Taiwan Oolong Tea Development & Know-how Export to Thailand
Recognizing the potential of the local tea industry, the Taiwanese government in the beginning of the 20th century decided to purposefully promote the development of Oolong tea varieties, and in 1926 established the Tea Research Institute of Taiwan. The institute’s work in the 1970s culminated in the setup and operation of a range of experimental stations, so-called “Taiwan Tea Experiment Stations” (TTES), where a series of Oolong tea cultivars were developed in a targeted manner on the basis of the institute’s scientific research results... Now, what does all that have to to with us and our teas from North Thailand? Simply spoken, Thailand owes the rise of its tea industry and its arduously conquered entry on the world map of tea for a good part to the above described Taiwanese efforts of developing Oolong tea cultivars with defined characteristics and requirement profiles... This way, a number of cultivars one after the other finally made it to North Thailand, where they have been successfully cultivated, and where they meanwhile have developed their own northern Thai profile. Typical representatives of these cultivars in north Thailand are Jin Xuan Oolong No. 12, Ruan Zhi Oolong No. 17 and 4 Seasons Si Ji Chun Oolong tea. READ MORE
Tea Production in Doi Mae Salong, North Thailand: the picking and processing of our Oolong Nr.12 Jin Xuan
The following video shows "the becoming" of our Oolong No.12 Jin Xuan, together with the Oolong No.17 Ruan Zhi the major trademark of tea cultivation and production in Northern Thailand. Both hybrids originate from Taiwan's Lishan Highlands, from where they were brought to the mountains of North Thailand for cultivation in 1994. The effort has definitely been worth it, as our little film clearly demonstrates.
Principally, three main categories of tea processing can be differentiated: the processing to
• Green tea (not fermented)
• Oolong tea (part-fermented)
• Black tea (fully fermented)
Two more (sub-) categories can be added to the above-mentioned classification
• White tea (very light fermented)
• Pu Errh tea (post-fermented)
In the following description, we take orientation on the conditions at our producer partners in Doi Mae Salong, North Thailand. 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...
Doi Wawee
Doi Wawee is a very remote village in the mountains of Northern Thailand, located about 45 km west of Doi Mae Salong at an altitude of about 1500m above sea level. I had repeatedly received hints from private and Internet sources that maintained that, just like Doi Mae Salong, the resident community of the Chinese Kuomintang village of Doi Wawee grows tea on a larger scale... The town’s only accommodation option is the Laolee Hill Resort, run by a Chinese family that, as we learn later, does not only own most of the surrounding tea plantations, but also played a crucial role in the idea and realization of importing tea plants from Taiwan, and the subsequent years of development of Doi Wawee’s tea cultivation and distribution... The conversation soon turns to tea, and we hear a brief history of the tea cultivation at Doi Wawee, where, amongst other things, we learn that Doi Mae Salong, Doi Wawee’s larger Chinese “sister city” in Northern Thailand, was initially inspired to the cultivation and processing of tea by the Doi Wawee community... Visit of Doi Wawee’s tea plantations
For a while, we climb about the tea slopes, where photographic tea plantation motifs and perspectives open up in abundance... Visit at the tea factory
In front of the factory, large amounts of tea leaves are spread out for drying in the sun. Further piles of tea leaves are just about being evenly distributed on the ground... Teas from Doi Wawee... ...a branch of the tea-processing in Doi Wawee, which is unique for Northern Thailand: the production of Pu’er tea. Pu’er tea is a Green Tea, post-fermented over a longer period, non-oxidized and usually pressed... 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...