Miaoli, Day 3: More tea, sunset in the Miaoli hills
I didn't do too much today but drink tea and go for a scooter ride and a short walk through a handful of Miaoli's rural hills.
Tea began early again with Eric, again the series of 1990s pu'ers, again rather gross, though the best was the last. I feel like they're all the same tea...their leaves appear identical, and their taste profiles very similar. Only the mouthfeel differed from tea to tea.
We then drank a 1930s Liu An (with original packaging), which I liked better than any Liu An I had in Hong Kong--it lacked the bite of the others and had an appreciable thickness. We then had some 1950s-ish loose-leaf tea after a random Li Shan oolong when Aaron's Chinese teacher arrived.
The teacher took me on the back of Aaron's scooter to a few hillside spots...a large park that featured large old camphor trees amongst others, then to a small temple, then to a recreated traditional charcoal kiln, where we watched the sunset before having a vegetarian buffet dinner.
All in all, very satisfying and relaxing day.
Tea began early again with Eric, again the series of 1990s pu'ers, again rather gross, though the best was the last. I feel like they're all the same tea...their leaves appear identical, and their taste profiles very similar. Only the mouthfeel differed from tea to tea.
We then drank a 1930s Liu An (with original packaging), which I liked better than any Liu An I had in Hong Kong--it lacked the bite of the others and had an appreciable thickness. We then had some 1950s-ish loose-leaf tea after a random Li Shan oolong when Aaron's Chinese teacher arrived.
The teacher took me on the back of Aaron's scooter to a few hillside spots...a large park that featured large old camphor trees amongst others, then to a small temple, then to a recreated traditional charcoal kiln, where we watched the sunset before having a vegetarian buffet dinner.
All in all, very satisfying and relaxing day.