Food, more food, and such super duper good food at Miss Lin’s very personal Taiwanese Hakka restaurant. The tour group folks were blown away.
Taiwan Beauty. Eastern Beauty. Baihao oolong. Five Color Oolong….
Taiwan Beauty. Eastern Beauty. Baihao oolong. Five Color Oolong. But honestly, it’s called Pong Fong Cha… the BS tea. No one back then could figure out why this was such a big hit when it was made. After all, bug bitten, imperfect, runted leaves…. It went against the grain to what defines good tea.
Today, Taiwan Beauty is one of the most difficult to make, most challenging to expect, expensive, and one of the most unusual tea in the world. It is easy to appreciate and difficult to understand. The confluence of Leaf Hoppers, hot weather, perfect steamy humidity, and experienced, genius hands- a tea as beautiful as Taiwan.
The mighty periodic island typhoon continues. Over at Mr. Chen’s…
The mighty periodic island typhoon continues. Over at Mr. Chen’s Jialong GABA oolong farm, we got to finally, after persisting for 5 years, witness how his secret technique works. Oxidation without oxygen, and no wilting before ‘shaqing’. I can’t give it away on an online post, but perhaps, if we do a harvest party when I get back, we can show how it’s done!
Most of it is sold out. There is less than 40 jins made per year of the stuff anyway. So folks, we will be tasting Mr. Chen’s private stash Jialong aged 3 years at the Rare Oolong event Oct 25, and this year’s Jialong at the Harvest Party.
Full of deep sweet papaya peel notes in the finished tea without even a hint of astringency, the raw leaves being processed had an overwhelmingly distinctive mango and green apple aroma, so intense that I had a stray thought at the moment. If all the folks in the world drinking horrid scented teas thinking it’s the real stuff (Mango Raspberry Bliss Black tea!) could just have a whiff of this Jialong, they will riot and overthrow the reigning terror that is the current tea regime!
Elsewhere, I remind myself I am in Asia, where tea is real. The samsara world seems like a better version when the tea made sense.
I have lost track on how long it’s been, but since someone asked,…
I have lost track on how long it’s been, but since someone asked, I jogged my memory back to maybe 12 plus years, coming to Wenshan, buying Mr. Lee’s Baochong. Why do I never buy from another? Well, there’s the fact that Mr. Lee keeps improving every year, leaving his fellows in the dust from winning awards to completely selling out each and every season. Then there is the human relationship factor. The fact that we know each other and he knows how I like my tea, and I know how he lights up when he talks about his bees, somehow deepens every cup of Baochong I drink. I don’t want my tea made by a stranger.
Day 1: sudden bursts of heavy rain, punctuated by fluttering…
Day 1: sudden bursts of heavy rain, punctuated by fluttering butterflies, whizzing dragonflies, and songs of frogs hidden amongst puddles. Our group of tea aficionados braved the elements to taste Baochong oolong first hand. Their feedback? Indescribable sweetness and fresh aroma, unlike any Baochong they have ever tasted. Of course there was the freshness factor. The batch we tasted had been harvested late afternoon the night before and made just minutes ago, and went from baking oven to Gaiwan. That and on top of it all, steeped with the water from their mountain spring.
Folks, it’s no joke. The street food of Taiwan is world famous…
Folks, it’s no joke. The street food of Taiwan is world famous for 1. Being quirky and strange (duck webs or stinky tofu today?) 2. Being immediate and satisfying 3. Unbearable if you don’t care for stinky tofu. Here, one of our most intrepid traveling members decided that the fumes from the tofu were much, much worse smelling than ‘dog poop on a hot pavement’. Elsewhere, the gang each tried a weird food of choice.
There was Hello Kitty Dorayaki also. My day was complete.