With this ongoing pandemic around the world, travel plans for everyone has been put on hold for at least a year already. Never have I ever not travel out of the country for holidays this long. That kind of frustration of getting stuck in the country, the longing to go through the custom, walk around DFS before boarding, flying with your favourite airline and enjoy a inflight meal. All sort of mixed feelings. But still grateful that till now, everyone I know including my families are well. And an opportunity to rediscover our own country (already did so much with my families).
In order to get that holiday mood without flying out of the country, I collaborated with my Taiwan friend小李 to bring in Taiwanese stuff from goodies, tea, whatever that is possible to send over to Singapore to satisfy anyone who loves Taiwan. The idea came from his Facebook posts on some Alishan tea leaves that he got. I responded to it and that's how it started. With travel bans around the world, he is also badly hit this one year even though he still can do local travel for the Taiwanese people. He drives visitors around Taiwan, bring them to lesser known attractions (his pocket list) and that is also how I got to know him through my friend's recommendation when planning for my Taiwan trips. He also need to survive right so he has to look for opportunities not just in Taiwan but also overseas.
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Anyway, this collaboration will start with Taiwanese tea leaves, and subsequently other stuffs according to the demands here in Singapore. 小李 went to get these packs of tea leaves and sent over half of them for me to sell to Singapore customers. 100% effort in getting quality and affordable tea for all of you out there.
Tea bags versus loose Tea leaves: Both same same but also different in some ways. The former can be costly at our local supermarkets because of its convenience and easy brewing (just pour hot water only). But each box probably has only 15 - 25 teabags (depending on different brands) or some 50 - 100 teabags (like Dilmah) and if you are a regular tea drinker, it lasts you for less than a month or two. And before you know it, time for replenishment.
As compared to these tea leaves freshly packed from the tea farm and fly directly from Taiwan to Singapore, I think the price of SGD35 each is quite reasonable with all costs included. Plus it can last you for at least months before the next replenishment. Because you don't need too much of tea leaves to brew a pot. And you can get affordable tea vessels from Daiso or Japan Home (I got my tea pot for $3.90 during an offer and still in good condition). More enviromentally friendly in a way.
It still goes down to how much you know about tea appreciation or you just drink for the sake of drinking. 🙆 I'm not any expert here okay but I know what I want for my tea.
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Let us take a look at how the 250g pack of Authentic Alishan Winter Mountain Tea look like. Depending on your taste preference, just put the right amount of tea leaves for a lighter or stronger tea. Get ready to taste your first brew
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| Photo Credit: Tour Taiwan Hong Lee |
Working from home allowed me to make a pot of Authentic Alishan Winter Mountain Tea 正宗阿里山初冬高山茶. Take your time to appreciate the nice brew of tea. Light and smooth with a nice aftertaste.
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| Photo Credit: Tour Taiwan Hong Lee |
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| Photo Credit: Tour Taiwan Hong Lee |
Here's a brief introduction about the different mountains 🏔 at different altitudes in Taiwan and how they actually affect the price of tea leaves.
Regarding how the price is derived, we take Alishan High Mountain Tea (阿里山高山茶) ☕ for example. It is usually based on the altitude due to its difficulty in planting tea at high altitude, the land scarcity, expensive wages, tea garden management and so on. That is why the higher the altitude, the higher the price. Hope this explains why our price is slightly steep but quality guaranteed with some having certification from Taiwan government bodies.
To understand more, read the below links (in Chinese):
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| Photo Credit: Tour Taiwan Hong Lee |
For better understanding on the mountains in Taiwan, we take Shanchatang Alishan Oolong Tea (山茶堂阿里山烏龍茶) as example, with the tea leaves selected from the Shizhao tea area (石棹茶區) at 1600 meters in altitude.
The highest altitude above sea level (above 2000 meters) in 台灣烏欻 were Dayuling (大禹嶺) and Fushoushan Farms (福壽山農場), followed by the mid altitude 1800~1600 meters above sea level like Qingjing Farm (清境農場), Lushan Mountain (廬山), and Shanlinxi (杉林溪), and last but not least, the lower altitude at 1000~800 meters above sea level would be Dongding (凍頂), Pinglin (坪林) and other tea areas.
You understand now? I hope you do.
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Will bring in more Taiwan Tea selection when demand rises. So stay tune.
Meanwhile keep your orders coming in for the Authentic Alishan Winter Mountain Tea. While stocks last. If not, you will have to wait for new stocks to come when the current stock is finished. I will be your friendly contact person in Singapore for your orders here and also delivery.
Taiwan Tea Order Form 👉 https://forms.gle/FLGv8mburPgfQxDdA
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Miss Taiwan terribly? Join Line Chat Group 台湾伴手礼代购团 and start sending in your shopping request 🛍🛒 (include a photo of the items) to 小李 and he will go get your items and send it over to you. Just pay for the necessary without having to fly out of the country. This should be cheaper than flying over right? Anyway right now we can't travel too. So this is the alternative.
I bought mine because I really miss travelling to Taiwan which is like an annual thingy but due to this pandemic, one year never go. Got myself a 福袋 (inside was Logitech wireless mouse and mouse pad), 2 Starbucks Taipei 101 mugs in different colour and a pack of Taiwan Organic Red Tea leaves 有机茶菁(白毛猴品种).
If I paid and received my items in 7 working day without any defects, it goes to show you can count on 小李 on your items too. Hurry, join now!
BONUS REVIEW ON 有机茶菁(白毛猴品种)!
Here is the first brew of the 有机茶菁(白毛猴品种), simply known as Black Tea. Very light, smooth taste. It doesn't have that very strong 苦涩味. I usually drink tea on its own w/o adding sugar or milk.
Depending on your preference, the amount of tea leaves to put varies and for me, just a teaspoon. Remember to sip for 3-5 minutes before serving. You can make your tea up to 4 times and the taste eventually gets thicker (the color of your tea gets darker) w/o having to top up the tea leaves. Then slowly, it gets lighter again (time to top up tea leaves if you wanna continue).
Also did a homemade Milk Tea. A mix of Taiwan tea and Singapore's HL Milk with a hint of honey. Make sure the proportion of milk and tea must at least be half half so that you can still taste the natural tea flavour. It tasted light and smooth. Adjust according to your preference.
For the price of NTD500/pack, this can last me for months.
Wanna grab a pack? Join Line Chat Group 台湾伴手礼代购团 for more enquiries (QR Code is right above).