Porcelain Vendors

What does it mean to brew tea in porcelain? When you buy from a vendor who brews your samples in porcelain, the vendor is basically saying, “I have confidence in the quality of my tea and I have nothing to hide.” My favorite vendors will also let me choose the standard used when comparing tea (either 3g and 5 minutes or 5g and 3 minutes). Porcelain does not enhance the quality of the tea like unglazed clay so what you taste in the shop is pretty easy to replicate with the brew ware you use at home.

Brewing in unglazed clay, however, improves the quality of the tea. If an unglazed clay teapot, like an Yixing pot, is used to brew extremely high quality tea over a long period of time, the high-grade tea will permeate the pot’s walls. When using the same pot to brew a lower quality of tea, it will taste better than it normally does and, as a result, it might be impossible to replicate the quality when returning home to brew your newly purchased tea.   

Year of the Dragon

Chinese Lunar New Year is the most important holiday of the year in China, Taiwan, and several other Asian countries. What does this holiday represent? According to the 12 animal zodiac chart, 2012 is the Year of the Dragon. Dragon years are known for bringing most fortune. This is a big deal! So much so that soon-to-be parents plan their birth schedules around it. In 2000, the last Dragon Year, 202,000 more babies were born in Taiwan than during the previous year according to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal. It is a very popular year to have babies, get married, or start a business.

Dragons are considered to have characteristics of being the strongest, the smartest, and the luckiest. The "long" of oolong tea literally means dragon. Oolong is one of the great teas that is finally receiving long-deserved attention. Oolong consumption is on the rise and we are predicting that 2012 will be the year of oolong. But moving beyond the oolong, ultimately to have even greater oolong, I am proposing instead for the year of the Yi Xing teapot.

Chinese New Year is a time to give gifts. One of the gifts that is most commonly given in Taiwan is tea. Tea is a great gift for many reasons. One is that it is an experiential gift, meaning that it is something that one gets to enjoy with the senses. Chinese New Year is a time when families get together. It's a time when people migrate to their hometowns. Huge cities such as Taipei empty as hordes of people make their way to their hometown. While living in Taiwan, I found that this time of year often made me more homesick than Western holidays. Some years were great and I was incorporated into the fold and made to feel like family. One of the places this happened was at the Kung Fu school. The Master made sure to invite all of his foreign students to the evening's feast. Typically, there's a large feast on the evening before the Chinese New Year on the last day of the year. In Shandong, it's traditional to eat dumplings at midnight--this is believed to bring great fortune in the coming year.

The first day of the new year is called Day One. On this day, you will hear everyone walking around saying, "Congratulations, congratulations." To understand this, we have to look at the origin of the holiday. In ancient times, it was believed that a beast comes out on New Year's Eve to eat people. When people emerged from their homes uneaten, on the first day, congratulations are given for victory and rebirth. Legend has it that the beast is afraid of red and today red is still an important color during this holiday. Red banners are plastered on doorways in triplets on either side and atop the doorway. Black Chinese characters in bold brush strokes contrast the bright red paper. My friends told me about how they experienced the New Year holiday when they were younger: "As a child, the new red clothes made us feel so good. We would eat a well prepared meal meaning an array of quality, an abundance, and prepared with care and insight And it was one of the few days of the year when you would wear new clothes. It was so great for us because it was one of the few times in a year when we felt like we had everything we could need." Today, however, many people exist in a perpetual state of abundance. My friends observe a difference in their children during the holiday, "This is day when you have everything, are given more, and somehow it's not enough."

Eastern Beauty

Eastern beauty, specialty of Taiwan, is a favorite of more than just a few.

Below the baby leaves

Tender buds 

Raw material for ikebana

That aroma

Each one of these, the stem with the tender bud, in some cases a white needle, the leaves, it looks like a little tree

You look so cute, little leaves

You have fur on your back, just like me

Even if you won't let me sleep

Thanks again, one last steep

Meet the eight treasures…

In an attempt to shape and create tea culture in the U.S., I often borrow tea terms from one culture and apply them to another culture. One example of this is a series of teas that we refer to as “the eight treasures.” This is a line of eight teas that I put together that would be available on a consistent basis: Green Oolong, Charcoal Roasted Oolong, Second Flush Oolong, Yunnan Gold Tips, Aged Puer Tea, Jasmine Pearls, Wu Yi Oolong, and Iron Goddess.
Eight treasures is a subset of any eight derived from a longer list of one hundred treasures. The term “eight treasures” is used to describe an abundance of variety when used with food items, such as eight treasure rice or eight treasure tea. Eight treasure tea is consumed throughout China. I’ve always seen it as a small plastic bag containing eight different bits that are steeped together to make an interesting and enjoyable infusion. Items that might be found in eight treasure tea include chrysanthemum flower, rock sugar, oolong tea, green tea, Wolfberry, red date, jobes tears, stellaria, tremella mushroom, dried citrus peel, ginseng, and so on.
Five of the eight are shown above. More to come soon...

Spring Tea

Low elevation spring tea is already in. It looks like I will be arriving just as the higher elevation tea harvest begins. I will arrive in Taoyuan on the 15th and then I have about three weeks time to travel the island looking for tea. The weather has been relatively warm this season, so the tea is a bit earlier than expected. Currently, some cold weather has come in. Hopefully this will have a positive impact on the high mountain tea. With the excessively warm temps, it is hard to say how much great tea there will be. There is one good bit of news and that is that the rain has not yet begun. I remember now that rain is more likely in the spring and this is one factor that can really have a negative influence on the tea. Well, I am glad to hear that the rains have not yet begun. This promises to be an interesting trip and I look forward to sharing my adventures with all everyone that has interest.

On the Way to Li Shan

Of the roads to tea there are many. Though, I am not a fan of suspension bridges. Especially one that spans a river so far below.

Some of the roads are more easily traveled than others.

Gong Fu Tea by Master Luo

My Question: "How should I prepare Mu Za Iron Goddess?"
Master Luo's  response: "Mu Za Iron Goddess should be prepared similarly to a high mountain oolong. First heat you tea pot, then fill the pot 1/4 full with loose leaf tea. There is no need to rinse the leaves. For the first infusion, use boiling water and infuse for 10 seconds. This first infusion will be very light, but it will prepare the pallet and the senses for what is to come. Also, if there is any residual scent or flavor left on your pallet, this first infusion will wash that away. For each consecutive infusion, do the same... boil the water and infuse for 10 seconds. This way of brewing the tea will yield about ten infusions and each will be extremely aromatic and full of flavor."

This is one way to make tea that I have been playing with. I have been enjoying the results, but find that one of the most important considerations is to make sure that the water is hot hot hot, right off the boil.

Back from Taiwan

It is great to be back in the Tea shop. I am here, but I left my cell phone in Taiwan. If you need to call, please call 503-922-1555. The tea is on the way and should be here within two weeks. What do you have to look forward to? Here is the list of new tea that is on the way:
These are the green oolongs
Spring Harvest 2008 Four Seasons oolong
Spring Harvest 2008 Jin Xuan
Spring Harvest 2008 Bamboo Mountain Oolong
Spring Harvest 2008 Zhang Shu Hu Oolong
Spring Harvest 2008 Shan Lin Xi Superior High Mountain Oolong
For eastern beauty I found
Summer Harvest 2007 Formosa Oolong
I have some great Iron Goddess on the way
Winter Harvest 2007 Mu Za Iron Goddess Honorable Mention
Winter Harvest 2008 Mu Za Iron Goddess First Tier
Puer
Some cooked puer is coming this way and I also have about six different big tree puer cakes to share. The leaves are green and the tea is strong, but the prices are more reasonable than ever.
There are many other teas as well. The new web site is almost here. Prices will be reduced when buying in 1/4 pound and greater quantities. I hope that people will take advantage of the savings and buy in 1/4 pound sizes and greater, so that the wonderful world of tea can be enjoyed every day by more and more tea fans.

I learned so much on this trip and met so many fascinating people. Now it is time to get to work so that I can share all of the information that I absorbed.

Harvest Time April 28th 2008

This group of women laugh and joke the time away as the pick the freshly grown leaves on Dong Ding mountain's western slope.

Tea! Love at first sight.

April 28th

Today I as I enter the village of Ming Jian I immediately see tea fields of tea on both sides of the road. This is very exciting! The scent of tea fills the air and I practically launch out of the car window as we encounter some of the first tea fields on this trip. As we steadily gain elevation, I begin to salivate anticipation of the wonderful teas to come.