Nantou tea farmers yesterday held an expo on premier-grade oolong tea in the county’s Lugu Township (鹿谷鄉), where the Lugu Farmers’ Association doled out awards to cultivators for the best teas of the year.
Nantou County Commissioner Lin Ming-chen (林明溱) presented the special award for outstanding oolong tea to Chiu Su Su-yun (邱蘇素雲) after a speech in which he thanked the local tea farmers for their “exceptional care in managing and advancing the science of tea.”
The panel of oolong tea judges said this spring season’s teas are the best in recent years and that Chiu Su’s winning leaves yielded a bright, golden brew with excellent flavor and finish that stayed consistent across serving temperatures.
Photo: CNA
Lin said the township has the finest oolong tea in the country, which is available from the township’s tea shop, with a wide selection and home delivery options, he said.
The Nantou Global Tea Expo, which was canceled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, would resume its regular schedule in October, he said, adding that social distancing would be used to protect participants.
The county is planning to develop a tea-growing subsidy of NT$10 million (US$338,020), to which the Council of Agriculture would provide NT$3 million to NT$7 million, he said.
The council’s Tea Research and Extension Station director Su Tsung-chen (蘇宗振) said that experts in Taiwan have in recent years been using newly developed genetic tests to authenticate the origin of oolong tea and weed out counterfeit tea.
The station has also been ingcollaborates with the Agriculture and Food Agency, using trace element analysis to identify the soil and water markers for each tea-growing area in Taiwan, he said.
This gives agricultural authorities the ability to reliability determine the origin of teas, allowing better protections for designated origins to be implemented, he said.
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