The Taiwanese lead the way with innovating and improving on thousands of years of tradition. Their skillset lies in understanding what can be elicited from each varietal and species to create an interesting new tea, not to keep making tea by machine and by rote. The producer of Ruby Red 18 is one of the youngest, and a first generation, tea maker at Sun Moon Lake, the middle of Taiwan. At the young age of 26, Mr. Chuang has already won consecutive awards in competitions. His farm is comprised solely of new varietals grown at mountain peaks: Ruby 18, 19, 21, and other oolongs. The Rubies were cultivated successfully back around the late 1990s by a research institute, to be experimentally made into Hongcha, or what the West calls black teas. Most commercially made black teas wish to emulate Hongcha, the original fully oxidized teas that take great skill and handmaking to produce. Unfortunately, most black teas become bitter from…
Know Your Tea: Hongcha in Taiwan
The little island of Taiwan continues to lead the way with innovative techniques in production. Part of the region’s advantage is found in it’s environment- Taiwan boasts some of the most extreme differences in elevation, terrain, weather and temperature changes throughout the days and year. This range of terroir differences allows varietals to adapt and flourish, and the local artisans to bend them to their will- often with production techniques artisans from other countries can not duplicate. For example, Taiwan Beauty, one of the most unique teas in the world, result not only from the local Leaf Hoppers (cicadas) to symbiotically manifest, it also takes the extreme natural heat and humidity of the region to oxidize, and a people hardy enough to endure the heat in its making. Incidentally, another fantastic new tea has just emerged from this region.Miss Lin, the award winning producer of Taiwan Beauty, has just invented another new technique to produce Hongcha, or fully oxidized black…
Know Your Tea: Steeping Times and Temperatures
Like everything else in life, tea is easy to make adequately, but takes practice and a bit of mindfulness to make it perfectly. Many feel daunted by the process, but there are really only a few crucial guidelines to understand and one’s tea experience is then greatly improved! Think of your green tea as a fresh, nutrient rich vegetable, like spinach. When you steam or blanch your spinach, you certainly want to avoid over cooking into a slimy, yellowed version. Instead, you want a vibrant, flavorful, green vegetable, achieved by not over blanching or steaming. This same idea applies to green tea. To avoid bitterness, you’ll want to use water heated to a lower temperature, around 180F, well below boiling. Use a thermometer for ultimate accuracy, or, once the water has boiled, wait 3-5 minutes before brewing. If you have a moment to pay close attention, wait until a medium steam is rising from…
Know Your Tea – Tung Ting Oolongs
A seminal tea of legend, Tung Ting ‘Cold Summit’, oolong, embodied the historical and contemporary relationship of Taiwan to China. In the mid 1700s, a learned scholar named Lin Feng Chi was vying for the civil exam in the mainland China. His villagers crowd funded his journey to take the exam in Beijing, and he successfully became Magistrate Lin. In return for their kindness, he brought back 12 small bushes to grow in his village. He also brought back processing methods and knowledge on how to make tea. To this day, on the peak of Cold Summit Mountain, there survived one of those original bushes. But now Tung Ting Oolong is the most well known of all varietals and oolong styles in Taiwan and beyond. It has adapted to the Formosa Island of fragrant flowers and sweet fruits, and has become the embodiment of Taiwan style oolong: lightly oxidized, vegetal, fresh, very aromatic, with a…
Know Your Tea – Wuyi Oolongs
Teas from the region of Wuyi is one of the most well known in history, hailing back to 479 AD and probably earlier, recorded as highly regarded in the Tang Dynasty era of ancient China, and throughout the next 1500 years, continued to flourish. Today, these teas are not only a tribute to the Chinese government, commanding some of the highest auction prices in the country- they are also teas of status for the consumer. As a result, knock-offs and inauthentic ‘Wuyi’ teas flood the market. Understanding the characteristics and taste of the teas unique to Wuyi will help you spot the difference between authentic teas and imposters. Wuyi Shan (Mountain) is today a UNESCO World Heritage site, its environment is pristine and its natural resources, like its rivers, water falls, hills and trees, animal and flora collections, are not only intact, but given priority in this region. It is a remarkable departure from many…
Tea Terminology for Beginners
Whole Leaf Teas not cut by machine, harvested and finished relatively intact. Seasonal Teas are best when they are harvestd at certain times of the year. The peak season is the Spring, from early April through May. White and Green teas are exclusively harvested at this time. Oolong, Black, and Pu-erh teas are also harvested at this time but may have one or more seasons. Next season is Summer, but because of the hot weather, few harvests during this time are high quality. Most premium tea producers do not harvest during the summer months of June to August, with the exception of those who produce teas that rely on leaf hopper insects who come only in the summer. Jasmine flowers bloom at this time and are used to scent the high quality green teas that were harvested in the Spring. Often though, jasmine flowers during this time are also used…