► Visit the Tea Garden
At October 19th, we went to Sheng-Jin tea manufacturing factory. The car reached a broad place, where there was a manufacturing factory in front of it. We walked into the tea manufacturing factory, and an enthusiastic farmer wave to us. He first explained to us the precautions for picking tea and basic common knowledge, reminding us that when picking tea, it needs to be tea leaves with one tip and two leaves. In addition, when picking tea outdoor, it is required to be careful of the beehive of hornets, snakes and ants. Since tea nowadays has to conform to organic and human health standard, there is no pesticide applied in the tea garden. After that, we wore bamboo hats and headkerchief and head out for tea-picking experience.
The type of tea we picked is TTES No.18 (Ruby). The tea farmer told us that that rough tea leaves are older and taster relatively bitter; the smooth tea leaves are tenderer and more aromatic, smooth and delicious. After that, we went to the tea garden of TTES No.12 and 13. TTES No.12 is small-leaf tea, the shape of its leaves is oval, with a light green color. It has an early date of sprouting, high pest-resistance property, moderate drought resistance and it is suitable for making Oolong tea. TTES No.13 tea trees are planted at the same time with TTES No.13, its properties are basically the same as TTES No.12, with less production amount. In the end, we went to the restaurant to document our process of picking tea, and profoundly experienced that it is not easy to be a tea farmer. It is only through abundant knowledge on cultivating and caring for tea trees and the spirit of perseverance to grow good tea.
Tea tasting experience
In the arts of tea lesson, Mr. Chen who has rich experience told us the historical stories of Taiwan’s tea, teaching us the concept of brewing tea and how to identify various types of tea. First, black tea can be divided into large-leaf type and small-leaf type. The taste of small-leaf type is fresher, such as honey flavored black tea. Then, Mr.Chen also told us some keynotes of brewing tea. That is, anyone can make a pot of good tea when controlling the water temperature, amount of tea and time. The benefits of drinking tea include waking someone up, strengthening blood vessels, facilitating digestion, lowering blood lipid and blood sugar, enhancing immunity and removing bad breath. However, one should also remember to avoid drinking tea after meals or taking medicine with tea and negatively affect its result. Also, tea is not suitable for brewing for too long a time. Injesting 150 cc. per day is the best option.
Moreover, not all the tea looks the same. Some of them is granular, some of them shapes in strip. The strip type of tea is suitable for lower water temperature, and the granular type suits a water temperature above 100 Celsius degrees. Every type of tea has its particular aroma. When tasting tea, the nose would first feel the comfort and beauty of tea, then the oral cavity would taste the sweetness and smoothness of the tea next. Tea can be divided into 3 kinds of taste—
Top notes: the aroma of tea felt by nose, including hot aroma and cold aroma.
Middle taste: the sweetness and smoothness felt by the oval cavity
After taste: after drinking tea, the taste remains in the mouth and the comfort throughout the body. The longer it last and the stronger it feels, the better the quality of tea.
