We stayed in the area known for the classic "Tung-Ting" oolong tea. Thanks to Mr. Lin, the lodge host who treated us with tea dinner feast, I got to observe and participate in tea production at one of his relatives' farm house. We arrived around 8pm when he had already laid out the leaves for partial drying and was ready to stir the leaves for enzymatic oxidation.
With his artisan tea experience, he added the optional process of rotating the leaves in the bamboo cradle for further oxidation. One needs to be patient and observant in order for all the batches to go through similar degree of
transformation. Then the highlight of the evening (and well worth to give up sleep until 2am): the pleasant aroma released from tea roasting to stop its further oxidation.
