Will Taiwan tea survive?

Mr. Lee has no idea what to do with so many awards. They will get recycled unless I am willing to take some off his hands. I thought since we have been carrying his Baochong Oolong for so many years, I should be able to legitimately display one of his awards.

Poor Mr. Lee. The costs of everything from electricity and fertilizer and machinery have gone up double this year. Labour though, has gone up 3 times, but quality is only half. The only tea pickers are now 70-80 years old, and if they didn't like the lunch you serve, they may not come help you harvest next time. Mr. Lee has far too much tea to harvest, working by himself as all the kids are in college, all the brothers have left the family farm, and there is no next generation of tea farmers. Period. He hired some migrant Indonesians this year, and trained them to pick. They must be paid by the hour, not by the weight of the tea picked, because they are so slow they would never make any money at all. I watched them. I am faster.

This, folks, is yet another far cry from the idea of the need for Fair Trade. Mr. Lee is actually being gouged by the labourers, not the other way around. I don't want to report how much he has to pay for labour. It will make all of us cry. He makes almost no money on his tea at all, despite the first, second places in competitions that he wins. So disheartened, he wants to just give away all his awards.

The Baochong this year was sweet, with a feel of 'Mian'. What is mian, yet another Chinese tea term? I explained to my crew that mian is the feel of cotton, not cotton mouth, but that soft, cushiony feel in your mouth as the tea coats your palate gently, as if you were walking on clouds. The Baochong this year had the feel of mian.

Everyone was astounded over how great the tea tastes brewed with the mountain spring water. Of course, why else would I be there every year? Aside from learning a new skill set, such as wielding a wild boar hunting machete.
Baochong is called Ching Cha, or Blue Tea, as it is more lightly oxidized than most. The bushes are razed after 15 years or so and new ones replanted. Opposite of the desire for old trees, the leaves here need to be young, soft, and able to receive as much nutrient as possible from the roots, considerably more shallow than the tree size teas.

It was the season for Taiwan Beauty (or Oriental Beauty, or Bai Hao Oolong, or my favorite, Peng Fong Cha " B.S. " Tea). The tiny buds are hand picked after the green pin size leaf hoppers have extracted the tea juices, thereby oxidizing the leaves while still on the bush. After complete oxidation, you get a red oolong tea, with its own special taste and quality. Very expensive, as the buds are small and hard to pick. The farmers don't see the point of it and that's why they call it B.S. tea!

We will try to support the great culture of Taiwan tea for as long as we can. So many of these handcraft arts are disappearing,giving way to commercialize bottled teas. What will happen to his 4 mountains of teas, after he retires and none of the kids want to continue? Turn it into a mountain resort, Mr. Lee said, for tourists.