Taiwan Tea Crafts?

[teatray]

@Randy the Intern, so many teas! As a biased (and pretty new) gaoshan lover, I'd like to add some remarks, hopefully useful in case you want to give them another try sometime.

• The Alishan seemed like your best best to get into them, but when I read how you finished it off grandpa style, it made me sad, as it reminded me of my own TTC experience. That's exactly how I got rid of the gaoshans I bought from them; they were not tasty to me. I see others recommend them, so maybe I was just very unlucky and you are just right that gaoshan is not your tea, but if you ever get curious again, I'd suggest trying another vendor for gaoshans.
• 1100m (I think the max alt. in the list, except for the Alishan) barely counts in the category. I'd try getting some from higher altitudes. That said, alt. is not synonymous with quality & I've drank wonderful sub-1K teas, incl. inexpensive gaoshan-style "substitutes", like Jade oolong, but there's more luck / sourcing experience involved. But sometimes it does seem a great contributor to quality: a 2021 tea I got from one of the highest gardens in Alishan (1600m) changed my perception of the area (which I thought of as decidedly mid-range)--it was one of the best high-mountain teas I've tried. (Outside of gaoshan, there are many traditional sub-1K oolongs that are great, but I know less about them. Dong Ding is one I really like, but not sure the one you got from Meishan is a good representative or even supposed to be called DD as it's not from the traditional territory for DD.)
• The gaoshans I'm looking forward to this year aren't out (some aren't even picked yet, due to higher altitude / larger leaf harvest). I could suggest some favorites but I felt last year was not too good for most, so not the best introduction or price/performance. Maybe see what people think of 2023 gaoshans in the following months and consider grabbing some later this year...

[Teafortea]

...
Organic Pre-Qingming Sanxia Qing Xin Black Tea, Spring 2023 - My god….what a tea. The minute I cut open the bag and smelled the dry leaf I knew I was in for a real treat. I halfway blame my American blood for having such an affinity for black teas, but I have never had anything like this before. The smell and flavors are so complex it's hard to describe. Very akin to some notes of the Sanxia Bi Luo Chun, but with more complexity and depth layered on into deeper black characteristics. It's like a spice cabinet with fruity notes. Liquor is light-medium thickness and it's silky smooth. Each sip is a gift from god. It hits all the notes of being a great tea for me. I didn't want to give this rating out so easily, but I have no choice but to say 10/10
...

I also tried the Organic Pre-Qingming Sanxia Qing Xin Black Tea - Spring 2023 and Spring 2022. Both were amazing to me but I could not tell which one is 2022 and 2023. My lot numbers #1135 and #1203. Which one is 2023?

[d.manuk]

Randy the Intern, so many teas! As a biased (and pretty new) gaoshan lover, I'd like to add some remarks, hopefully useful in case you want to give them another try sometime.

You should also try www.tea-masters.com for gaoshan

[Randy the Intern]

Thanks for the review!

What made you order from TTC instead of other Taiwanese vendors like Mountain Stream or Taiwanleaftea?

I've never heard of Taiwanleaftea. I've spent a lot of time looking at Mountain Stream and I just don't like people who seem to be serial entertainers. He doesn't seem like he's really in it for the tea. More like a financial opportunist. I've also seen a reasonable amount of testimony saying their tea was lackluster. This is just my personal opinion of course. After watching his video about how he got into tea I think it turned me off completely.

This is the video:

Basically says he got a useless degree in Canada so he moved to China as an ambitious business venture. Quickly failed at trying to do business in China. He was sitting on a bus and someone told him about Taiwan and he said "I've never heard of Taiwan before, I guess I'll try to go there instead." That doesn't breed confidence lol.

Hah! Fair enough. That totally makes sense. Canada's not exactly known for its advanced tea culture, it's much more of a coffee country. Though Westholme on Vancouver Island is pretty cool.

Yeah, starting off as trying to fill a perceived market niche makes sense, but like you said without the requisite expertise the quality of the end products will vary much more than someone opening a store out of passion or the desire to share great tea.

Sourcing tea is really interesting. A surprisingly large part of getting into tea is finding out who to get what kinds from and why, and trying to support the people that do it out of passion instead of those trying to maximize profits.

Like others have said, getting good tea in Taiwan depends on having good long term relationships with people who produce it. It just stands to reason that a foreigner who had no love for tea previously would have a hard time sourcing good tea.

[Randy the Intern]

I also tried the Organic Pre-Qingming Sanxia Qing Xin Black Tea - Spring 2023 and Spring 2022. Both were amazing to me but I could not tell which one is 2022 and 2023. My lot numbers #1135 and #1203. Which one is 2023?

My lot number is #1203 and that was the 2023

[Randy the Intern]

Randy the Intern, so many teas! As a biased (and pretty new) gaoshan lover, I'd like to add some remarks, hopefully useful in case you want to give them another try sometime.

• The Alishan seemed like your best best to get into them, but when I read how you finished it off grandpa style, it made me sad, as it reminded me of my own TTC experience. That's exactly how I got rid of the gaoshans I bought from them; they were not tasty to me. I see others recommend them, so maybe I was just very unlucky and you are just right that gaoshan is not your tea, but if you ever get curious again, I'd suggest trying another vendor for gaoshans.
• 1100m (I think the max alt. in the list, except for the Alishan) barely counts in the category. I'd try getting some from higher altitudes. That said, alt. is not synonymous with quality & I've drank wonderful sub-1K teas, incl. inexpensive gaoshan-style "substitutes", like Jade oolong, but there's more luck / sourcing experience involved. But sometimes it does seem a great contributor to quality: a 2021 tea I got from one of the highest gardens in Alishan (1600m) changed my perception of the area (which I thought of as decidedly mid-range)--it was one of the best high-mountain teas I've tried. (Outside of gaoshan, there are many traditional sub-1K oolongs that are great, but I know less about them. Dong Ding is one I really like, but not sure the one you got from Meishan is a good representative or even supposed to be called DD as it's not from the traditional territory for DD.)
• The gaoshans I'm looking forward to this year aren't out (some aren't even picked yet, due to higher altitude / larger leaf harvest). I could suggest some favorites but I felt last year was not too good for most, so not the best introduction or price/performance. Maybe see what people think of 2023 gaoshans in the following months and consider grabbing some later this year...

Nice to hear about your experience as well. I'll have to take this into consideration when I'm looking again. I'm not sure if it'll ever be the tea for me, but I'm happy to be proven wrong.

[Teafortea]

I also tried the Organic Pre-Qingming Sanxia Qing Xin Black Tea - Spring 2023 and Spring 2022. Both were amazing to me but I could not tell which one is 2022 and 2023. My lot numbers #1135 and #1203. Which one is 2023?

My lot number is #1203 and that was the 2023

Thx!! I will add the note on top so I won't confuse them.

[GaoShan]

I've had decent to good-quality teas from Taiwan Tea Crafts. The ones that stand out are their Shibi Oolong, which comes from a location near Shan Lin Xi and has lots of tropical and floral flavours. I also remember liking their heritage Bao Zhong, Yuchi Black, and a couple of their Bai Hao, though some of their other black teas were too astringent for me. Some of those pre-Qingming teas sound interesting! TTC has a big catalogue and you're bound to come across teas that might not perform as well along with the hidden gems.

Also, maybe green oolong just isn't your thing. Before deciding that, I'd get a few samples from Tillerman or Ethan from TeaForum.

[pedant]

...
I came into this experiment really wanting to try a variety of Taiwanese oolongs, but I found that overall I just wasn't impressed by them. However I'm discovering that making the assumption that oolong is the only good tea in Taiwan would be a grave mistake. The blacks, greens, and whites that I had were some of my fondest experiences with tea. Maybe I'm just not an oolong person, and that's okay. Given the quality of everything else, I'm sure these were probably a good representation of oolongs too.

Highly recommend TTC. I will be ordering again. And yes....it was better than the Mei Leaf order

great reviews, randy. thanks.

[Ethan Kurland]

I think I have not posted in this thread before because you seem to enjoy going out into the big world of choices mostly are your own.

I think there is a chance to do a lot less sampling but not everyone wants to avoid sampling a lot of teas.

Along time ago, I bought tea from many vendors, some specializing & some selling a large range of teas. Then I found a vendor who did most of the work for me, not selling anything below high quality. After that vendor closed shop, I needed to work again to find what I wanted. The work helped, luck helped, & kindness of a few people helped a lot (in person & on the forum).

Getting into tea is like discovering cuisine new & different from what one has tasted before. One can go to a restaurant where everything is wonderful or go to a restaurant w/ many dishes that he would not like w/ a friend who knows the menu & his companion, to lead his friend to order what he will enjoy.

Perhaps you have benefitted from visiting a restaurant that only serves wonderful dishes; &, to more difficult places w/ a guide. However, you might have visited the restaurant when you weren't really hungry & in a bad mood & the other places where you got good advice but misunderstood the good advice given to you. Who knows?

I do know that when one goes on a search, people like hearing about the adventure.
(Homer's Odyssey is hundreds of pages of a decade-long return from the Trojan War.) The classic stories of Boy Meets Girl or Man Goes on an Adventure abound while stories of a happy life of a healthy family living well doing their work & enjoying nature & art a bit along the way are not so popular.

Though not so interesting, I like to think that I am the restaurant where when servers are asked "What is good?", the answer is "Everything. The menu lets you know what makes sense for you." So, before you dismiss gaoshan from Taiwan, I suggest you take a break from trying any, then go to my thread & not be overwhelmed, there will only be 2 or a few choices. Try only one. 50 grams of one gaoshan used for 1 or 2 tea sessions daily for 2 - 3 weeks will teach you a lot, I believe.

When we are constantly in motion, moving from one tea to another, we are victims of mimetic fallacy. We travel but go nowhere. Cheers

[Randy the Intern]

Today I was revisiting the Gui Fei oolong. It feel obligated to report that my experience with this tea now is very different from my previous experience with it. I'd rank this among some of my favorite sessions with tea. Not sure what initially contributed to my poor experience, but all I can say is it's much better than I originally thought.

Like before, the wet leaf smell was very strong and pleasant. The soup was a beautiful golden color. The body is light, but the flavor was very powerful. Very one dimensional, but the honey note is overwhelming. What really shocked me was the mouthfeel. Very lubricating in the mouth. I could feel it penetrating deep into my gums. Left a very nice aftertaste that lingers for a long time. There's a fresh, light tingle when I breathe air, almost like the feeling I get after I've brushed my teeth. That might sound odd but I don't know how else to describe it.

Overall, I'm very happy with this tea now. I thought it would be criminal not to give it the credit it deserves.

[Ethan Kurland]

Randy,
It is so good of you to post about your return to this tea & the session that you enjoyed so much (in stark contrast to one that was not enjoyable). You give us a great example of one session not being enough to judge a tea. Different moods, parameters,.... whatever, give us a different session often.
Cheers

[Tea Serpent]

Hi everyone,

I was surprised to see so much praise for Taiwan Tea Crafts here. I tried many samples from them, but found them mostly underwhelming. A few were good, but none were great. I wonder if anyone here could help me figure out whether my impression reflects TTC's actual quality or might be my own fault for bad timing or bad storage.

First, I ordered their tea in late August and drank it mostly in September and October. Is that just too late or "out of season" for green tea and light oolongs that were picked in spring? (I'm more used to Japanese green tea, which seems to be good in any season, maybe because the sellers keep them refrigerated. I have no idea how TTC stores their tea.)

Second, I chose the slowest shipping option, which took like a month, and I wonder if all that time in warm weather was damaging. When ordering tea from far away, is it generally important to choose fast shipping for freshness, especially in summer?

I took some notes that I could share (similar to @Randy the Intern above, including some of the same teas, but with very different opinions), if it would be fair to post them despite the caveats.

[Bok]

I was surprised to see so much praise for Taiwan Tea Crafts here. I tried many samples from them, but found them mostly underwhelming. A few were good, but none were great. I wonder if anyone here could help me figure out whether my impression reflects TTC's actual quality or might be my own fault for bad timing or bad storage.

Different people, different perceptions. It all depends on what you compare it to and what your benchmark tea is for any given category. People praise all kinds of things – and in numbers. Doesn't mean a thing, trust your own palate.

[Randy the Intern]

All my notes were based on my first session with the tea. I've even came back to some and had better or worse experiences later on. Every day with tea is never the same, even when it's the same tea. I'm confident that TTC has good quality tea though. That much was easy to see.