Ruby 18? Ruby 21? The latest greatest hongcha (red tea) is a whole different skill set level from black teas around the world. Completely intact and without a hint of astringency, the honey sweet water has an intense fragrance of wintergreen and hinoki.
Taiwan Beauty is special. It can not happen without those tiny cicadas called Leaf Hoppers. Though this style of tea was discovered by accident, today, a whole different way of agriculture to production method, has been devised to create a tea that is a confluence of nature’s conditions. But some outrageous requirements remain that pushes this tea to the edge of impossibility. 70-80 year olds are the only ones dexterous and experienced enough to harvest the top grades, particularly for the competition. Read- some 50 or more years of experience required. Then, every single precious leaf has to be intact without breakage during processing, a crucial aspect of which is the hand oxidation. That takes more than years of experience and skill- it requires talent and extremely sensitive hands. But the difficulty of the production of Taiwan Beauty is in the overwhelming heat under which it is produced. As the top producer of this tea says: it is not a tea that a human can endure to make. So, we savored every drop today.
The Ghost Face spider and the Five Venoms: not everyone is so interested in the multitude of bugs at the Taiwan Beauty farm. He hangs, like the dismembered head of a circus ringmaster, his top hat still atop and grinning away at the prospect of incoming victims. Here at the Taiwan Beauty farm, the ugly duckling tea bushes are sparse little groves in a field of overgrown weeds, and the bugs rule. We arrived into a sky filled with circling dragonflies, with enormous webs from tea bush to tree, and sitting there waiting? The Ghost Face Spider! I explained to my tour group that this is nature at work. Taiwan Beauty is an oolong tea that results from the bites of the tiny Leaf Hopper cicadas. For that, a habitat of wildness must be maintained for their benefit, and that habitat is also welcoming to the rest of the bug kingdom. In comes the giant Ghost Face Spider to take care of the unwanted other bugs- giant crickets, preying mantis, even a sparrow or two.
He hangs in the sky, grinning madly and silently, waiting….
But, back to tea reporting. We scored a very limited, unique batch of Honey Jialong harvested on May 28. Mr. Chen deemed that it has been aged long enough just now and took it out to share with us. Brighter and even spicier than the more candied citrus peel character of the regular Jialong, with a more kumquat like fragrance and heightened euphoric energetics, this batch will only be available for tasting at the Harvest Party under the ‘Fall Release’ teas, or to the Connoisseur Tea subscribers.
As for Baochong, the typhoon destruction left a question mark as to whether we will have any. I have put my order in the queue, but facing some of the most dramatic climate changes in remembrance, we may not have Baochong for the first time in nearly 13 years.
Good people make good tea, I have often said, and on these trips, I wanted to see if my tour group could get a sense of who the people were behind these great teas. I have known these farmers for so many years now, and their unassuming, warm, hospitable demeanors never fail to reinforce that viewpoint. It is always the caring, respectful artisans who coax the depths out of the leaves, and the teas will communicate to those who are worthy. The ones who break the tea leaf spines and cut, tear and curl them, do not deserve a drinkable cup. I don’t care who I offend. We are not in the business of contributing to more acrid, astringent, undrinkable dregs that you need to pour cream and sugar into. The spirits of the teas and their chosen artisan want their stories told.
Now, this blog entry is getting way out there! But I really am tired of that 99% of crap in the marketplace, after knowing such sublime levels of teas all my life. And so, I exercise my compassion by bringing you, my fellow consumers and aficionados of tea, that world of possibilities!
Understanding the magic of tea takes years of legwork, but the journey always begins with the first step!