Taiwanese Oolongs, Spring 2013 Harvest

[SilentChaos]

I had one friend, whom works for Lin's ceramics pay about a $100 for 150 grams of Da Yu Ling.

I hope your friend was buying DYL from Song Lu tea farm (松露茶園) (105.5k).

Lin farm is constantly mentioned as the 105k farm by many. Is this the same, Song Lu tea farm?

Yes, Song Lu tea farm (松露茶園) is the name of Lin's (of DYL not of Lin's Ceramics) farm. The name of the farm itself is less well-known than Lin's name.

I had always envisioned the kilometre markings as ascending the mountain, but somehow didn't picture the terrain of actual farms being lower than their markings. This is why altitude is a better choice for a farm's description. Of course, this is no guarantee of quality.

....but...but....but...at 105km as altitude...you can get wing badges from NASA for being in space? The highest DYL tea I know is roughly around 2650meters, but SUPPOSEDLY they go up to 2800meters.

[SilentChaos]

BTW, how is the Spring 2013 DYL you are carrying and what altitude is it grown at?

Is this question for me? Assuming it is: The DYL that's out so far hasn't been up to my standards, so I'm not carrying any yet. I'm hoping a decent one will show up soon. This spring is really quite rough. Never mind production regions, it's come down to looking for batches of tea that are good. The prices aren't friendly either.

[茶藝-TeaArt08]

The tea happened, during testing and brewing, to not be so good and lacked some of the qualities that Fang Laoshi distinctly associates with a good, winter harvest, I believe it was a He Huan Shan, tea.

So is this gaoshan an inferior one?

Care you explain this a bit more? Thanks.

bagua7,

Yes, no problem. In the situation you quoted Fang Laoshi was merely saying, and I believe he was speaking from his familiarity with general notes of the tea from a specific area of He Huan Shan, possibly, in that exact situation the specific tea from a specific farm/area on He Huan Shan, I don't exactly recall, that the specific tea we brewed that day was inferior.

It's just that in the situation I related where we were tasting/brewing another student's He Huan Shan tea at Qiu Shan Tang teahouse that this student's specific tea (again a brand/seller of Taiwan I forgot the name of(edit: I looked in my notes and the tea was a Wang's Teahouses He Huan Shan tea)) appeared to be blended and inconsistent in both the color, style, and size of the leaves therein. As well, it did not produce a great quality tea brew/liquor for what the tea was purported to be, according to Fang Laoshi and all whom tasted it. Not having first hand dealings with buying tea from Taiwan farmers and not having Silent Chaos's experience of having to evaluate batch after batch of tea to bring to market, I remain uncertain about how much blending of superior tea leaves with inferior tea leaves takes place. It's only that, and my wife and I were just reflecting on this tonight, we were told by so many friends or vendors associated with tea in Taiwan, while in Taiwan, that blending of superior leaves with inferior leaves was a problem. Here I completely, and rather unfairly, defer to Silent Chaos's experience.

He Huan Shan is an area in the mid point of the Cross Island Hwy. composed of 7 mountain peaks that has many good teas/farms associated with it/near it. In fact, the Da Yu Ling farm (松露茶園...105.5km mark), though not part of He Huan Shan, is near (northeast of) the He Huan Shan area's north peak at 2700 meters above sea level (purportedly the highest tea farm in the world). (http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/jw!kaJ90YSTR ... .O/profile)

I remain grateful for all in this forum that encourage me to educate my own ignorance, whose daily practice and path of tea encourages my own, and for the free and detailed exchange of knowledge and experience that takes place here.

Silent Chaos, thank you again for your willingness to share your experience.

I offer everyone a sincere bow.

[Tead Off]

I had one friend, whom works for Lin's ceramics pay about a $100 for 150 grams of Da Yu Ling.

I hope your friend was buying DYL from Song Lu tea farm (松露茶園) (105.5k).

Lin farm is constantly mentioned as the 105k farm by many. Is this the same, Song Lu tea farm?

Yes, Song Lu tea farm (松露茶園) is the name of Lin's (of DYL not of Lin's Ceramics) farm. The name of the farm itself is less well-known than Lin's name.

I had always envisioned the kilometre markings as ascending the mountain, but somehow didn't picture the terrain of actual farms being lower than their markings. This is why altitude is a better choice for a farm's description. Of course, this is no guarantee of quality.

....but...but....but...at 105km as altitude...you can get wing badges from NASA for being in space? The highest DYL tea I know is roughly around 2650meters, but SUPPOSEDLY they go up to 2800meters.

where is Tea Home's joint?

[SilentChaos]

Tea Home is in Ming Jian Xian - basically in Lugu, Dong Ding, low elevation area. Why?

[SilentChaos]

It's only that, and my wife and I were just reflecting on this tonight, we were told by so many friends or vendors associated with tea in Taiwan, while in Taiwan, that blending of superior leaves with inferior leaves was a problem.

And you would be exactly right. Though not unique to Taiwan, the random blending of superior leaves with inferior ones, or what I call the 'profit-blend' tend to proliferate whenever demand far outstrips supply.

[Tead Off]

Tea Home is in Ming Jian Xian - basically in Lugu, Dong Ding, low elevation area. Why?

Because they say their farm where they produce and process the DYL they sell is close to the top of the mountain.

[SilentChaos]

Tea Home is in Ming Jian Xian - basically in Lugu, Dong Ding, low elevation area. Why?

Because they say their farm where they produce and process the DYL they sell is close to the top of the mountain.

Where do they say this? As far as I know, and I can be wrong, they don't have a farm in DYL growing the actual tea leaves. And again from what I understand, they source the leaves from farms in DYL then do their own roasting.

The above should be taken as my personal speculation, as I do not and cannot possibly know details about their operation.

Btw, did you read that from their Ebay DYL page? If you did, you might want to check their wording again.

[Tead Off]

Tea Home is in Ming Jian Xian - basically in Lugu, Dong Ding, low elevation area. Why?

Because they say their farm where they produce and process the DYL they sell is close to the top of the mountain.

Where do they say this? As far as I know, and I can be wrong, they don't have a farm in DYL growing the actual tea leaves. And again from what I understand, they source the leaves from farms in DYL then do their own roasting.

The above should be taken as my personal speculation, as I do not and cannot possibly know details about their operation.

Btw, did you read that from their Ebay DYL page? If you did, you might want to check their wording again.

I haven't checked in a long time, but it was from their ebay page. I remember them mentioning they were doing their own processing. Maybe I just assumed they had a farm as my conversations with them indicated their tea was grown in the highest altitude even though they stated it at a lower elevation. When I asked him why does he state that his tea is grown at a lower elevation if he indeed gets his tea from near the top, he said it was political and there was a movement to stop tea growing near the top of the mountain for ecological reasons. I was always confused talking to him and looking at their website. It's probably a language issue. I was never able to navigate their website (not ebay). The most confusing translation I've seen. Reminds me of some of the Korean sites I've seen.

[gingkoseto]

I don't think teahome's ebay page is run directly by the owner, but by a dealer connected with them (maybe their friend kind of dealer).

About the tea sourcing, I remember reading on tea home forum (it started several years ago and has almost zero activities now) that somebody asked, why do you sell Ali Shan tea, aren't you a farmer in Nantou? The owner said, Ali Shan farmers sell my tea too. Besides, why would anybody not living in Yunnan sell puerh? Why somebody as young as me sells oolong older than myself?

According to their website, some of their roasted dyl is roasted by themselves with leaves from dyl. I've never had any of their roasted dyl but have been thinking of trying some.

[gingkoseto]

I was always confused talking to him and looking at their website. It's probably a language issue. I was never able to navigate their website (not ebay). The most confusing translation I've seen. Reminds me of some of the Korean sites I've seen.

Probably not just a language issue Indeed their website is very 1990s. But I almost feel that's partially why I like them (like some other people mentioned earlier how they like Upton Tea because of their super long and confusing catalog ). I think their primary role is still producer and retail business is only a small part of their activities. They mention on their "about us" that they don't hire extra personnel for website construction.
They have a taobao dealer too, the taobao prices may or may not be higher than ebay prices (I'm not sure because of the exchange rates).

[Tead Off]

Tony, is everything okay with you after the earthquake?

For those who don't know, there was a 6.0 earthquake in Nantou County yesterday.

[茶藝-TeaArt08]

Yes. Blessings to everyone in Taiwan. The reports I saw marked the quake at 6.3. With Typhoon season at hand, the quakes often seem to shake up the land and make for dangerous slides when the rain comes. I hope everyone there is safe and well!

[SilentChaos]

Tony, is everything okay with you after the earthquake?

For those who don't know, there was a 6.0 earthquake in Nantou County yesterday.

All is good and well with me. Thanks you very much.

[sherubtse]

I have never ordered myself from Taiwan Tea Crafts, but I've heard excellent feedbacks from a very good friend of mine who is very much into taiwanese oolong. I should try it soon though.

I see that TTC has revised their shipping options:

http://www.taiwanteacrafts.com/2013/06/ ... -doorstep/

So now may be a time to try their offerings, David R.

Best wishes,
sherubtse