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
“Bai Yai” – The Old Tea Tree of North Thailand
The Camellia Sinensis Assamica tea species has been growing wild in the form of trees in most south east Asian countries for centuries... Though the production of green tea was the prevailing method in those times, the processing methods varied regarding drying and heating procedures, in particular the production of post-fermented tea produced in a way similar to Pu Errh tea can be tracked back for many decades... the new Chinese settlers, who had been playing a key role in the outlawed trade, started getting back to those old assamica tea trees and took up a more commercial production of green, and now also Oolong tea from the leaves of those old trees native to north Thailand. In and around the Chinese KMT settlements, such as Doi Mae Salong, they no longer collected the tea leaves only from the wild growing trees, but also started cultivating the plant in tea gardens... These teas, namely our ShanTea, our DMS Bai Yai leaves green tea, and our DMS Bai Yai leaves Oolong tea, are often referred to as “good everyday teas”... When people start describing the taste of these teas, they will often use attributes like “earthy”, or “grassy”, all centered around the element “earth... This, I think, the ability to create or reproduce a whole world just out of aroma and taste, is indeed one of the greatest virtues (say: qualities) a tea can possibly have to offer. READ MORE
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 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...