Sourcing Tea in China – Chapter 2: The “Qi” of Tea – Wild Pai Mu Tan and Artisan Black Yunnan Golden Needles
Sourcing Tea in China – Chapter 2: The “Qi” of Tea – Wild Bai Mu Dan and Black Yunnan Golden Needles –... 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
Doi Tung Tea, Pt. 1: How Poppy Fields Turned Tea Gardens – The Royal Development Projects
At time of King Bhumbol Adulyadej's (also Rama IX.) accession to the throne on June 9, 1946, large parts of North Thailand and North East Thailand were widely isolated from Bangkok at the surrounding Central Thailand through geographic, infrastructural and cultural barriers... At the beginning of the 1950's, king Bhumibol started an intensive program, in whose context he traveled the country tirelessly for decades to its remotest corners to assess the situation and problems of the people on site by himself, consider possible options for remedy and improvement, and then initiate and accompany the identified measures... the Royal Development Projects... Until well into the 1960s, the cultivation of the opium poppy the use of the derived opium for medical purposes as well as a everyday means of leisure and recreation, were more or less an integral part of the daily life of many of the Northern Thai mountain people... The Golden Triangle... The Doi Tung development project maintains divisions in the fields of food, forestry, gardening and landscaping, tourism and artisan craftwork... Up to the Royal Development Project's initiative, tea was a common beverage in North Thailand only with the Shan and some of the hill tribes originating from China. They harvested tea leaves from wild growing tea trees... the cultivation of tea plants imported from Taiwan spread very quick in and around the above mentioned Chinese settlements, with the former opium stronghold Doi Mae Salong as the new tea capital of the north... Meanwhile, North Thailand has earned itself a name especially for its fine Oolong teas, but also green teas, and most recently, a rich and mild black tea from North Thailand have conquered many tea lovers' hearts worldwide and established their place of origin on the world map of tea. READ MORE
Tea Preparation and Accessories: The Chinese Tea Ceremony
There are numerous ways of preparing tea... The following video illustrates the preparation of Oolong tea (here the Oolong Nr. 17) in a variant of the Chinese tea ceremony as it is practiced by our Northern Thai suppliers... The tea ceremony has its origins in China, the country that is quite the cradle of all tea culture... One could say, the Chinese tea ceremony is a mixture of ritual framework, situational cirumstances and individual arrangement/personal discretion... Purpose of the tea ceremony is to achieve the best possible taste of the tea, the realization of the highest possible degree of beauty in the ritual's arrangement, and a social or individual situation of utmost harmony, in other words: the perfect moment in space and time... Besides the Taoist ones, Confucian and Buddhist influences, references and analogies can be found in the Chinese tea ceremony... Tools and Accessories of the Tea Ceremony... The "Tea Boat" (Tea Table)... The Teapot... The Teacup... Degustation Cup/Smelling Cup... The Gaiwan... The Tea Bowl... Tea "Cutlery"... Glass Pots... READ MORE...
Tea Cultivation in Northern Thailand – History and Development
While the world map of tea cultivation generally offers a rather stable appearance with little changes over the past centuries, a new spot had to be added to it just recently: Northern Thailand. Where opium fields dominated the mountainous terrain’s altitudes beyond 1000 m until about 20 years ago, making it an integral part of the infamous Golden Triangle, today a highly diversified variety of cash crops covers the slopes, among them fruit, nuts, vegetables , coffee, and, last but not least, tea. How Opium Fields turned Tea Gardens... Two factors played a key role in the initiation and development of the commercial cultivation and processing of high quality teas in Northern Thailand:
1. Thai Royal Projects 2. Ethnic Chinese Communities Especially Doi Mae Salong soon developed a broad spectrum portfolio of tea products, ranging from high quality Green Teas via Chinese and Taiwanese classic Oolong teas such as “4-Seasons Tea”, “Dong Ding Tea” and “Oriental Beauty” Tea and a range of scented or flavored teas, for which Jasmine Tea, Osmanthus Tea or Rice Tea, a particular Northern Thai/Shan areas specialty, might serve examples, to some herbal teas made from local herbs such as the Chinese “immortality herb” Jiaogulan and Safflower Tea. Just recently, Doi Mae Salong has even started producing a Black Tea that is often compared to a high quality Darjeeling by tea connoisseurs. READ MORE...
Doi Mae Salong – Center of Northern Thai Tea Cultivation
Venue Doi Mae Salong, Northern Thailand, in the heart of the Golden Triangle: it is 6 a.m., when Mrs. Sumalee lifts the roller shutters of her tea-shop, located at the main street of the town in the Northern Thai mountains that is populated exclusively by ethnic Chinese… Just little more than 20 years ago, the hills of Doi Mae Salong, whose slopes today show a picture of one tea garden besides the other, were still covered with opium fields. The inhabitants of the Chinese mountain enclaves in Northern Thailand, Doi Mae Salong and Doi Wawee, deprived of their main source of income made a virtue of necessity and bethought themselves of another, millennium-old Chinese tradition, the knowledge of the cultivation and processing of tea. READ MORE...
Teas from Thailand NOW at Siam Tea Shop!
For your personal needs tea order please visit our Siam Tea Shop: Oolong Teas, Green Teas, Black Tea, naturally scented Teas, Herbal Teas, Jiaogulan Tea, Safflower Tea, Pu'er Tea, Shan Tea
Product and Price Information for Resellers:
Oolong No.12; Oolong No.17; 4-Season Oolong Tea; Dong Ding Oolong Tea; Beautiful Girl Oolong Tea; Oolong Tea, leaves; Oolong Tea, gunpowder; Green Tea; Green Tea, leaves; Green Tea, gunpowder; Black Tea; Black Tea, leaves; Black Tea, tea bags; Jasmine Tea, Rice Tea; Osmanthus Tea, Oolong Ginseng Tea, Jiaogulan Tea, Safflower Tea, Pu'er Tea, Shan Tea!
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Teas from North Thailand: Products and Species
Green Teas, Oolong Teas, Black Tea and (naturally) scented teas from Northern Thailand... Oolong teas are partially fermented teas of the "Camellia Sinensis"... The degree of fermentation varies between 8% and 85%. The origin of Oolong teas is China... From there, the cultivation of oolong teas spread further across South Asia: Japan, Taiwan, Korea (Guangdong), and more recently Northern Thailand. The tea plants for cultivation in Thailand were originally imported from Taiwan’s Alishan region... Green teas are unfermented teas of the "Camellia Sinensis" species... Black tea is fully oxidized or fermented tea... Northern Thailand produces a range of naturally scented Oolong and Green teas, to which natural aroma donors such as jasmine, Thai jasmine rice, ginseng or osmanthus flowers are added... Jiaogulan - "Gynostemma pentaphyllum" - the Chinese "Immortality Herb", is an herbaceous climbing plant that has earned itself a worldwide reputation as traditional Chinese "miracle" herb...health benefits... Oolong N°12, Oolong N°17, 4-Season Oolong Tea, Beautiful Girl Oolong Tea, Dong Ding Oolong Tea, Green Tea, Black Tea, Osmanthus Tea, Ginseng Oolong Tea, Jasmine Tea, Rice Tea, Jiaogulan, Shan Tea... What we call Shan Tea is tea from a tea plant that has been native to the mountainous regions of Thailand and Burma for a long time.. grown by Shan farmers... READ MORE...
Journey to Doi Mae Salong
Destination of our journey is Doi Mae Salong... ...Chinese town high up in the Northern Thai highlands... The history of Doi Mae Salong
...the town was a sort of Chinese Wild West, living from the opium trade... The area today produces more than 200 t of tea a year and the quality particularly of the local Oolong Teas... Doi Mae Salong, Thailand, is just perfect for the cultivation of tea: altitude, landscape patterns, and climate... Oolong Teas, Green Teas, Jasmine Tea, rice-scented tea, 4-Season-Tee as well as Jiaogulan and Ginseng Teas... During the following factory visit and demonstration of the processing of the freshly harvested tea leaves... visit to the tea plantations... 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...