Taiwan Tea Guy

Teaguy is very happy to let you know he now has his own line of organic teas from Taiwan available through this site. You can check out the Mystic Grove Teas under the ‘Tea’ heading on the left side of the page there.

We are also going to carry ChaTei brand teas, and the prices & descriptions for those will be added soon. ChaTei is the flagship line of Master Aliang’s Hsi Tang Tea Company. They are all hand-selected personally by Aliang to meet his high standards, and  include:

          Alishan and Shan Lin Hsi Oolongs

          4 Seasons Oolong

          Jade Oolong

          Jin Xuen (Silk or Milk Oolong)

          Wen Shan Baojong

          Oriental Beauty (Dong Fang Mei Ren)

          Mucha Tie Kuan Yin (Aliang’s signature tea)

I’m very excited about these new additions to the website, and I’d like to thank all of you who have supported the Teaguy since it’s inception. Your comments and patronage have been a great inspiration to me, and I look forward to expanding and developing this site. I look forward to helping you with your tea needs in the coming year!!!

Ran across these photos the other day, and realized I hadn’t posted this up from last June! The Mucha Farmer’s Association sponsored an event to showcase the area’s agricultural goods, so of course Aliang and I were there representing Tie Kuan Yin (Iron Goddess) and Bao Jong teas. Read the rest of this entry »

After getting the tea samples ready and delivering them to the Mucha Farmer’s Association offices (see Part I), it was simply a matter of hanging out while the judges made their decision.

Read the rest of this entry »

I recently (actually, several months ago - hey, I’ve been busy!)  helped Aliang get his TKYs ready for the Spring Competition. I had stopped by for an after-tutorial cup of the world’s favorite brew, and ended up bagging tea samples until 2:00 in the morning (which is one of the things I do love about living in Taiwan - it’s perfectly normal to be up at all hours of the night doing stuff). Read the rest of this entry »

I had an email recently from a friend in the US. He was looking for sets of aroma cups to use for tea comparisons, and was asking me if I could find him some. I told him that, for convenience, we usually use ceramic spoons to compare tea, and that gave me the inspiration for this post. Read the rest of this entry »

Well, another Dragon Boat Festival has come and gone, and I’m sorry to be so late posting up on it, but I’m also behind on a lot of other posts now, as well (long story).  At any rate, instead of rehashing what I posted last year, you can just go check  out   Dragon Boat Festival for yourself and save me the trouble!  Read the rest of this entry »

No, I don’t mean lemon and black pepper! New pots need to be cleaned thoroughly before use to remove residuals from the firing process, clean out the pores, and prepare the clay for infusing tea. There are many ways to do this; here I’ll introduce one method that has worked well for me, and is pretty easy to do. Read the rest of this entry »

Have a question about tea you can’t find an answer to? Post it here, and I’ll see what I can do to help you out. Also, if you have any general comments about my blog or ideas for future posts, let me know here.

You can also send me an email at asktheteaguy@taiwanteaguy.com.

If I don’t have an answer, I can check with some of the local experts here and get back to you.

The importance of using good water to brew good tea cannot be overstated. “Tea is 99% water” is a commonly used quote, and while it seems quite obvious, water quality is often overlooked or taken for granted. While there are dozens of water filtration systems and  methods on the market today, there are some simple, traditional, low-tech ways to improve water quality. One method commonly used by tea afficionados here in Taiwan is bamboo charcoal. Read the rest of this entry »

Usually when we think of ‘tea snacks’, we think of British High Tea. silver tea service, scones, tarts, biscuits, and etc. However, Chinese tea drinkers also have an awesome assortment of snacks to go with their oolongs, baojongs, Tie Kuan Yins, and even Black teas. In this first installment of my new ‘Tea Snacks’ series, I’ve decided to introduce my personal favorite: Pineapple cakes.

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