Taiwan Tea Trip Photo Journal, November 2015

A recent visit to Alishan tea plantations in Taiwan surely added a new dimension to my daily tea enjoyment.  While preparing tea, I can visualize the sloped green tea fields, the aromas of fresh tea production seeping through the lodge window, the radiant smiles of the plantation B&B's owner....

                     

Below are my photo journals in 5 album links. Most pictures carry commentary captions.  So prepare a cup of your favorite tea, and take a high mountain field trip with me.  Enjoy! 

1. Tea field scenery near Ruili

2. Tea picking experience

3. Tea procession steps

4. Ruili tea plantation B&B stay

5. Ruili tea farmers assembly

(For interested readers, my visit to Tong Ting tea plantation entry was posted on Dec 7 2011; visit about 2006 Yilan tea trip was posted on May 23, 2011) 

Symbolism of plum, orchid, bamboo, chrysanthemum

In Chinese classic painting and literature, 梅，蘭，竹，菊 (the prominent plants for winter, spring, summer and fall: Plum , Orchid, Bamboo, Chrysanthemum) represent esteemed merits of gentleman's character : plum for ability to overcome hardships, orchid for gracefulness, bamboo for high moral standard and chrysanthemum for honesty. 

The characteristic weather pattern of the four seasons influences my tea choice as well.  In winter,  the earthy fragrance, golden amber color and full body of Pu-er or Oriental Beauty tea enhance the warmth while reading in my cozy study.

To welcome spring, I switch to lighter Oolong (i.e. Taiwan's high mountain tea and Anshi's Iron Goddess tea) for its pleasant floral fragrance and taste. 

In summer, the dragon-well green tea suits my palate with its clean scent and slightly bitter "I-can-taste-the-nature" quality. 

Then when autumn leaves turn to golden yellow and red, the robust and fruity flavor of Oolong from Taiwan's Tung Ting mountain compliments the harvest season's ambiance so perfectly!

My Recent Taiwan Tea Field Trip (Part 1: Nov. 11 2011: the tea lodge)

Just as I expected: once we settled with luggages, Mr. Lin, the lodge owner treated us with oolong tea produced from his tea fields.

The wood lodge's living room is warmly decorated with calligraphy, painting, bonsai and orchids.  Both tea table and serving tray were carved from single blocks of hard wood. 
 

Next: evening tea dinner

My Taiwan Tea Field Trip (part 2: Nov. 11 evening tea dinner feast)

most unforgettable among a tableful of yummy dishes:  

beautiful crispy flower petals on top of fried crunchy oolong tea leaves,

stir-fried tender celery stalks picked in the afternoon with taro strips,

the most flavorful chicken wings I have tasted ever-- braised with oolong tea in a clay pot.

My Taiwan Tea Field Trip (part 3: Nov. 11 midnight till 2 am: participation in tea production)

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.

My Taiwan Tea Field Trip (part 4: Nov 12: morning stroll near the lodge)

I was awakened by bird chirps and soft sunlight around 7 o'clock.  The garden greeted me with colorful pots of flowers.  Few steps from the backyard, I was among rows of tea shrubs on the slope of Tung-ting mountain!

Looking out across from the tea path, Chi-Ling Lake is refreshingly beautiful. 

After breakfast on the lodge patio, we were guided to vist a local farmer's cafe and its unique surroundings.

Tea Cuisine on the Horizon

Yilang Tea Lodge's garden

Yilang Tea Lodge's side garden

A report on the new trend of tea cuisine reminds me of a 2006 trip to Taiwan's Yilang tea plantations.  The road to the tea farmer's lodge took quite a few hair-raising serpentine turns on a narrow mountain road.  Another highlight of the trip was a rustic 10-course dinner prepared by the farmer family in a patio kitchen with free range chicken, mountain fresh field greens and mushrooms. Perhaps it was the most refreshing and tasty meal experience ever for all the diners around the table.  One surprise after another, the big bowl of tea-infused soup or stir-fried vegetable with tea leaves were greeted by incessant oohs and aahs!

On the way to the tea lodge

As a cooking ingredient, wine is a common staple for many cuisines.  Tea, or tea leaves, however, is seldom used and any recipe including it might appeal to but a few adventurous cooks.  Nevertheless, there are two Chinese dishes which are worth the effort to try (at least for cosmopolitan gourmets) due to the unique use of tea.  One is "smoked tea duck", a banquet dish prized for the golden brown color and subtle smoked tea flavor imparted to the duck skin and meat.  The second one is "Lung Jing shrimp": Lung Jing the delicate, green tea sprouts from West Lake and pearly pink shrimp velvety but slightly crunchy to the bite.  In my personal opinion, both are culinary masterpieces with exquisite combination of color, texture, aroma and taste. 

For tea's parallel to coffee's use in desserts, Japanese style "green tea cheesecake" has quite a following in Asian bakeries because of its beautiful color and refined texture.  Also, green tea ice cream has become a popular item for its intricate tea flavor.

Now I am looking forward to add more memorable tea dishes to my list if the "tea cuisine" trend actually takes off!

Memorable Tea Time

ideal view for afternoon tea

Hardly there is one day passing without my reading an article mentioning about tea. The title of today's NY Times op-ed piece "The Tea Maker" caught my eye.  Written by Yoko Ono, John Lennon's artistic widow, her short but poignant piece brings about the essence of her loving relationship with her husband.  It would invariably reminds many reader's own tea moments.  I recall my first formal tea as a teenager in an American teacher's house, the tea-toasting as a guest with my parents at a banquet,  the iced tea break during a garden tour with my daughter in a lovely creamy yellow room,  the rustic style tea tasting at the terrace where tea was produced, an elaborate high-mountain tea tasting prepared by the farmer's son with radiant happy face..... Occasions vary and long past, but the pleasant memories are refreshingly alive.

Tea leads to Taiwan Tour

Sun Moon Lake

Tea Terrace

A recent comprehensive travel writing about Taiwan by Simon Tisdall of the Guardian opens his narrative with an afternoon visit to a hillside redwood tea house sitting in a "garden of heavenly peace".  The visual description is followed by pages of seasoned journalist's objective reporting.  As a long time resident during my student days as well as a frequent visitor of the island, there are still so many places mentioned in the article that I have missed.

Frequent comments of my friends are similar in tune: that Taiwan is a never-ending surprise in the discovery of its unique culture, scenery, culinary delight, and esp. for me--tea houses !

Principle of Tea Preparation

One of my goals during the March trip to Taiwan this year was to visit "Luyu Tea Art Center" in Taipei. Although I didn't have time to take the series of tea classes, I did observe a teacher closely when she prepared tea for me to taste. With her help, I picked out several reference books and tea preparation DVDs. One book is especially helpful in explaning the importance of water temperature and steeping time:

• Water temperature: if close to boiling point, caffine (which is bitter) readily dissolves into water.
• Steeping duration: Both astringent and tea's essence elements (phenolic compounds and amino acids) release readily to hot water. The concentration of compounds extracted to the water is closely related to steeping time. Other influencing factors are the degree of tightness of the tea leaves and the amont of tea used.

From my experience, the above principle is quite agreeable with the resulting tea quality. Try for yourself with a light green Oolong: Use 1 flat tablespoon tea, add 8 oz. water at 195 degree F (before a rolling boil), steep for 5 minutes. The first steep is quite delicious!

Tea Storage Guide

Most of my tea-loving friends have the nice problem of "tea overflow": various teas in opened or sealed containers lining on the pantry shelf. The surplus teas require some tender loving care to keep them fresh. The World Tea Newsletter has articles covering sound principles for proper tea storage: purchase tea in small, vacuum-sealed package and after opening, store it in a tight container in a dry, clean place (avoid odor, light and humidity).

Prudent Answers for "Tea and Health"

I am happy to share this Q&A article from World Tea News with the readers. It gives prudent answers to questions my friends often ask me. Tea is such a rich and complicated natural element, questions on this subject would often receive "yes, but..." explanations from a conscientious tea scholar. My principle for health upkeep is "to eat and drink one's favorites provided by nature, but in a modest manner". The health benefits of tea could well be from the calming atmosphere than all those hard-spelling antioxidants! Look at the radiant Taiwanese tea merchant in the photo. I took this picture while he was preparing tea for customers to taste.

Tea and Chinese New Year

Even though the atmosphere of Chinese New Year celebration (this is the year of cute rat) here in America is promoted by few timely festivities, it still helps to evoke my memories about the joyous street fun and family warmth when I grew up...... After the new year eve's big meal, hot Lun-gen (i.e. dragon well) tea was a must to temper the sumptuous food. Then on new year morning, after dressing up in new red outfits, my sisters and I would line up in front of my parents for red envelops. There was always a glass of hot tea with gentle steam raising by my father's side. After the breakfast, we would accompany my father to a round of visits to friends and relatives for new year's greetings. The first thing the host would do upon our entering the house was preparing the best tea for my father. Then the conversations full of new year's plesantry followed...

"Social Intelligence" by Daniel Coleman brings out an interesting concept about positive social interactions as "vitamins for well-being". The author refers to quite a few pinoneering researches on the immune system's reactions to either positive or negative relations. In light of abundant reports about tea's benefits to health, what a nice idea to promote the social benefit of "tea drinking " as a "well-being vitamin "!

My father, My Tea

Whenever I think about my beloved father, I always picture him with a glass of Lungjing (pronunciation in Chinese of "Dragon Well", a well-known green tea from West Lake near Shanghai) by his side. In my momory, hot tea was always presented to him upon his arrival, be it at home, office or friend's house. I would then entertain myself by watching the floating tea leaves dancing in the glass. Soaking up the steaming hot water, the leaves start to uncurl and swell, picking up weight and sinking to the bottom of the glass one by one. It was fascinating to watch the tea turning slowly into the color of amber. My father would then take a long look of the tea broth, blow gently on the surface of the tea to lower its temperature, then took a slow sip. Next I would notice his joyful and satisfied look after the sip.

During my younger years, I thought that Lungjing was the tea per se. After I discovered the mellow Oolong teas on my own, my interest for teas took off ever since. Looking back, my father's immense influence on me about the life's "little delights" started with his love of tea.