Hong Yue - NEW Black tea from Taiwan!

In the 1920's, the Japanese introduced assam tea plants to Taiwan and for many decades, Taiwan was famous for high quality black tea, much of it consumed domestically or in Asia. 

5 year old Hong Yue black tea farm in Nantou.

Hong Yue, as translated from Chinese means "Red Jade" or Ruby. This special breed of tea bush is a cross of Burmese Wild Tea and Taiwan Wild Tea. Ruby Black as we call it or Hong Hue, is the premier black tea cultivar in Taiwan and renders a very unique character if processed with skill. Ruby Black has a distinctive aroma of Clove, Wintergreen, Camphor, Red Date, Raisin and Cinnamon. Ruby Black brews a very assertive, strong flavored cup with a deep red infusion color and is best for gong fu cha style brewing, using a lot of leaf and short infusion times to yield multiple cups from the same serving of leaf. 

One of our employees, Susana, tried it and had this to say, "There are teas that make me stop and smile and this is one of those!  I filled my guywan about two thirds of the way with leaves, used 19o degree water and brewed about 16 infusions! My infusions were only seconds long. The aroma of camphor and wintergreen is very prominent.  I highly recommend this truly special tea.  I'm really into organic farming practices, so it's great to see the images of the garden." 

Too small for organic certification, but we still cultivate Hong Yue without pesticides or chemicals.

Snails and lady bugs and spiders are found throughout the garden.

 

The yellow flowers seen are related to peanut. A little portion is planted in the tea garden and it spreads rapidly, creeping along the ground. They are planted in the tea farms because they are nitrogen fixing herbs and help to nurture young tea bushes. They hold moisture in the soil. Their root systems aerate the soil and create an environment where beneficial bacteria thrive thus providing nutrition and nitrogen to the tea plants in place of fertilizers. After some time, they are mulched into the soil when the tea trees are older and stronger. 

 

The nitrogen fixing herb's roost system is dense and protects the soil and holds moisture in the soil.

>>Purchase Hong Yue

Travel update from Joshua: Shizuoka, Japan

The Shizuoka Prefecture in Japan produces about 70% of Japanese green tea. Shizuoka, which translates into "tranquil hills" has been producing green teas for more than 800 years. Located on the south eastern coast facing the Pacific Ocean, Shizuoka's unique terrain, rich soil, balance of sunshine and rainfall along with dense fog are the right combination for quality green tea production. 

The Shizuoka airport offers an awesome green tea service. I ordered Fukamushi Sencha from the Makinohara district in Shizuoka and it was prepared by an expert tea instructor in the airport tea shop. The tea shop only hires certified tea instructors. He had great brewing skill.

 This tea menu is a map of Shizuoka and you can choose your tea by origin. Very nice!

Here a Japanese Tea Master performs a tea ceremony with his fellow tea masters from Korea and China at the World O-CHA (tea) Festival in Shizuoka.

This is a poster for the World O-CHA 2010 Festival in Shizuoka.

We offer a few wonderful green teas from Shizuoka: Genmaicha, Genmai Matcha, Sencha Superior, Sencha Yuzu and Sencha Sakura.

Imbibe rates Rishi Chai highest!

The ever enlightening and beautiful Imbibe Magazine featured a taste test in their Nov/Dec 2010 issue, preparing and tasting six different chai concentrates. Among the competition only one was found to strike a perfect balance of black tea with real spices and subtle sweetness – our very own Masala Chai Concentrate! Imbibe rated our chai the highest with 4 1/2 stars, calling it "boldly nuanced; nicely balances black tea profile with varied spices and light sweetness..." For the full taste test results and to see who didn't make the chai cut, download the article here or see below.