Friday, October 9, 2009
2009 TOST - Stop by Dancing Crane Tea District (6/24/2009)
After our visit at the World famous Taroko National Park, we are heading south to Taitung. On the way, we stopped by a tea district in Rueisuey, Hualien. This tea district has a beautiful name - Dancing Crane, to describe the charming mountains and the surrounding river. Japanese used to produce Asame black tea from this district.
"Tropics of Cancer" line is crossing this area. We took a group picture here before we visited the tea gardens of Mr. Yeh and Mr. Kao, who invited us to taste their teas at their tea shops. Most farmers have their tea plants behind or beside ther tea retail stores. For the decade, tea farmers here actually enjoy good business of retailing their specialty teas, such as: Honey Green, Honey Black, Pomelo Oolong, Ruby 18... to the tourists, domestic and foreign.
The tea cultivars here mainly are Da-Yeh Oolong, Chin Sin Da Pan.. Many of the farmers moved here from northern Taiwan about 30 years ago. At that time, they were here to develop tea plantation and tried to make tea to supply to their home town or their head quarters in Taipei. We have seen many farmers are practicing organic or non-toxic (pesticide free) in their tea gardens. We were invited to Mr. Yeh Fa-Shan's big house to enjoy great fruits with nice tea. From his back yard, we got the best spot to see the famous River of Shiou-Gu-Ruan crossing through the Dancing Crane Mountains...(Josephine got few good shots of it.)
We were having a long day...and we all wonder: where and how our hotel in Taitung will be?
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Asame black tea made by the Japanese? Would that be a Western-black tea, or red tea to the Chinese? Or would it be Puerh? Because made by the Japanese doesn't seem to fit either of those.
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