Tea Travel (Taipei - InGa visit)

It seems, from the blogs I read, and my own schedule, a fair number of Tea Lovers have a little nomadic blood running through their veins. I just returned to Dongguan from 3 days in Taipei.

Out of the three days, I managed one visit to a great area on the outskirts of Taipei city, "In Ga" or "Ying Ga", "The Parrot" in English. It's a veritable cornucopia of: Art Ceramics, all things tea, and various ancillary stores.
Li Shiang Taur Fang: .... My personal recommendation, this store carries; very desirable, high quality fine crafted tea paraphernalia.
Low end pots start around; 3,000nt (as pictured) with fine examples in the 40-50K range.
Stuff: I love stuff .. the workmanship and artistic expressions are among the best
I managed to drop a few "bob" (in old money). I'll post some pics when I get caught up, one of my new finds is a Tea Pot from Tao Fun Company, (http://www.taofun.com.tw/taofun/) design based on the Temple of Heaven and Earth. Their tea pots designs are truly innovative, executed in quality clay with obvious craftsmanship.

My Taiwanese friends (Xie Xie Ni) added 4 new teas, including"Oriental Beauty", from the 101 tea plantation, to my baggage. I'm half way through a six week trip and already overloaded with stuff to bring home.

Schlepping Around south and east China

The past couple of weeks has felt like a test run for the Olympic torch relay. My new companion is the Samsung Blackjack .. a life saver .. 3G with full Internet access (NO China Firewalls). The small screen has its limits .. but I can read blogs etc.On the plus side, travelling has provided access to many new tea resources, and time to meet up with long time friends.

Some highlights:
Matt is back in Australia.
Robin and Heather finish up in Hawaii tomorrow and head home.
Dave and I will be in Taipei next week.

I met my friend (Da Xia) and her family in WuXi .. (more on that later)
"How about a retail tea shop in Singapore?" ... !! That's the latest brainstorm.

Quick Update

Family and Friends .. hope all is well with you. Here is quick update:
Robbie and Heather are having a fabulous time in Hawaii, SCUBA, Kayaking and hiking.

You know its Robbie by the "blue fins" getting ready to embark on a nice "Navy Drift Dive"Back on board, loving life ..Robbie is a certified SCUBA instructor (a very good one) and recently got Nitrox certified

(Tech info) for Sean and Andrew:
Nitrox refers to any gas mixture composed (excluding trace gases) of nitrogen and oxygen; this includes normal air which is approximately 78% nitrogen and 21%oxygen, with around 1% inert gases, primarily argon. The most common use of nitrox mixtures containing higher than normal levels of oxygen is in SCUBA diving where the reduced percentage of nitrogen is advantageous in reducing nitrogen take up in the body's tissues and so extending the possible dive time and/or reducing the risk of decompression sickness (also known as the bends).

Andrew reports all is well at home. Sean is finishing up university for the summer, and will be home around Aug 18th.

Here in south China .. IT'S HOT .. VERY HOT ... I've been on the move since I landed, just over a week ago.
Matt and I went into Hong Kong on Friday, clear day with excellent views all around but just too HOT to enjoy walking around.
I love the backstreets, Kowloon, (九龍 nine dragons) near Mongkok MRT station, looking out from the entrance to Langham Place hotel.View from HK Island over to new territories / Mainland Today (Saturday) Niden, Dave and I are at the factory with one of our customers closing on shipment details.
Sunday evening, we have dinner plans for 15, and will "push out the boat" a little.
Next week Dave and I will go back to Shanghai for a two days and then Taipei for three.

Light of Day ??

I made it back to Song Shan Lake (Dongguan) but still cannot see the light of day.
I did sneak a trip to one my favorite shops and while drinking some very good Oolong I bought another tea table (don't tell Robbie)
NB: to all survival experts .. "If you don't have; Oolong or Pu-erh in your kit .. you are doomed to failure"

Also, China is still blocking most blogs and not all proxy servers work ...

Life on the move

Robbie and Heather made it to Hawaii, having a great time with a number of SCUBA dives logged and many more planed ....

I landed in Hong Kong Thursday morning .. into the Mainland by 10:00am.
Spent the night in Dongguan then off to Shanghai Friday afternoon .. will spend the weekend in Su Zhou -Kunshan and WuXi ..
Monday it's back toDongguan, where I hope to get caught up .. but might have to nip over to Taiwan for a few days ???

Did I mention it was 40 degrees (105f in old money) .. Air-Condition is your friend, along with endless pots of Taiwan High Mountain Oolong ...

Forgotten Tea (found)

Two new Bing's .. I found these still in my backpack .. Getting ready to back to China, these two cakes were still in there from last trip !!!

Meng Hai, 2007 Sheng Cha ..
Meng Hai Tiandiren, 2007, Sheng ChaBoth have; good composition, colour and a clean fresh aroma .. lets check back in 15 yrs ....

It's the weekend

An Odd palce for a cup of tea

A pun (paronomasia) without any shame: Tea in Obscura Places.
Don’t know why, but a number of random synapses firings generated memories of old haunts.
As is, obligatory in the UK tea shops are attached to “Places of Interest."
Camera Obscura, the first CCTV. The Camera Obscura, installed in 1836, is on the top floor of the old windmill tower. From it you can see panoramic views of Dumfries (Scottish borders) and the surrounding countryside. Billed as World's Oldest.

The Aberystwyth Electric Cliff Railway:...
Constitution Hill, known locally as 'Consti' at the north end of Aberystwyth promenade.
Installed on the summit in 1896, is the world’s largest Camera Obscura.
The Summerhouse: Probably the oldest in Aberystwyth. a perfect spot to enjoy afternoon tea.

Cafe Obscura: ....Bournemouth, on England’s south coast. Only a few miles from Havant, where I once had an office.

Dance Partner

No partner? Have a cup of tea.

(more) Tea in Bicyle Racing

Lipton may not be your Cup of Tea .. But hat's off to them:.....

LIPTON Tea is title sponsor of the "TEAm LIPTON" Pro Cycling and Triathlon team, the only elite-level team of women road cyclists and triathletes in the US.

Tea and Bicycle Racing.

A few years back my office was next door to “Celestial Seasonings."
Only if you lived in or around Boulder, could see how this came about.
In Boulder there are "Car lanes" on the Bike Roads...(this one for Heather)



It Started as the “Red Zinger Classic” .. later the Coors Classic.
Starting in 1975 as a brainstorm at the Boulder, Colorado, Celestial Seasonings herb tea company.
President Mo Siegel and staff concocted a bike race that might draw attention to cycling as a sport and a healthy lifestyle—good for people and the environment, while setting a new bar in American sports promotion.

The Red Zinger Classic came to life with the richest prize-list ever in US cycling!
In 1980, Siegel sold the race to Michael Aisner for $1, then doing PR for the event, and handed beer mogul Peter Coors the sponsorship baton—

The "Coors International Bicycle Classic" was born. The race grew into a national event, with: network TV, a Warner Bros movie, stages in Wyoming, California, Nevada, and one year navigated a bubbling volcano on Hawaii's Big Island.

Great painting: Cup of Red Zinger by: Carol Marine of: Austin, Texas
Final Podium 1986 Bernard Hinault and Jeanie Longo

Tea stage in Laguna Hills

Tour de France excitement is all around our house, so; dans l'esprit de Tour (in the spirit of the tour) Today’s stage:
Robbie made an early solo breakaway on the fast down hill to the living room. She quickly cleaned up last nights tea “stuff”. Fresh water in the kettle, Pot and Cups clean … A perfect lead-out.
I pulled back the gap and we had a two person breakaway on the long flat TEA stage.
After 4 pots of 12yr old Shenpu Menghai, Heather bridged the gap and the 3 person effort quickly dropped another two pots. At the base of mount Vespucci I made a solo run at the Col de Commerce…. a 12 km steady climb .. keeping my lead in the mountain stages .. We (Anna & Mike) celebrated with Pu-erh (12 yr loose Shupu )....



Juan Mauricio Soler, today's stage winner...The normally stoic Vino' weeps after conceding more time today!

Last of the weekend Sun ..

Sunday, just a perfect day in So. Cal. A brutal day in the Alps for the riders in this years "Tour de France" ..
Alexandre Vinokourov, grinds it out ...Clan update .. home and abroad.
Robbie and Heather, worked at the church in the afternoon.
Andrew worked.
Trevor worked and played in water polo tournament.
Sean, his roommate and their girlfriends spent the day in Napa Valley.
Cameron dropped off some furniture to store while he moves to a new place.
Matt spent a couple of days in Hong Kong ..

Later in the day we got the SCUBA gear readied (for Hawaii) ..
This week I'm on the bike, no excuses, weather perfect ... no category 1 climbs!

It's Saturday and the Tour is in the Alps.

July 2007, the Tour de France bike race.
Cheerio to London:...Bonjour to the Alps:....A kick back morning (for me) I just watched the bike race then made tea .. how hard is that.
Finished up part III of my; Tea, Chinese style posting.
Now its on to more tea and a lazy day. I promise to be more active Sunday (honest ) ..

Tea, Chinese style, a social indulgence (Part One)

For me, tea Chinese style is above all else, a social indulgence.
Even as a party of one, it is enjoyable and beneficial.
Drinking tea (20+ yrs) all over south east Asia and China has afforded me this viewpoint.
Often language and perceived differences, off-put westerners from getting involved in Chinese tea preparation and serving, thus ultimately missing out on one of life’s simple pleasures.

So to that end I'll keep this in plain English and avoid unfamiliar terms.
At first, tools, paraphernalia and process look alien, complicated, unfathomable, somewhat fascinating and different from what is understood in western tea processes.
First principle: Take your time, DO NOT Hurry the process.
Keep in mind, “It’s only tea, just that, tea, add hot water and serve.”
Preparation, Organization and practice, practice, practice, “The more I practice the luckier I get” (Gary Player, S. African sportsman)

Preparation; gain as much information as you deem necessary. Read, visit tea shops, observe and talk with people.
Once you have a general understanding of equipment, usages and process, proceed and acquire the requisite “stuff”. It’s all about personal taste, there are NO tea policemen. (Other than your taste buds and budget.)

Before we get into: tea preparation and serving, let's look at the toys: ..

Central to all this is an area to make/serve tea: Tea table, simple bowl, specialty serving box, even a towel on the floor will suffice.
Simple bowl that holds a teapot and cup on a small tea towel. A slightly larger wooden bowl is read to use.

Simple, self contained bamboo lidded box. Our well used travel kit, box is deep to hold other needed stuff
This design (still in the store ).. not my taste but it offers a lot in a convenient package.. Extremely attractive hand craved tray that simply rests on a table.
Custom build tea table with inset tray, table hides a built in waste water container.
  The tea table is your stage, size and aesthetics need to please you.  Basic requirements are: an even surface to place cups pots etc while you make tea. The surface has to facilitate water drainage.
Tongs, the only tool I deem as a necessity. (improvise, chopsticks etc) but the central function must be embraced. Use tongs to manipulate drinking cups during cleansing. As you develop your individual style, tongs can be put to many uses.
Straight, curved, dark, light, bamboo, exotics .. all a personal choice and what works for you.
Please avoid metal, they fight with the clay/porcelain/ceramics of the cups and pots.  Other tools: a pick and powder tea spoons/scoop. The pick is used to clear obstructions from: teapot spouts, filter holes etc .. wood / bamboo are best. Small scoop, no real role in the process, can be used to help get spent leaves out of the teapot ....
Scoops: you will ultimately adopt one as your favorite. (more later) A common spoon can be substituted or a shake from your tea container / caddy. GET A Scoop. (sometimes referred to as a: Tea Shovel).
Bamboo mats and hand brush(s), again various sizes and colours, serve a variety of functions. A small brush can be used to help clean up the table, move water along. The mats can be used over the slots/holes on a tea table to help filter the flow of spent water. Tools come as individuals or in sets .. many to pick from ... NB: the "rings" that help contain the tools on some sets can be used as a "funnel" to help guide dry tea into teapots (see later)
Tea mat - coaster, cloth to high end hand carved exotics. A practical way to show some style.
Tea strainer, ceramic with fabric inserts tend to last and stay cleaner, inexpensive ones need to be replaced periodically.
Tea towel, you will spill, so get a few. (I have a lot!)
  Tea and storage: light and air are the to be avoided. Keep your teas in and opaque air tight container. As simple as using a clamp on the original package. Note the small single serving containers. A good tea shop will repack for you. NB: Pu-erh requires air circulation.
Example of clamps and various sized packaging options.
  Cups, various sizes and shapes .. personal style (will vary with experience)
Cups, Matched pair (by volume) a nice way to involve others in part of the process (more later)
  Serving Jug: used to serve tea into cup(s)

Teapot, used to infuse tea .. various types made from "Purple Clay" in various colours.
  Tea Caddy, these are for Pu-erh teas and allow the tea to breath
 Kettles, many options to choose from, be piratical and have an eye to safety.
Glass, a good pratical way to go. This is the set up I use in China. It employes heating via Induction, a much safer alternative to open flame or "hotplate"


My US office set up, again Induction heating.

A larger kettle used at home
Prelude to Part B .. stuff comes together .... and we'll talk about the: all important WATER, H2O.