Going Green

I'm lucky to be in Taiwan during tea competition season.  I prefer winter season teas to spring season ones; I think they have more body, but sometimes at the cost of smoothness and/or fragrance.

I've already tried some competition-grade Alishan and Baozhong, among other teas.  After several seasons of trying various competition-winnings teas, I am certain that the general trend for teas is becoming greener in taste.  Oxidation and roasting levels are lowering.  Judges are, in theory, reflecting upon the taste demands of consumers.

The trend of going green in teas is a shame.  Greener teas require less work and don't need as strong of a tea base to produce (although the best ones will still have a very good tea base).  Producers are incentivized to do less work and create teas that are closer to the green tastes of winning teas.  More and more tea fields are maximized for production versus quality, and the result is inferior grade product.  Over time, tea masters lose their skills, and the art of roasting - which is all-important for oolongs - will diminish.

My Tieguanyin teacher is currently preparing for the competition.  The submission of teas is tomorrow.  He is one of the few tea producers left in Muzha that makes non-blended, high-roast TGY.  We worked on the 2nd roast of his tea all day yesterday and now that he's 2/3 of the way towards completion, I already know he won't win any awards.  I've tried winning teas for years and they are light-to-moderate roast, mid-oxidation with a very strong and clear fruit fragrance that is a major characteristic of the tea.  The brew tends to be closer to yellow than the traditional orange. 

Anxi, the birthplace of TGY, produces tea that is so green and fresh that it makes me feel nauseous.  It is difficult to find a skilled master roaster there nowadays.

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"It's too green, I don't like it.  Ng...just too green, what a shame."

The Elder had just come back from Pinglin where he was working with some Baozhong specialists prior to the recent competition.  I told him I thought such was the trend for all Taiwan teas, but he said that you can still find really good traditional-style production, although I think it's a bittersweet story.  Since there's less demand for traditional-style oolongs, the prices aren't as high as ones that are competition-style.  However, the cost to produce old-school teas, in terms of labor & resources, is higher, so the tea farmers that don't "sell out" make less money.  There are still some random, old-school holdouts that refuse to go with the tea trends, but they're dying out.  Others simply must make tea that sells to support their families - very understandable.

"It's just tea" you might say, and you wouldn't be wrong.  However, tea is an integral part of the culture here; it's a philosophy, an art and a symbol of identity and pride.  Everyone in Taiwan knows that their high mountain teas are world famous and they tout that with pride.  There are permanent exhibits on teaware at the National Palace Museum, and it's a rumor that if the deal goes through, a Chinese consortium may buy an entire mountain in Taiwan to produce high mountain teas. 

On my way now to Dong Ding to try competition teas; they should be doing it later this week.  No revival of Hong Shui style there, although competition-style DD hasn't gone as green as many other teas.  My teacher's nephew will submit for the competition and he generally wins in some category.  I congratulated him last winter on receiving a 2nd place prize and my teacher nearly smacked me on the head.  His nephew dared not to raise his head.  That tea base was very good, my teacher said, and it should have won 1st place or higher if his nephew had taken the time oxidize and roast with complete focus.  Talk about pressure!