Super T-Day ! (12/6/2016)

JT & Tea's cupping studio is having a super busy day!

We have three groups of visitors. Tea time, one after another!

I) In the morning, a few friends here to pick the teas for Holidays Giftea Project.  Ends up we are working out on selecting one Jade Oolong and one Formosa Bonita.

II) After lunch, three tea friends are here to discuss tea business and designing tea educational program for the 2017.  Mr. James Norwood Pratt, a renowned tea master and popular author of tea books., Mr. Sanjay Guha, a famous Darjeeling tea specialist also successful tea business strategist, and they are accompanied by Mr. Dhavin Shah, the CFOO of International Tea Importers (ITI).

Followed by the discussion...we then have two rounds of tea fun:
First round: to cup 7 Beauties of Taiwan Oolong.
Second round: to taste the three teas that I have recently developed with my Taiwan Tea Institute team. 

(*Sensei Pratt generously shares his comments on these 7 Beauties...)

(7 Beauties show various appearances, colors, aroma, flavors and finishes...  

       Bhavin and Sanjay are checking the aroma, also recording the beautiful dancing leaves... )

 (After the cupping, we have another round of tasting three teas 

Taiwan Tea Institute has recently developed...

 We believe in Affordable/Available Quality Oolongs

from Eco-farming gardens will be here to stay.)

III) Ms. Jeni Dodd, the one and only Dodd that I know besides Mr. John Dodd, shows up after our office hour.  She is visiting from Manhattan and helps out at the Los Angeles Tea Festival.  We do have some good study on the teas that I brought back from my recent Taiwan trip, and sip my signature baked Buddha's Palm while having some catch up.  When JD meets with JP, there are always non-stop laughter.

Los Angeles International Tea Festival (12/3-4/2016)

Once a year, JT & Tea has its tea for Tea Festival visitors to purchase.  And there are quite a few repeat customers always stop by early to make sure that they can have what they are waiting for.  Good to meet these tea friends at the Los Angeles International Tea Festival every year.

Besides having our booth, Josephine and I also have offered two sessions of workshops to share with tea enthusiasts who want to learn more about Taiwan Oolongs.  On 12/3, we do World Tea Origin Tour (Taiwan) -
 

 

And, on the 12/4, we have Taiwan Oolong Sommelier Class introduction:

 

FB-78 is getting closer to satisfy OB fans!

Checking a crude tea of FB-78, (*Formosa Bonita with Chinsing Dahpan cultivar), and compare the aroma, flavor and tea liquor with Oriental Beauty that made with the same leaf from the same garden just at different season...

Well, this is just a crude tea, when it is completed with refinery finish... it could be much better!

I always believe FB-78 can satisfy many OB fans, if OB were not available or affordable... 

Glad that this project is getting there...

TaiwanTeaForum @NCHU on 11/4/2016

We have an immediate post #TOST2016 activity in Taiwan, on 11/4 we participate a conference and forum discussion at National Chung Hsing University in Taichung.  I am honored to deliver the keynote for this 1104 Conference.  Josephine has also led full house audience to chant her famous "We want Taiwan Oolong Tea" !

This is indeed a physical check-up for Taiwan Tea Industry especially with so many compliance change on Food Safety & Environmental issues domestic and internationally.  I tip my hat to the organizer, National Chung Hsing University, for very well designed agendas and forum discussion.  Taiwan tea industry has drawn more attention from the scholars, college students and young tea entrepreneurs... it is very positive!

 

Taiwan Oolong Sommelia @ Teatalk Academy (Taipei) on 11/6/2016

Josephine and I have been invited by 'Teatalk Academy' to offer a training course after #TOST2016.  This is our first time to give this 3 hour course in Mandarin. 
We are very excited to meet many young and enthusiastic tea professionals in Taiwan.  Quiet a few of them are the second or the third generation of family tea business, also some have returned from overseas to launch their new tea shops or taking care of new tea gardens... Timing is perfect, and I do hope this training might help them to think out of the box. 

Taiwan Oolong Sommelier course has total 4 sessions of training.  This one is the session I - Over all introduction and Theory. 

Thanks to Tommy Tang of Teatalk Academy to provide these photos for our documentation.  Sunny and the assistants are truly helpful for tea preparation during the session.

Taiwan Oolong Cupping & Grading Workshop @ WTE2016 (6/16/2016)

 

 

 

Move up to another level with Taiwan Oolong Cupping and Grading.  A new course developed by Taiwan Tea Institute, Dr. Jerry Liu and myself.  We want to demonstrate how you can have your personal cupping studio set, and how you do your own cupping. 
With a Cupping and Grading Log designed for you to practice and document each cupping and also to grade the tea with score while cupping.  The grading reference chart for 7 Taiwan Oolong is very useful to train yourself to break down the total score in 5 areas:  Appearance, Tea Liquor, Aroma, Flavor, and Wet Leaf. 
On this particular class, we have invited Master Johnny Tu from HGT to give a demonstration of his cupping routine.  Chris Anderson, our TOST friend, has shared his own testimonial about the cupping skill he has learned over the years.

Please enjoy the photos taken from the session.

World Tea Expo 2016 - Show is On!

Another year passed by, and World Tea Expo has returned from Long Beach, California back to where it started - Las Vegas, Nevada.  Good to see many 'old' friends, which means the tea business are good, I hope.  Also, we have met a few new tea friends who are interested in Taiwan Oolong.
Please enjoy the photos taken at the show floor from 6/15-17/2016.

After so many years that Taiwan tea pavilion has its own stage inside the booth for tea education and cupping / tasting sessions... many show participants had stopped by and wondered why we don't offer the classes this year?  We felt a bit disappointed with this change.  Instead, we were invited by our tea buddies, ITI and Tea Source, to offer 'Taiwan Oolong Update' in their booths on 6/16 and 6/17.

Please enjoy the photos of ITI session

Please enjoy  the photos of Tea Source session.

Stage Event: Ceremonial Oolong Service @ World Tea Expo 2016

We have a stage event during the show hours in 2016 World Tea Expo.

Ceremonial Oolong Service  -
 
Instead of having traditional Oolong Tea Ceremony,  we are thinking to demo how we can prepare the tea ready for serving on many important gatherings.  RTS - Ready to serve.  A new avenue for retailers or tea rooms operators to work with caterers and parties or events organizers... offering non-alcohol fine beverages, Taiwan Oolong, yet to be served in civilized style.  Something that people will appreciate and will remember.  The rest, let the words to travel.

Working closely with Wedding Planners, Party Coordinators, Event Organizers...to include Ceremonial Oolong Service in their programs.  With the Spectrum of Taiwan Oolong complex in color, aroma, flavor... we believe it is so easy to find perfect Oolong to fulfill the great memories.

Further more, we encourage tea rooms, tea bars, or restaurants to infuse fine oolong properly, cool it, bottle it and chill it.
RTS Fine Oolong will be a big ticket for adding up the revenue.

Please enjoy the photos taken from this stage event on 6/15/2016.
 

World Origin Tasting Tour (Taiwan) @ 2016 World Tea Expo

World Origin Tasting Tour is a one day program ahead of World Tea Expo opening the show floor.  It is designed for tea entrepreneurs to 'travel' from one origin to another... and to taste and learn the tea from representatives of each origin.

Within 45 minutes, we have to introduce Taiwan's tea history, geography, tea districts, tea cultivars, and also offer 4 Specialty Taiwan Oolongs provided by Taiwan Tea Manufacturers' Association.  This year, we have two Oolongs are first time to be introduced:  Taitung Oolong and Formosa Bonita., in addition to Alishan Jade and Lishan Amber.

Thanks to our Team Taiwan friends, who have done an efficient job to make sure every attendee gets the Taiwan tea map and leaflet.  The volunteers in prep room also done a wonderful job to bring the tea according to our schedule and infusion instruction.  It won't be possible without a good team effort.

Please enjoy the photos taken by Frieda.

Tea Talk @ Shakeng Tea Club on 8/13/2016

Shakeng Tea Club organized by Norman Shu. A good opportunity for local tea professionals to meet regularly and also to have chance that everyone can cup and review various samples that brought by attendants.  Each meeting has set a theme, and will invite guest speaker to do the presentation. Not only for members to sharpen tea expertise together, also a networking to built around the tea trade.  The tea club's routine venue is at the historical and beautiful Shakeng Tea Manufactory in Henshan, Hsinchu, Taiwan.

 

I admire and salute to Norman and his team, and I know how much efforts they've put in this club. The set up and clean up before and after each event requires passionate love in our tea industry that carries on from the family.  My father, no doubt is the No.1 fan of this Shakeng Tea Club.

 

Original schedule is set to have its 20th meeting on 9/3/2016.  Since there are so many tea friends cannot make it to participate my afternoon workshop at Lantia1918, due to the limited capacity. Thus an additional 8/13 morning meet-up was proposed by a few members.  I am aware that Norman made his announcement on 8/11 and very soon registration filled up within such a short notice.
Here we are at the Shakeng Tea Club, and I am very honored to be invited to be the guest speaker for this "Special" meet-up.  I am also shocked that many of these friends are actually my facebook friends and we get to meet in person finally.  What a small world!  How I love this tea business! 

I have also led a cupping of 7 Taiwan Oolongs after my talk on "How to re-define Taiwan Tea and plan for its international marketing."
 
Please enjoy the photos of this special event.  (*Thanks to Yu-Hsiou, Jiun-Tsai, Mr. Shen-Ming Shen and Ms. Vivi Wen. the best volunteers!)

CommuniTea @ Lantia1918.com on 8/13/2016

1) Finally, it is event time...

Glad to have a sold out crowd to come to Lantia1918.com for this tea event.  

We are getting ready for it.

2.) Tea-One Tasting on 7 Taiwan Oolongs is officially on...

Step by step, to learn how to harmonize the '3 T' - the right amount of Tea, the right Temperature of water, and the right steeping Time.  These 7 volunteers are my best partners and we have an outstanding audience that participate the tasting class closely all along!  Enjoy the action!

3.) Self Introduction time...

After the tasting class, time to introduce our volunteers and also each participants. I am grateful to have such a wonderful venue offered by Lantia group, and the event organizer, Teatalk Academy. Well, the most important people are all the friends and volunteers, without everyone there, it is meaningless.  Meet these people!

4.) Super Serving Crew:

I usually rely on my better half, Josephine to take care of tea serving during my leading the tea tasting class.  On 8/13, I am much obliged to the Lantia Staff, also a few fellow tea colleagues that Tommy has arranged.  They are Super!

5.) Mission is achieved.

Sincerely hope the simple guideline for making a good cup of tea has passed on to many tea lovers. Also the art, the culture and the tea fun will be fermented here after. Bravo Lantia!

Due to the limited capacity,  there are videos recorded by Lantia for Facebook Live on this event:

Tea-One Tasting… the opening:

https://www.facebook.com/541910842629052/videos/704681513018650/

Step by step, hands on making your own tea and knowing about it.

https://www.facebook.com/541910842629052/videos/704687843018017/

Knowing the 7 Beauties…

https://www.facebook.com/541910842629052/videos/704728326347302/