Thursday, May 28, 2009

我的春2009 阿里山高山烏龍茶到了

Yesterday I recieved my shipment of Alishan High Mountain tea (阿里山高山烏龍茶) from my friend Charlies in Shizhuo, Taiwan (石桌台灣). Charlies told me that this tea was picked on May 2nd and finished on May 3rd, then he baked the tea for about 2 hours and packed it after cooling on May 5th. His tea bushes are "soft-stem oolong" (軟枝烏龍)*, and were planted by his father 24 years ago.

Three photos taken at Charlies' tea garden and beautiful homestay!






I wasted no time opening the box and brewing up a bowl of this new oolong tea. The sweet fresh aroma of high mountain oolong instantly transported me back to Charlies' pristine mountain home. The tea exceeded my expectations with its heady fruit-sugar aroma and notes of apple, tangerine rind and pine needle. It has a thick smooth body, lingering sweetness, and a touch of mellow comfortable roasting.

Here are a few photos from yesterday's 8 wonderful infusions:








This oolong tea is now for sale! I currently have about 9 Taiwanese jins** of this tea available. It is packed into half-jin bags. The cost is $9.50 per ounce or $80 per 300 gram bag. A half-ounce sample is available for free (one per customer) upon request, but people outside of Seattle will have to pay $3 for shipping. I am only selling this tea to customers in the USA (unless you ask me very nicely... then I might consider an international sale). Payments can be made via cash, paypal or check. The tea can be shipped (add $5), delivered or picked up depending on your individual needs. Please email me at blackdragontea@gmail.com if you're interested in buying some of this excellent high mountain tea. 謝謝您!

* According to Houde Asian Arts: Soft-stem oolong is the original oolong species introduced to Taiwan from Fujian, China in the mid 19th century. Today, only a few farmers still grow soft-stem oolong out of nostalgia or special orders from clients. Many tea farmers have moved to heartier cultivars such as qingxin (青心),jinxuen (金萱),or four seasons (四季).

**A Taiwanese jin is 600 grams or about 20 ounces.

1 comment:

jeffrey said...

the aroma of the tea just out of the bag is PHENOMENAL. i haven't been to this tea farm (or any others, yet) and i was magically transported to charlies farm.

i was fortunate enough to get a jin of this and it is worth every penny. it was so compelling, i paid retail (i myself am a wholesaler and retailer) and now am sharing it with friends.

as to the taste of this tea...what a wonderful fruity, floral, and indeed piney profile. it is just so yummy with a great full mouth feel.

i steep new-school, in a pot with infusor, western style. at a couple of grams per cup i got 4 great steeps from it.

love it.

- dr. o