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This year at the Nantou County Global Tea Expo, the ‘Tea Culture Exhibition Hall’ has expanded its scope to include a museum-like exhibit and films in addition to live demonstrations of tea culture. In previous years, there were interactive displays where guests could freely observe and partake in tea the brewing ceremonies of their choice. Each space had its own artistic style and cultural orientation from around the world. This year the live demonstrations have been refined and consolidated into three spaces with rotating installations. They still offer variety while allowing for more developed, artistic themes of tea brewing. The other day I got to participate in one of these tea ceremonies that was designed by a few friends from Lu Gu.

The name of the ceremony in Chinese is 圍爐煮茶 which loosely translates as “Gathering Around the Hearth and Brewing Tea”. My friends conceived of the theme and designed the installation themselves, which I experienced as a really clever innovation of traditional Chinese culture. The first two words in the name refer to the traditional family gathering on the last night of the year before Chinese New Year. It is all about the nourishing warmth of a home cooked meal with family. This sentiment is the essence of the tea ceremony that was designed for this year’s event.

Two hosts and five guests made up the tea party that took place on straw tatami mats with small wooden tables arranged around a large iron kettle of boiling water set upon a charcoal stove. The hosts simply facilitated the party while the guests all brewed tea for each other. Each guest was given a type of tea to brew among five of Taiwan’s most recognized specialty teas: Oolong, Aged Tea, High Mountain, Jin Xuan, and Black tea. We each wore a traditional style apron bearing the name of our tea type and were instructed on how the ceremony was to take place.

After the basic methods were explained, it was an easy-going, spontaneous event where we all brewed tea with the tea and tea wares provided. We shared our own brew and received pours from others teapots as we went along. The conversation flowed along with the tea, and it was a friendly gathering around the charcoal stove - a symbol of warmth and sustenance. 

Drawing water with handmade Japanese bamboo ladles from the communal antique iron kettle to fill and refill our gong fu teapots again and again to share our distinctly flavored teas was really fun as well as highly satisfying. The presentation that was steeped in tradition and style accommodated a kind of free-for-all tea party where we all got to enjoy not just one type of tea from a single server, but five types of tea from five servers all at once! What a brilliant idea it was on many levels. It was embedded in Taiwan tea culture with touches of the historical Japanese influence, and embodied the naturally free, informal - yet very traditional Taiwanese style that has seduced me into making this island my home.

The most educational and privileged event at the Nantou County Global Tea Expo, in my experience - is the opportunity to taste award winning teas from all over Taiwan. For an entrance fee of US$3.30, you can participate in a cupping of 10 of this year’s Champion Spring Teas in Taiwan. Ten participants per cupping are invited to smell the brewed leaves and taste the brewed tea through two rounds of the table. The cuppings follow the standard tea judging methods of 3g of tea leaves in a 50 ml cup brewed for 6 minutes with near-boiling temperature water. The brewed leaves and tea are then allowed to cool for about 6 minutes before sampling.

The cupping is hosted by a certified tea judge who leads the group through the brewing, smelling of the brewed leaves, and tea tasting experience. The host introduces the tea types that span the spectrum of specialty teas produced in Taiwan from green to black, yet mostly comprised of variations of oolongs. Basic explanations of the tea types are given along with the judging process that is conducted in the competitions. 

The first cupping we attended this year started with a green Bi Luo Qun from Ping Lin, Taipei followed by an unroasted, minimally oxidized High Mountain Oolong from Ren Ai Township in Nantou. Step by step we moved through the gradients of oolong teas, finishing with a heavily oxidized Oriental Beauty Oolong from Xin Zhu. 

More types of Champion Spring Teas can be experienced by attending other cuppings. There are 18 types of tea, almost all champion, with a few 2nd place prize winners of local competitions from all over Taiwan, offered at this event. So in order to make the best of this unique opportunity, we will attend at least a few more cuppings of this year’s champion spring teas before the event closes on October 27.

This Saturday, October 5th will be the opening of the 4th annual Nantou County Global Tea Expo. Having participated in the event over the last three years, we are anxious to experience what's new about this year's production. We know that this year it has been expanded to include all of Taiwan's specialty agriculture along with the produce that Nantou is most famous for - world class tea.

In addition to tea, we can expect locally produced exotic vinegars, preserved plums,  fresh fruit and vegetables, herbs, dried fruits, honey, coffee, tisanes, even wines and liqueurs! Tea, of course will be the prominent commodity - both in open activities in and in the volume of vendors offering their current harvests. 

Nantou is the largest tea producer of all counties in Taiwan and home to some of the most skilled tea artisans in the world. Last year's highlights in our experience were the Tea Cultural Exhibit along with the Champion Tea Tasting. 

In the Cultural Exhibit Hall was a wonderfully winding maze of rooms - each artistically designed to express the flavor of tea culture being presented. There were trendy modern designs, formal traditional displays from various cultures, as well as more contemplative, natural decor and tea culture to partake in and be enjoyed. It was all a bit overwhelming to absorb in limited visits last year, so we plan to experience this exhibit over several days this year to sit and experience the living art of tea. We promise photos and stories in weeks to come...

The Champion Tea Tasting was a first in our experience. For a nominal fee, we partook in a cupping of 10 different Champion Prize winning teas from competitions all around Taiwan. The teas were served by professional tea judges who readily answered any questions we had. It was truly an educational experience to sample the premium selections of Taiwan's 10 most famous tea types.

There are many more activities and exhibits to enjoy, including the 1000 People Brew Tea event where we will be serving tea this Sunday afternoon, but mostly it is an unprecedented opportunity to immerse oneself in the world of Taiwan Tea. Meeting local farmers and government officials alike in the context of tea is both fun and meaningful. The Global Tea Expo will be held for a full three weeks this year, so we'll have plenty of time to enjoy to the fullest, and we'll be sure to share our experiences with you in the weeks to come.

This September, in the heart of Taiwan tea country, the Lu Gu Farmers’ Association’s Living Art of Tea Club held its annual tea gala event. The association rotates its annual tea party from season to season - this year it was held in autumn, just before the national holiday of Mid Autumn Moon Festival. Each year a new theme is chosen that coincides with the season in which it is presented. The title of this year’s event translates as “Tea in a Bamboo Theater” - as it was originally planned to be held outdoors, in a high mountain bamboo forest in the Shan Lin Xi area. However, this proved to be too risky of a prospect due to that fact that we are having a late typhoon season here in Taiwan. Hence, it was held at its traditional venue in the reception hall of the Lu Gu Farmers’ Association.

The tea club designs the decor around the theme of the event, and of course this year it was replete with bamboo, along with giant ferns and other natural adornments selected from nearby mountain forests. There were 20 tables that each accommodated five guests and their host - who personally designed the table display and tea ware. This year, there were three sessions - two on Saturday and one on Sunday. The program was hosted by our close friend and tea mentor, Tony Lin and the new principal of the local junior high school, Patricia Zhu. There was live musical accompaniment performing traditional and modern folk music, along with classical pieces performed on the Chinese hammer dulcimer (yang qin) by a local junior high student who has won national awards. Attendance is by reservation only, and all three sessions were sold out. Admission fee was about US $25 per person.

The event is comprised of two tea brewing sessions, with an intermission where guests are served local delicacy snacks. This break offers the opportunity to socialize and meet new friends. Throughout the first and second sessions, while the stylized, yet relatively informal tea ceremony is enacted in a local Taiwanese style, there is musical performance and poetic commentary to provide atmosphere and entertainment.

This year, the tea served in the first session was an exemplary spring High Mountain Oolong from the highest elevation (2100+m) tea gardens in the Shan Lin Xi region. It was a wonderfully delicate, yet full bodied, fresh and fragrant tea that filled one’s head with a flowery herbal bouquet that lingered long after the tea disappeared. As the tea was served, our hosts explained why this selection was chosen and the character it embodied - leading into poetry and song to accentuate the experience of this exquisite brew. The atmosphere was relaxed, yet ceremonious enough to make it meaningful and even moving.

The second session was particularly special in that this year's first place winner of the spring tea competition at the Lu Gu Farmers' Association was served. This tea competition is the largest and most prestigious Oolong Tea competition in the world, and the champion tea sells for more than US$ 8,000 per pound! But prizes and prices aside, this brew had such character that even the mere recollection of it raises goosebumps. The aroma exuding from the first brew was rich and complex in a way that no singular reference of a scent or flavor was possible. It was at once freshly cut oak and baked winter squash and pine needles and dried apricots...the senses reeled. The tea was amazingly balanced and full flavored - again without easily distinguished attributes or qualities due to its smooth, integrated overall character. It was a true delight.

We have grown to be very fond of these tea parties put on by the Living Art of Tea Club - especially over the last several years. They have matured into a style of tea culture that expresses the purity of nature and refinement of humility. The people are real and friendly as well as skilled and knowledgeable. And the tea is without fail, very impressive and consistently surprises us with its exquisite quality. 

We were present at the inaugural event produced by the Living Art of Tea Club in the winter of 1995, and have continued to grow in our appreciation and understanding of the intent and expression that it has embodied. We are deeply grateful for this association that has welcomed us into Taiwanese Tea Culture as we know it in the 21st century.