local tradition.

All of the above are really just the highlights of an event that represents a living tea culture in Taiwan. The broad spectrum of activities and exhibits, not to mention hundreds of vendors selling their own tea and other local specialties is truly an anomaly. There is nowhere else on the planet that represents tea as a traditional product of regional origin in such a comprehensive and extravagant way. For anyone interested in experiencing the pinnacle of a tea cultural event, the Nantou County Global Tea Expo is a must destination. 

Watermarked photos courtesy of 陳信綸