« Seminar: Food Writing for Food LoversKCTS9 Cooks Light & Healthy »

Virtual Tea Trip to Taiwan

On Sunday, my friend Jan returned from a Taiwan Tea Tour, and she brought back two (or was it three?) suitcases jampacked with tea and various tea goodies.

She also brought back many photos, which we had a great time viewing together.  I learned quite a bit as I experienced her trip vicariously.  Jan was generous enough to let me share a few of my favorite photos here on this blog.

A Few Photos from Jan's Trip

The man in this photo is beloved by me, even though I've never actually met him.  He farms and produces some of my very favorite teas -- the baozhongs carried by Shiuwen Tai of Floating Leaves Tea.  Shiuwen will be bringing in the new batches of his tea from this Spring, including those that regularly win awards.  Look for them on the Floating Leaves web site in about a month.

Photo Credit: Jan Ellis, Portland OR

Jan had several photos of large teapot statues and water features that seemed to appear regularly around cities and in the tea countryside.  One of my favorites was this weathered red  pot tucked away on a sidewalk.

Photo Credit: Jan Ellis, Portland OR

There were many photos of mouth-watering food and quite a few line-ups of teas being tasted.  This photo, though, was the one that made me salivate.  What a wonderful tea shop!  I believe that many of the items being sold here were antique. . . but there's also plenty of puerh and enough tea accessories to make any tea geek deliriously happy.

Photo Credit: Jan Ellis, Portland OR

Lei Cha is a ground up tea drink that I'd never heard of before.  It is a Hakka beverage, sold pre-packaged or made from scratch in a specialty tea room like the one Jan visited.  Nuts, tea leaves, seeds, and a powdered matcha. 

Photo Credit: Jan Ellis, Portland OR

 

Goodies for Me!

Jan’s generosity also extended to yours truly.  She gave me so many tea gifts that I am still beaming in delight whenever I look at them.   Below you'll see a packet of the Lei Cha, a big bag full of baozhong from my favorite farmer, and a few samples of other teas.



A special new tea table topper also arrived from Taiwan -- love the little guy pictured below.  He's a tiny painted frog on a shell, meant to sit on a tea tray or table.   Soak him in cold water, then pour hot water over him, and he spits a thin arch of water over the shell and a few inches beyond. 


 

 

Jan, I hope you'll post a comment if I got any of the information wrong. . . or if you have more thoughts to add!

This entry was posted on May 18th, 2010 at 11:55:30 pm and is filed under Tea.

2 comments

Comment from: Jan [Visitor]
You quoted perfectly........even I had fun remembering through the pictures.
05/19/10 @ 11:05
Comment from: Marilyn [Visitor] · http://heartsdelights.blogspot.com
Cindy,
Thanks for sharing Jan's pictures and stories. I have heard some, but not seen those beautiful pictures. I am right now enjoying some tea brought back from Taiwan. What a treat!
05/20/10 @ 16:20

Comments are closed for this post.