Formosa

A summer thunderstorm rushed in and every 10 minutes would drop buckets of water on us. Either before or after, mosquitoes swarm around me, piercing through clothing and at times, not sure if I should keep my eyes open because they might bite my eyeballs by accident. My clothes are soaked. My sandals are squishy and muddy. Can't tell if I am stepping on mud or other brown mushy stuff. No harvesters are out picking tea. My cousin the mad driver zoomed his way up and down Tung Ting Mountain with us but nature won. I gave up, went indoors and drank some Charcoal Roasted Tung Ting with Mrs. So, my friend who lives on top of Tung Ting mountain. Her husband is the grandson of the founder of the village of Tung Ting. Her 80 year old mother is out picking tea at Li Shan, and no one could stop her, let alone weather. There is really no one else to pick tea anymore, and she doesn't want all those great tea buds go to waste. We can not get up to Li Shan this year. It will take me 3 days to get around the island. I am alittle exhausted at this moment, the mosquitoes have probably, like vampires, sucked all the red blood cells out of me. Mrs. So and I spent a few hours trying to figure out what bug actually eats the Royal Courtesan. We finally figured out, with the help of professionals at the research institute, that we are both correct. They are technically leaf hoppers who appear whitish and both hops and flies with their wings, and are a kind of tiny cicada. I have to call them leaf hoppers from now on though. In any case, much gratitude to these bugs, because they give us the Royal Courtesan Oolong, none as unique and with such intoxicating fragrance in the palate. Mrs. So also won second place in the tea making competition this year, in the women's division. Well, there were only 30-50 women, she said, it wasn't a big deal, most women don't process tea and she is one of the few.
Anyway, I managed to get the crew over to see the 300 year old indigenous tea bush, not the one they are cultivating but one of the original ones on the island that gave hope, 150 years ago, that tea could be successfully grown here. The village was founded when 12 of those Wuyi varietals were brought from Fujian to propagate on Tung Ting, and thus, the beginning of one of the treasures of the tea world- Formosa Island, the Beautiful Taiwan tea.