Meet our tea farmer Mr. Chou from the Sanxia region

Mr. Chou is a sixth-generation, multiple award-winning tea farmer, from the Sanxia YuFeng Tea Industry (Sanxia Mingcha Siangshinghang). His wife, Mrs. Li, and their daughter's involvement have greatly altered their marketing strategy over the years. They established food and agricultural education programs, such as DIY tea jelly making, guided tea farm visits, tea workshops, tea dyeing, and many other fun activities. Schoolchildren are welcome to participate in all these activities to learn about the world of tea. They hope that by teaching the next generation about Sanxia's local tea industry's history and the labor-intensive process of making tea, they would become a part of and carry on the region's century-old tea tradition.

In 2019, Mr. Chou began promoting two unique local tea products to worldwide assessment competitions: Bi Lo Chung and Honey Black Tea (Mi Xiang Hong Cha). His teas have received accolades from the Brussels International Taste & Quality Institute (iTQi) for four years running now: three stars for "Mi Xiang Hong Cha" and two stars for "Bi Lo Chung."

The Sanxia Tea Area is the oldest tea area in Taiwan, with a history dating back 260 years. The tea region, which is in Northern Taiwan's middle and low-altitude mountain range, still has many old tea trees. Environmentally friendly farming has recently been implemented in the Sanxia Tea Area. More and more tea producers are achieving the sustainable development aim of a win-win for the environment, ecology, farmers, and customers by becoming certified organic farmers.

In the Sanxia Tea Area, Bi Luo Chun is a well-known green tea. The tea strips are thin and tightly curled into a spiral shape and have a fresh, green appearance with noticeable Pekoe bud tips. One core and two leaf buds are selected each year between the spring equinox and the Ching Ming Festival. The tea is known both as "Bi Lo Chung Tea" and "Mingqian Tea" (meaning to be harvested before the Ching Ming Festival).

The tea farmers in Sanxia Tea Area have been hand-picking "Chin-Shin-Ganzai" to make Bi Lo Chung green tea since the early period. The color of the tea soup is light, green, and clear, with a unique aroma of seaweed or mung bean. The cold brewing and ice brewing methods have been popular in Taiwan, as well as brewing ground tea powder in the form of Japanese matcha. These methods highlight the Bi Lo Chung’s excellent refreshing flavor and retain rich nutrients such as green tea polyphenols theanine, and vitamin C.