A new Oriental Beauty tea made by artisanal tea maker Jacky Chang (張家齊) has received the highest recognition from the UK’s most trusted food and drink awards.
Listed as “Oriental Beauty Tea 1” on the Web site of the Great Taste Awards, Chang’s tea received a three-star rating, which the award’s organizer, the Guild of Fine Food, classified as an “extraordinarily tasty food.”
Only 2 percent of the applicants each year are given three stars, the guild said.
Photo courtesy of Jacky Chang
The Miaoli County-based teamaker’s Oriental Beauty tea, a sweeter and more aromatic variety of Taiwan’s oolong tea, was given the accolade under the “single estate tea, loose” category, making it a featured product among the 14,205 entrants this year after winning over the palates of 500 judges.
Chang on Monday credited the recognition to picking tea leaves at unconventional times.
He made sure that his company, Formocha Tea Co, refrained from picking leaves during the traditionally optimal season this year due to rainy weather, he said.
To compensate for the unorthodox harvest time, the company focused on adjusting the fermentation process, and the humidity and temperature during roasting to control the tea’s flavor, and it paid off, he said.
The flavor and aroma of this year’s tea were similar to the Oriental Beauty teas that were also awarded three stars at the Great Taste Awards last year, Chang said.
Because he tends to name his teas after they have been processed, Chang said he intends to brand this year’s tea “Queen’s Garden” in honor of Queen Elizabeth II, who died on Thursday.
Legend has it that the late queen’s paternal great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, was the monarch who gave the specific strain of oolong its alluring name after tasting the original batch from Taiwan more than a century ago, giving another layer to the naming of the tea, Chang said.
Great Taste is the UK’s largest and most trusted accreditation program. It was organized by the Guild of Fine Food in 1993.
All products entered are available commercially in the UK, with rated products having undergone vigorous and impartial scrutiny, the organization said.
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
Weather conditions across Taiwan are expected to remain stable today, but cloudy to rainy skies are expected from tomorrow onward due to increasing moisture in the atmosphere, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). Daytime highs today are expected to hit 25-27°C in western Taiwan and 22-24°C in the eastern counties of Yilan, Hualien, and Taitung, data on the CWA website indicated. After sunset, temperatures could drop to 16-17°C in most parts of Taiwan. For tomorrow, precipitation is likely in northern Taiwan as a cloud system moves in from China. Daytime temperatures are expected to hover around 25°C, the CWA said. Starting Monday, areas
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
Taiwan has recorded its first fatal case of Coxsackie B5 enterovirus in 10 years after a one-year-old boy from southern Taiwan died from complications early last month, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. CDC spokesman Lo Yi-chun (羅一鈞) told a news conference that the child initially developed a fever and respiratory symptoms before experiencing seizures and loss of consciousness. The boy was diagnosed with acute encephalitis and admitted to intensive care, but his condition deteriorated rapidly, and he passed away on the sixth day of illness, Lo said. This also marks Taiwan’s third enterovirus-related death this year and the first severe