This YouTube film brings me a heartwarming story in our Taiwan tea's history.
Taitung and Hualien two counties, we used to call them "Back of the Mountain in Taiwan". They locate on the other side of Central Mountain Range, facing Pacific Ocean...
In 2009, I had visited there 3 times: one scouting trip, one with 2009 TOST, and another one for the Indigenous tea bush study... Since then, I have thought of helping promote the teas from that district..."HuaTung Encanto" is what I tried to brand the teas from that district. The unique tropical weather and special cultivars planted there, something that Taiwan tea industry has overlooked in the past, will draw new attention with many new ideas and programs, especially when Terroir being valued more and more in tea.
Actually, TRES / Taitung Branch is such a beautiful place with wonderful facilities, and they are about to write new history for Taiwan tea. (Please click to see the link of our 2009 TOST visit.)
Seeing those fallow rolling machines are busy running again after 50+ years, confirmed what I have in mind for the past few years. Mr. Wen's father is from my home town, Kuanshi/Hsinchu. He moved over to Luye/Taitung to expand his family's tea business there when Kuanshi was still the Capital of Taiwan Black Tea. Just like many fellow tea professionals in that era...for securing more resource of crude tea to back up the strong demand...younger members of many tea families were sent over to Hualien or Taitung for having new tea plantations and tea factories to produce more materials to transport back home town for the refinery. Hua-Tung tea has long been treated as a secondary or supplemental tea for blending, and not like other tea districts in Taiwan famed with certain specialty. While Taiwan black tea was not competitive any more, business was gone and worse after Taiwan started importing tea from overseas...
Nowadays, with younger tea entrepreneurs who redefine their business, finding new niche and also with TRES / Taitung Branch's continuous R&D and guiding the farmers and factories making new teas...a new era is coming... I believe HuaTung Encanto (Paoli Oolong, Pomelo Oolong...) will soon be known and pursued by tea connoisseurs from the World.
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