Meet the Tea: Ruby #18
When we think of Taiwanese tea all of the wonderful oolongs that are produced there come to mind. However, one of my all time favorites will always by Ruby #18. You might also see it referred to as red jade. Many people don’t realize this but black tea was once a primary export for Taiwan, particularly during Japanese occupation following the first Sino-Japanese War. Var. Assamica trees were introduced to the Sun Moon Lake region of Nantou because the climate there was ideal. After over fifty years of research, cultivar #18 was released by the Taiwanese Tea Research and Extension Station in 1999. It is a hybrid between a native variety and var. Assamica from…
Guest Post: Taiwan Mountain Tea – The Indigenous Plant
Today’s guest post was contributed by Andy Kincart of Eco-Cha Tea. We often hear about how tea was brought to Taiwan from other countries but I have never heard of an indigenous variety even existing until now. On my first visit to the Nantou Global Tea Expo this year, I bumped into the niece of one of my oldest tea farmer friends from Lu Gu. She was there helping a friend as a vendor of his tea from the Sun Moon Lake Area. What first stood out to me about their booth, among hundreds of vendors, was the backdrop photos of reddish-purple leaf buds of tea. I instantly thought, “Iʼve never seen that…
Guest Post – The Taiwan Tea Research and Extension Stations (TRES): Basic Information and Developments by Kevin Craig
Today I’m excited to share a guest post from Kevin Craig. We “met” through Twitter and after connecting on various forms of social media, I quickly discovered that his passion for tea rivals my own. The various cultivars of tea is something that I wish I knew more about so I’m thankful to have him share this information with you all. Before getting started on the subject material, please let me thank Nicole for allowing me to submit a guest post to her blog. Nicole was very patient in waiting for this submission. Thanks again, Nicole. Over the past month, I have had the pleasure of sampling about a dozen various black and…