Day #116: Maokong tea-tasting


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Asia » Taiwan » Taipei
July 29th 2013
Published: August 6th 2013
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Maokong is famous in Taiwan for the oolong tea that grows there, but locals say not to bother with the tea houses that serve the local tea because they are very overpriced, but to go for the spectacular view of the mountains and of Taipei from the cable car and the hikes to the temples in the area. I therefore had an enjoyable two-thirds of a day walking from temple to temple along quiet paths, tea plantations all around. But just as I was heading to get the cable car back, a huge storm struck, the rain really bucketed down. I tried to hide under my umbrella and see it but once the thunder and lightening became simultaneous and the rain so heavy that it started leaking through the umbrella, I knew I had to find refuge and dived into the nearest tea house.

I was the only customer and the owner took me through quite a little ceremony with his limited English, explaining the tea:water ratio for the perfect cup of each type of tea, and a little of how each is produced in his fields (he was also very keen to complain to me about the house prices in Taipei). They use a very small one-person teapot that is continually topped up. The tea is poured from the teapot into a thimble-sized vase and then into the cup. You then smell the emptied vase to get the fragrance of the tea, and only then can you actually drink it from the cup. The tea was excellent (I tried green tea, brown tea and black tea), though certainly the most expensive tea I have ever drunk. The storm did not abate and the cable car was suspended as it is not safe to run it in such weather, so I had to get a bus (very damp and crowded, since many people had the same experience as me) back down the mountain to Taipei.


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