Teance Fine Teas Blog

Tea Adventures

I have lost track on how long it’s been, but since someone asked,…

Tea Adventures

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.

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Day 1: sudden bursts of heavy rain, punctuated by fluttering…

Tea Adventures

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.

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Folks, it’s no joke. The street food of Taiwan is world famous…

Tea Adventures

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.

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I love your blog! Being born and raised in Xiamen Fujian China and live in US for more than 10…

Tea Adventures
Q: I love your blog! Being born and raised in Xiamen Fujian China and live in US for more than 10 years, I totally understand that it is a hardship for someone to travel to remote mountain areas for tea procurment. I do my own tea and herbal blends and sell them online. Eventually I want to import myself, like you. But for now, I buy wholesale. Does your company offer the wholesale?

Yes, definitely…

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This is an enduring favorite, from the last Taiwan trip, which…

Tea Adventures

This is an enduring favorite, from the last Taiwan trip, which serves to often remind me about the magic that is really tea. Taiwan next weekend, but then, I hit China once more after that. Will I survive again this time? I hope so. I relish the thought of excellent people, food, and gorgeous scenery in Taiwan, not to mention the world’s best oolongs, but then, to obtain comparable levels of different teas in China, I have to shed lots of tears, or at least sweat. Teas are sublime in both places. The question is, when does one get too old to hack travelling in China? I am musing speculatively of course. By miracle, China can suddenly become organized, sanitary, unpolluted, not noisy, not dusty and hot, and full of kind people- all by the time I get there.

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