u/Eco-Cha

Came across this classic and historic tea store on our after dinner walk this evening in Taipei before the final day of tea tasting for the inaugural Global Tea Excellence Awards. Taipei is replete with gems like this one!

10+g of Alishan spring `26 Concubine Oolong (bug bitten tea leaves processed as Taiwan Oolong) in a 350mL French Press brewed for 2-3 minute steeps. Concubine typically has more power to its punch. So a bit less leaves works well. The light roast and subtle honey notes really complement each other.

14g of traditionally made (well oxidized) Oolong Tea from Lugu, Taiwan brewed in a 350mL French press for two minutes x 3

This new tea exhibition hall in Zhushan, Nantou County Taiwan has been impressing us more and more with their activities in the last year or more. Kudos to Mr. Wu and his family for their admirable work promoting Taiwan Tea and Tea culture!

This was one of those spontaneous circumstances that end up leaving a lasting impression. We rode up to the farm to see the winter harvest of our Shan Lin Xi High Mountain Oolong a few years ago. Our friend Mr. Chen asked us if we brought any tea leaves with us. “Why would we bring tea leaves up to the farm?” we asked. “Well, the work shed has brewing capacity!” replied Chen. It turns out the leader/driver of the team of pickers had some tea bags of Reap Rice Tea (heavy roast stem tea) in his glovebox. So Mr. Chen stuffed two or three teabags in a tea judging bowl and brewed us a cup of tea in the most rudimentary way. The experience of sipping this steaming heavy roast oolong as the fog rolled in at 1500 m on the side of the mountain with the farmer and his mom was simply idyllic. These moments are truly irreplaceable. Praise the tea gods! 🙏🏼❤️🍃

Appreciating the direct experience of a commonly accepted fact among Taiwan’s Black Tea producers: In general, the best quality Black Tea is produced from summer crops. This is due to higher levels of catechins in the tea leaves as a result of hotter weather. Catechins are a type of flavonoid - the chemical compounds that are claimed to have antioxidant properties. They also produce the bitter and astringent flavors in tea. This is why summer crops are most suitable for making fully oxidized black tea. These compounds need to be processed and broken down into more palatable compounds, and resulting in a more complex and expressive aromatic and flavor profile.

Red Jade aka Ruby aka Tai Cha #18 is a large leaf type tea cultivar unique to Taiwan in that one of its parents is the indigenous tea tree that grows wild in mountainous regions.
It’s also got a unique aromatic and flavor profile that includes notes of mint, cloves, and cinnamon. Depending on the processing methods, it results in more or less pronounced notes of the above. Like most things, a happy medium is ideal. You want those notes to be noticeable, but not overwhelming. Our first procurement of second flush this year embodied a nice balanced brew. This third flesh that was picked last week is a little less processed and as a result a bit fresher and those flavors pop just a bit more. We also think that it’s quite a nice overall composition. We’re gonna get some of this recent third flush and put it on the shelf for a few months to let it mellow. We will be offering the second flush in the meantime until sometime this fall.

It’s hot. Iced Tea is the answer 🙂

Tea Connects. That’s a fact in our personal experience beginning some 36 years ago in our lives that crossed paths on the island of Taiwan. It’s not just a pretty story. It’s the course that our lives have taken. Call it destiny, call it fate. We simply want to acknowledge that tea connects people in some truly meaningful ways. 🙏🏼🍃❤️

A new and groundbreaking alternative to the standard tea competitions that have been an integral component of the modern tea industry in recent decades. A whole new approach to recognizing the world class status that tea should have but doesn’t. We’re gonna help make it happen! 🙌🏽🙏🏼🔥🍃

We traverse the top of this valley along this road many times throughout the year to taste and procure seasonal produce from our two primary Alishan sources situated just across the valley from each other.

Loose-leaf/whole-leaf tea is versatile and fuss-free! The French press offers control over brewing time in making a pitcher of quality tea.

Ta Shan (Tower Mountain) in Meishan Township, Chiayi County

After a long stretch of plum rains, this is the first day of sunshine and blue skies. Feels so good to be back up in Tea Country!

Good morning from Taiwan, and Happy Dragon Boat Festival! Today is the fifth day of the fifth month in the lunar calendar and this cultural holiday is most pervasively celebrated with the making and eating of “zongzi” - glutinous rice dumplings stuffed with savory or sweet ingredients and wrapped in bamboo leaves. 端午節快樂平安！ #dragonboat #taiwan #端午節 #粽子

Images Ta Shan (Tower Mountain) in the Alishan region that we’ve snapped over the years from the road. It’s the holy land of the indigenous Tsou tribe who reside in this area.

Don’t be fooled by the idea that whole leaf tea is cumbersome and time consuming. Brewing up a pitcher of tea to enjoy through the day is a legit and hassle-free way stay away from teabag tragedy. #oolong #oolongtea #taiwanoolong #taiwantea #ecochateas

A humble tribute to the most rugged and remote mountain route on the island of Taiwan. It provides the shortest and fastest access to the Lishan tea growing region from the south. Most of the tea craftsmen, bosses, and merchants traverse this route to get to Lishan on a seasonal basis. Almost no one in the industry lives up there. So it’s quite the commute! Everyone stays in the area for the duration of the seasonal harvest, typically lasting a couple weeks. #taiwanoolong #taiwantea #oolongtea #highmountaintea #ecochateas

Oolong Tea making is complex and involves extensive manipulation of the freshly picked tea leaves in order to produce the desired result. Solar withering is the first step of this long process of withering, oxidation, fixing, rolling and drying. Oolong is by definition a category of tea that encompasses a wide spectrum (primarily of oxidation) that ranges between Green Tea and Black Tea. #oolongtea #taiwanoolong #oolong #taiwantea #ecochateas