Taiwan Oolong Study Tour 2023
Recently, I returned from one of the most amazing trips of my life. I was re-invited to TOST (Taiwan Oolong Study Tour); a week-long intensive study on Taiwan teas. It’s run by Josephine Pan and Thomas Shu of JT&Tea.
I’ve been on this tour four other times but this one was done a little differently than in previous years. We went in September instead of October and we went to the east coast this time. We were a far smaller group with only 3 attending; Chris Anderson, Luz Boys, and myself. Of course Josephine and Thomas were leading. There was a lot more travel involved as well.
Since this trip was long and I took well over 1,000 photos, I’ll post about the longer days individually and combine shorter days into a single post.
Thursday 9/14
Check in Taipei.
I took Southwest Airlines to get to San Francisco with a stop in Denver. Once on the coast I took Eva Air to Taiwan. My flights were the most comfortable I have experienced, and I fly fairly regularly. The flight across the Pacific was about 13 hours.
I landed at Taoyuan International airport around 5am where the driver was waiting to take me to the hotel. I got to see an amazing sunrise during the ride. Finally, I checked in at the Archess Hotel in Taipei.
Afterwards, Chris and I went to Ximen for one of our favorite things; mango shaved snow!
For lunch, we went to a small place that specialized in beef noddle soup. Then, Thomas took us to the narrowest alleyway in Taipei.
Our main destination of the day was the Academia Historica. They had a Taiwan Tea History exhibit on display.
It was definitely an eventful first day, but I was overjoyed to be back in Taiwan. There’s always something new to learn every time I’ve attended TOST and this trip had a ton of new experiences for me.
Day 2 coming soon!
All images are © Golden Monarch Tea LLC. Please do not use.