Ponfeng Tea
I
was recently drinking tea in the home of a young tea maker in his home in the
small rural town of Peipu, 北埔 in Hsinchu county to the southwest of
Taipei. This little town is mainly inhabited by people of Hakka origin and at
weekends it fills up with visitors eager to purchase the fresh farm produce of
every kind for sale along the street sides in a very lively market atmosphere.
Some old houses have been restored and there are good restaurants and a number
of tea houses as well as shops specializing in the tea produced by individual
growers.
The
young tea-grower I know is also an artist and designed his own logo (the 2nd
picture). HIs name
is Yang Hwan-jang.
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Like many other growers in Peipu, he produces Pai-hao (white-hair) oolong tea (白毫烏龍茶). This tea is also sometimes known as “Oriental Beauty” (東方美人). His own brand is called Ponfeng Cha (膨風茶 Swelling Wind tea). This name is probably a joke, for PongFong (椪风 or 椪風 huff and puff) is the Hakka dialect name given in the area to tea that is sold at an inflated price to unwitting buyers.
In
the following pictures, we see the distinctive color of fresh shoots in
a photos then in a painting Mr. Yang made. The tea he makes is all sold
to a dealer friend. He also makes simpler, lightly oxidized winter
oolong tea in December. He is now exploring red tea, which
he makes using his Oolong cultivar (he uses another cultivar for
the Pai-hao tea.
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The Oolong cultivar
The Oriental Beauty plantation
The Oriental Beauty cultivar
