Tost day 2

Continuing from the previous post. Day 2 we made our way towards the east coast. I’ll also be including our itinerary from our agenda book at the beginning of each post.

Friday 9/15
Pack for 1 night out; Travel to Hualien
Visit tea farm and teahouses
Stayed at 21st Int’l Resort in Taitung

The first stop on our way to Hualin was a popular tourist area called Swallow Grotto in Taroko Gorge. It was carved out by the Liwu River and is made up of marble.

Our first tea related stop was Jiaming Tea Garden in Ruisi Township, Hualien.

We taste and evaluate many teas on these education trips with this style of cupping.

First round of tasting was five different grades of FB-38 Daye cultivar brewed at 4 grams and 180cc (6.09oz) boiling water. All of the five grades were brewed three times so we could note the differences in taste and texture with each rebrew.

Next, we tried a cold brew of Ruby-18. Cold brewing oolongs is becoming more popular in Taiwan.

Afterwards, we tasted three baked oolongs. The first two were Daye cultivar while the third was a mix of Daye and Jin Xuan. They were brewed twice.

Last, we tried a green tea for fun.

It was night by the time we left Jiaming and many places were already closed. Josephine found a small place still open with the best hot and sour soup I’ve ever tasted.