Li Shan Oolong Tea is Here

Despite it diminutive size, Taiwan produces a wonderful assortment of oolong teas that feature a delicious array of leaf styles, oxidation levels, flavors and aromas. On this trip we were fortunate to see several of these teas being made, and every tea we enjoued was from the current 2008 spring harvest.

We journeyed through several counties of central and northern Taiwan and visited many of the tea farms and tea factories that produce Taiwan’s signature teas -Bai Hao Oriental Beauty, Baozhong Oolong, and of course, the high mountain semi-ball rolled jade oolongs from LiShan, Shan Lin Shi, Alishan and the Dong Ding mountainous regions.

As we traveled, we purchased small quantities of several of these delicious teas to bring back to delight our customers. But the style of tea that we were most interested procurring was hand-processed, high-mountain semi-balled style oolong. We were hoping to purchase a reasonable quantity for the store and our friend knew how to make that happen. He made a phone call then took us to visit a friend of his who works at an organic food certification plant.

Here, tea is checked for pesticides, and, if it passes, an employee from the certifying company will visit the farm in person to make sure that the sample is truly representative of what the farm produces and that nothing is amiss.

If the farm passes muster, then the tea farmer will send quantities of his or her tea to the certifying company to be weighed, packaged and sealed. The tea farmer will be paid for his tea, which is then sold by this company. We were introduced to Lisa, a very friendly and knowledgeable tea lady, who asked us what type of tea we were looking for. When she had a good idea of what we wanted, she began to pull out various samples for us to taste.

She showed us many teas in the style we wanted that were grown in the high elevation levels that we were interested in. Also of consideration was the price – some of these Taiwan high mountain teas are astronomical !

As we tasted the teas we found teas that were nice, very nice, but not what we were looking for. Maybe she was testing us, but eventually she brought out the 2008 Li Shan ‘Da Yu Ling’ winter pluck, and it was love at first sight. Bingo, that was it – the flavor, the sensation of the Hui Gan ( returning flavor, or the changing of the flavor from one of slight astringency to sweetness on the aftertaste )

Soft, sweet, floral and snappy and fresh, like a brisk winter’s day. A simply beautiful tea with irregularly shaped balls of leaf with connecting stems. Next came a 2008 Li Shan spring pluck and we fell in love with that too. A bit headier and more aromatic, fruity and more youthful and green in flavor.

So we brought as much of both as we could afford and could comfortably carry back in our bags. More will follow later. But don’t wait to savor these fine teas – Taiwan oolong of this caliber is difficult to find in the USA - it is usually snapped up by Taiwanese and Japanese tea lovers, leaving none for anyone else on the planet.

Guest Speakers in Taiwan

Bob, myself and our tea colleague Mike Spillane of G.S. Haley Co. had the pleasure of attending an all-day meeting of the Tawian Tea Manufacturers Association as invited guests. The meeting was held in the Tea Research and Extension Station in Taoyuan, which works in conjunction with the Taiwan Council of Agriculture.

The research station is devoted to studying all aspects of tea cultivation and the production of tea. The Director, Mr. Lin, gave us a briefing on the important work conducted here, which includes studies in the areas of improved nursery systems for tea cuttings; breeding and propagation of superior tea cultivars; ecological approaches to organic tea management; studies on pests and disease control; and the training and education of tea farmers.

As American tea professionals each of us had been asked to speak on a topic related to tea in America. We gave our views on the nature of Taiwan tea and also offered feedback regarding the difficulty in obtaining a steady supply of good quality Taiwan teas in the USA. Taiwan is in the unique position of producing a very high percentage of quality tea, and of being able to purchase more of it’s own tea than most people are in other tea producing countries. Hence, only a small quantity of tea is left available for export, and it is proportionately costly.

In the week prior to this meeting, I began to notice that many of the dishes that we were served in restaurants in the tea producing areas incorporated tea leaves in the preparation of these dishes. So, for my part, I decided to speak to the members on how we cook with tea in the USA. I explained the types of dishes we use tea in ( soups, meat, seafood and vegetable dishes, desserts and cocktails ) and the manner in which we use it ( sauces, soups and simmering broths, marinades, braised dishes, frozen desserts and cakes, etc. )

I could tell from the looks on the faces of the men and women looking back at me that some of them understood my examples while others seemed unsure of what some of these ingredients and dishes were in the examples that I gave.

But I think in general that they appreciated the interest in tea that this trend speaks to, and understood that cooking with tea is another way to generate additional buzz in the USA regarding the delicious nature of tea.

Attendance was recorded at just over 130 persons, and everyone seemed to enjoy the daylong exchange of ideas. I was pleased to see a high percentage of women in the membership. The three of us enthusiastically praised Taiwan teas and pledged to promote awareness of Taiwan tea back home.

Today, like all of our days in Taiwan, added another dimension of tea information and understanding to our ongoing tea education.

Visiting the Doctor in a Taiwan Hospital

Unfortunately for me, along with wisdom and perspective, age brings with it the aches and pains associated with manuevering heavy suitcases and overstuffed carry-on bags. As a result, I spent some painful moments in Hong Kong resting my lower back and feeling very sorry for myself. In fact, I wasted the better part of an afternoon in bed cozying up to some painkillers instead of running around enjoying the city that I love so much.

Anyway, by the time I arrived in Taiwan the pain had worsened. We emailed my chiropractor for some sage advice and tried to keep as much pressure off my lower back as possible. But traveling up and down twisting mountain roads loaded with hairpin turns is not helpful with that, and our hectic schedule was not condusive to a time out. I was clearly stuck with a whopper of a back spasm and my stash of Advil was running low.

So there I was on one particular morning barely able to walk – getting me into the van was almost impossible. Our van driver was ever so patient with me as I tried to haul myself in by using the hand grips on the roof of the interior. Our tea colleagues were worried for me, and I was afraid of holding up a whole day of scheduled visits to tea factories and tea gardens. After a quick discussion about what my options were, it was determined by Jackson, our host for the trip, that I should go to the local hospital in a neighboring town in Nantou county for some help. Even though I did not want to, I could not argue against it.

A few telephone calls were made to a local tea contact who knew someone who knew someone who called someone at the hospital and we were given the go ahead to arrive and proceed with haste. When we arrived a scant 20 minutes later from the top of the mountain, a brigade of people awaited us, and I learned first hand the meaning of network of friends and family in Taiwan.

This group was comprised of tea colleagues of Jacksons, an old friend from the tea store down the street from the hospital, someone from the hospital staff, etc. We were quickly shuttled in and up to the second floor, and taken right in to see some doctors who I think were the admitting doctors. Conversation flew past my ears in rapid fire Mandarin which was accompanied by a lot of jesticulating and pointing.

Okay, okay, okay……off we went to the x ray room ( and I do mean all 5 of us ) following the doctors through rooms where other patients were being treated and down corridors where rows of patients sat quietly waiting their turn to see the doctor. I felt big and fat and foolish and was quite embarrassed to be so accommodated, but they had been informed that the tea factory manager was waiting. And in tea country tea business is serious business, so the show must go on ! In fact, I was just a pawn in the plan of getting me quickly treated so we could be on our way.

We wove our way through the hallway and offices and arrived in the office of one of the orthopedic doctors. He wanted to take x-rays of my back ( okay, okay ) which would tell him if I needed an injection ( no way ! ) or medications ( oh please ! ). So we took off for the x-ray department for a quick snapshot and them back to the doctors office. In what seemed like just a few minutes he came back in, and called up the x-rays on his computer. He pointed to my spine and pelvic areas on the picture – no disc problems, no spine problem, just some imflamation and a back sprain. Everyone , including me, was relieved.

Our little parade of colleagues made our way back downstairs. Three prescriptions of Western medicine later, we were back on our way up the mountain, all in just under one hour. I am happy to report that by late afternoon, my back pain was seriously reduced and by the next day I was feeling nearly pretty back to normal.

I was very impressed by the professionalism of all the doctors and staff that we encountered that day, and I appreciate the indulgence of the patients whom I was taken ahead of. It was great to have my tea colleagues act as a cheering squad. I am still not sure, however, who paid the bill.

Tea Trekking in Taiwan

For the past two days we have been exploring the tea producing regions of Taiwan. We are very impressed by the geography of central Taiwan – this lush region is comprised of a series of steeply cut mountain ranges that run down the center of the island dividing eastern Taiwan from its western neighbors. Four large counties – Hsinchu, Maoli, Taichung, Nantou – cultivate tea, and of these, it is Nantou county that produces the famous high-mountain ball rolled oolong teas such as Dong Ding, Ali Shan and Li Shan.

In the north, south-east of Taipei city, the low elevation region of Maoli is home to Oriental Beauty, perhaps the most exclusive and expensive of Taiwan’s delicious leafy teas. June and July is the prime production season for Bai Hao White Tip Oolong tea, otherwise known as Oriental Beauty. So we are lucky to be here now at the beginning of production.

Here in Taiwan the tea industry is comprised mostly of small tea farmers and many of them process their fresh leaf into finished tea and sell it directly to consumers. This is vastly different than how tea is sold in China, where tea is more of a village effort or a government produced product. While there is some large scale, commercially produced tea here, we are concentrating on visiting the small tea factories and the tea farmers who produce the finest tea.

We tasted some very delicious and well-made Bai Hao today, which was offered to us for sale at the local farm price of the equivilent of $250.00 a kilo US ( approx. $125.00 a pound. ) Tea that is this good rarely makes it outside of Taiwan as it is a small crop and the tea farmers are able to sell it all domestically to their established tea clients. One fellow that we visited has a backlist of clients who will be disappointed to receive no tea – but they will be first on his list to receive an allotment of the fall crop when it is harvested.

What this means is that here in Tawian, as in Hong Kong, local people can afford to purchase this type of tea, and they know where to go for the best teas. And they make sure that they are on the client list to be receive a new tea each summer. So, it is interesting to note that even if we wanted to purchase some of this tea to sell back home, these tea farmers have no tea to sell to us; their crop is all spoken for among their established clients.

It also means something unique for these Taiwan tea farmers that is seriously different from the situation that most tea farmers in the world find themselves in: 1st, these farmers can name their price and make good money on their crop, and 2nd, the US market does not factor in one bit in their success. Not only is their tea too expensive for us to sell back home at these prices, but they don’t need the US market to be successful. While this is great for them, it is sad for us as we would love to be able to offer this tea to our tea enthusiast customers. It is not too often that something that sell well locally is too expensive for Amnerican consumers ! However, later in the day we did find a delicious and affortable batch of Bai Hao which we scooped up for our customers, so stay tuned.

Fortunately for us, the weather has given us hot, humid, ovecast days but the rains have held back. We have covered quite a bit of distance, both horizontal and vertically and have visited many tea farms. And we have seen a lot of exquisite mountain vistas, experienced many bumpy mountain roads and tasted many fine teas. Taiwan is a beautiful country and the people are its finest assets. Friendly, likeable, earnest, respectful and proud. This is somewhere where we could live out our years growing tea !

I have to say that we have enjoyed many delicious meals in small country restaurants. The food here bears some similarity to China’s food, but here in Taiwan the food is not greasy the way it has become in China over the past few years. And the presentations and food combinations are more sophisticated and mouthwatering. We have been enjoying fresh local pineapples and mangoes which are succulent and sweet. It is fresh bamboo season and that is always a treat. Today we were served a bamboo-like vegetable with a sweet flavor and a nice crunch. The best translation we could get for the name was human-limb vegetable. So crazy a name !

And man, can they make some delicous tea.

Goodbye to Hong Kong; Hello Taiwan

Today we are leaving Hong Kong for our tea trek thru the neighboring island of Taiwan. Our time here has been too short and somewhat frustrating – rain, rain, rain. In fact, there is so much rain in parts of southern China that people are being evacuated as mudslides are endangering roads and houses. Some regions of the New Territories outside of Hong Kong are closed to travelers and residents of these areas are clamoring to stay despite being told to evacuate.

There is also devastating rain in Sichuan, adding more problems to the earthquake misery. Reuters News reported an earthquake in northern Japan. Ten years ago there was an earthquake in the central region of Taiwan, where we are headed. On many occasions something major has happened while we are traveling – the Chernobyl nuclear diseaster, 9/11, etc etc. Let’s hope not this time.

We accomplished much of what we set out to do in Hong Kong- visit tea shops and continue our tea education. But other things on our ‘to do’ list vanished like the sun. Next time.