My Story

One year ago I embarked on one of the greatest traveling adventures of my life, and the beginning of a new future. My long time love of tea evolved into a curiosity and interest in the process of making tea. I had dreams of making tea, living in the mountains, and having an unlimited supply of yummy delicious tea. I made it a reality for one week when I participated in the WWOOF program placing me on an organic tea farm. Little did I know that this adventure would lead to another friendship and a new business venture.

WWOOF is a volunteer organization linking farmers with farmers-to-be, or anyone interested in learning the ropes of organic farming. In exchange for room and board, you do various chores on the farm you stay at. For instance I did a lot a weeding, helped to make organic fertilizer (from yellow bean), as well as spraying the fertilizer. It was about 4-6 hours a day of work, and the rest of the time I spent hanging out with the family and learning about tea.

Because I came to work a month before their picking tea, we went to a neighbors' (not organic) and helped them make Jin Xuan. Here are a few pictures:

This experience has been integral to the start of my latest adventure: Green Leaf Tea Co.

This blog is dedicated to, but not limited to, highlighting organic tea practices, the teas that I will occasionally have for sale, scholarly scientific journal articles on tea (for all the tea geeks out there), brew methods, and short anecdotes from my time in Taiwan.

In the next post, I will introduce cold steeped tea, and how you can make it in time for spring/summer!