Jin Xuan Oolong (Taiwan Tea Cultivar No. 12), the most versatile of Thai-Oolongs
In principal, you can process any tea plant species’ leaves to a near-indefinite variety of teas: you can process them as a green tea, a black tea, or an Oolong tea... Still, with time a processing standard has evolved for most or all known tea plant varieties... However, for some tea plant varieties there isn’t just one standard, but several alternative ways to produce different teas of equal desirability have emerged instead... Our Taiwan Jin Xuan Oolong tea cultivar No. 12 is a perfect example for this... I have come to know it alternatively as an Oolong tea, as a black tea, and as a “winter tea”... Taste and aroma of the Jin Xuan Oolong tea... we have the grassy elements, reminiscences of green tea... we have the earthy base notes that are so typical for Oolong teas... we do have some sweetness, too... another description I have often used to describe Jin Xuan Oolong tea: a most “honest” one among those “fine” Oolong teas... READ MORE
DMS Jin Xuan Black Pearls – how “black” is it, really?
Almost 2 years ago, in the beginning of 2011, when I first introduced the (just “invented”) black tea from North Thailand, the “tea world” initially responded with the same skepticism... In both professional and tea lover circles, a discussion has unfolded on whether our DMS Shi Er Black Pearls really are a black tea now, or even a red one, or rather a very highly fermented/oxidized Oolong tea instead... Black tea: Western term for “completely” (beyond 94%, as a rule) fermented / oxidized tea of the Camellia Sinensis species... Red tea: Traditional Chinese term for “completely” (beyond 85% or 90%) fermented tea of the Camellia Sinensis species, however only with respect to Chinese teas... Dark Oolong tea: not a term defined by “science”, however, it is a winged word in tea lover circles, mostly used to describe a tendentiously rather high fermented / oxidized Oolong tea... Our “Black Pearls”are produced on the basis of Jin Xuan Oolong No. 12 cultivar (Chin. “12″ = “shi er”)... My preparation recommendations for the DMS Shi Er Black Pearls are based on my experiences gathered in meanwhile many hundreds of infusions... READ MORE
Thai Tea – Tea cultivation in Thailand
In the area today forming the border region Northern Thailand/Burma, tea was already harvested from wild growth at a very early stage...The Kuomintang Army...Doi Mae Salong, a small, picturesque town, situated at an altitude of 1800 m above sea level...part of the legendary Golden Triangle...Royal Thai Tea Project...Tea cultivation at Doi Mae Salong...the opium cultivation in the mountain enclave being completely replaced by one of the cultivation of tea...more than 200 tons of tea annually, and the quality particularly of the locally grown Oolong teas, but also the Green Teas, and more recently Black Teas, for which the plants were originally imported from Taiwan....Doi Mae Salong provides just perfect conditions for tea growing...also produces tea scented with jasmine flowers, the Chinese "immortality herb" Jiaogulan, as well as Ginseng Tea and other scented teas like Rice Tea or Osmanthus Green Tea...Other Tea Cultivation Areas in Northern Thailand, especially the regions Doi Tung and Doi Chang...Tea cultivation in the Shan areas...The Shan call their plants 'Ning Lung'...ideal conditions for a particularly fine tea...Many Shan are from childhood on familiar with the cultivation of tea trees...benefit the Shan refugees via a percentage levy on the realized proceeds from the sale of ShanTea amounting to 20% of total sales..READ MORE...
Siam Tea Blog
The purpose of this blog is to introduce you to the world surrounding the cultivation of Tea in Thailand... the mountain community of Doi Mae Salong...this blog deals with the tea and general culture of the various mountain tribes and particularly with the ethnic Shan people...One of the Shan's centres of tea cultivation on the Thai side is the village of Pang Kham. More about the dark local tea grown there...The Project ShanTea is a concept for the provision of a sales market for small Shan tea farmers...20% of the sales price of Shan Tea, a dark, savory tea harvested and processed by the villagers of Pang Kham from up to several hundred years old tea trees...A general overview of the origins of tea cultivation in China... particularly Green Teas and Oolong Teas have been enjoying growing both national and international popularity... tea cultivation in Thailand...the tea plants grown here, which were mainly imported from Taiwan originally...For more than a decade now, an increasingly vivid tea culture and tea cultivation develops particularly in the region of Doi Mae Salong, coined by its Chinese population... teas from Thailand...a range of Thai Green Teas, Oolong Teas, and Black Teas, naturally scented Thai Teas such as Jasmin Flower Tea, Oolong Ginseng Tea, the Chinese “Immortality Herb” Jiaogulan, and, of course our product Shan Tea... Doi Tung Tea...Royal Thai Development Projects... Siam Tea Shop...Tea Music... Siam Tea Blog... newsletters...discounts. READ MORE...