茶湯之美

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buy tea, Drink, Furniture design, Oolong, Oolong Tea, Taiwan, Tea quality, Tea Shop Design, 喝茶的樂趣

泡茶的時候有時第一泡茶會有泡沫產生，它並非是汙染物質或塵垢，相反的它茶葉成分Saponin 的表面活性作用，Saponin 植物成分是配醣體之一群，溶水起泡沫的物質總稱，可作爲強心劑，去痰劑，古時亦用來做洗劑、茶葉泡沫Saponin 可能對降低膽固醇及脂肪酸而抑制體胖有藥理作用，茶葉中的有機化合物。

主要有：脂質、碳水化合物、氨基酸、蛋白質、生物堿、茶多酚、有機酸、色素、香氣成分、維生素、皂苷、甾醇等等….下次當你看見茶葉沖泡時產生的泡泡，千萬別急著去除，Saponin 可是茶葉中的人蔘喔。

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東方美人

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Business, buy tea, Drink, 茶葉， 品質, Furniture design, Oolong, Oolong Tea, Tea Master, Tea quality, Tea Shop Design, 喝茶的方式, 喝茶的樂趣

東方美人(膨風茶) 又名、椪風茶、番庄烏龍、蜒仔茶、白毫烏龍茶。

據說百年前，英國茶商將膨風茶呈獻英國維多利亞女王，由於沖泡後，其外觀豔麗，猶如絕色美人漫舞在水晶杯中，品嚐後，女王讚不絕口而賜名”東方美人”這一個美麗的名字。

東方美人是半發酵茶品中發酵度為60% – 85%左右，產季：必須在六、七月（農曆芒種至大暑間，即端午節前後10天）茶樹嫩芽經茶小綠葉蟬吸食後長成之嫩芽，又稱「著涎」的茶菁，茶葉品質的好壞決定在「著涎」的程度。
製茶工法：手工摘採一心二葉著涎茶芽，以傳統技術炒菁後，再以布包裹，「靜置回潤」二度發酵程序後，再經揉捻、解塊、烘乾製成毛茶。茶葉白毫肥大，葉身呈白、綠、黃、紅、褐五色相間，有濃濃的蜂蜜香、熟果味，是東方美人（Oriental Beauty）的外觀特色，沖泡後茶湯呈明亮的澄紅色，口感特殊不像熟茶也不像紅茶，飲用後口內有淡淡蜂蜜感。

沖泡方式：
(1)熱泡方法
東方美人因為多為嫩芽茶心，沖泡時茶的水溫不宜太高，水溫約在攝氏70度左右，當水煮沸後，不可以直接沖到茶葉上，會將茶芽燙傷，所以讓水溫降低，再沖到茶壺中，是不可不知的常識！

(2)冷泡方法
將礦泉水瓶蓋打開，倒出少量的水，放上少量的東方美人，將瓶蓋蓋上，放入冰箱，過一晚即可。
製茶量：
茶葉量約為茶壺的2/3量、第一泡約一分鐘後倒出、第二至四泡約30至40秒倒出，第五泡以後約需一分鐘，好的膨風茶約可沖泡十五泡左右。

東方美人是我們早期台灣茶的楚翹，就像現在的台灣的高山茶一樣風迷全球喔！

禮盒

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Business, buy tea, Drink, 茶葉， 品質, interior design, Oolong Tea, Tea, Tea Master, Tea quality, Tea Shop Design, Tea Tasting, 喝茶的樂趣

經常有人詢問我們的為什麼要花那麼多的時間製作私版包裝，其實我們一開始只是想區隔我們的製茶與對待茶的想法與觀念，就這樣我們由一個點到一個面，慢慢成形。

環保愛地球經濟包裝禮盒

  精緻荷蘭布禮盒紙罐   高品質四兩半手禮   抽屜式半斤雙罐禮盒

無論是用何種包裝，最終的本質我們還是得回歸到”茶”的品質，我們希望更多的朋友能接受原汁原味的茶，以茶的純、茶的香氣、與味蕾；取代速食主義下的調和茶，調和茶可能很香、也可能會很好喝、便利、便宜；但是您喝過純茶香、隨著時光香氣、口味層次感不停轉化的原味茶嗎?一個很簡單的想法，希望更多人了解台灣純茶的文化，我們隨著時間一點一滴慢慢的成長，也歡迎喜歡原茶文化的朋友加入我們的行列。

 

My unique experience of design and produce our tea ceremony table

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Business, Furniture design, interior design, slab table, Taiwan, Tea, Tea Shop Design, Teak, teak wood table, Tree, Wood, Wood Finish

I’ve been thinking of a design for a tea table. One idea is that it should be made out of wood slabs. For sustainable reasons, I didn’t want to cut down a new tree, so I began my design by searching reclaimed wood. Functionally, a tea table needs to seat a minimum of 8 people for tea tasting. There should be a dishwasher under the table top, a storage area for tea ware and space for tea plates that hooks into a drainage system.

My childhood guitar teacher has a building material business. In his warehouse, he had cut piles of wood to be used as wood flooring material. Also inside are huge piles of wood logs, 14 of which are from Teak trees that had been laying there for more than 20 years. I just can’t believe how lucky I am to find this tree laying there waiting for me. Although this particular  tree is not in any way perfect, it is really ideal for what I am looking for.  A 3-meter (118 inches) long Teak tree ended up costing ONLY $400.  Somebody’s junk is my precious stone! How incredible that is!

Our town was a major wood harvesting area during the occupation by Japan. The Japanese would cut down trees thousands of years old and shipped them to Japan to build temples and houses. They had built an entire transportation system and factories to do so. As a result, there are still numerous old wood production factories here. I probably would have never known such productions existed had my guitar teacher not tell me. There is a factory in the middle of a rice field that looked like it had been there for centuries. Even the workers there are all in their 50s. Here in Taiwan, you talk and negotiate right when you first meet. I simply asked him to cut the wood I selected into 3 pieces… 50 dollars, done!

This cutting machine must be the coolest old machine I have ever seen. They hefted the tree on to a train, where it was secured and measured into the thickness that I requested. The cutter then drives the train over a huge chain saw. I was extremely nervous, because even though I designed hundreds of furniture before, I had never had my own tree cut to measurements. I was worried if the cut is not in the right place, I would have ruined this beautiful tree. I didn’t have a lot of time to think long on this.  The workers were there, measurements were made and in 10 minutes my tree was in 3 pieces.

The left over slabs I’m saving for a later day to make something else out of it.. stay tuned…  J

This is why I really appreciate small mom and pop shops. There are still so many highly skilled wood finishers in our town. We found this shop that as it turns out knew my college professor really well. I had majored in Forestry. Our professors are pretty well known in Taiwan. They have been associated with many workers in the field. This old Master must be 70 years old or so and he is still doing wood finish for a living. He quickly decided how we should assemble these 3 pieces together and how to fill the imperfections.

The production time is 2 weeks!
Each slab had to be fastened together, then the finisher will sand, stain, and apply the finish coats. A natural lacquer was applied on top to give a subtle but rich sheen.

I also had a local metal shop made the table legs and storage components. It was a lot of visiting shops and discussing design ideas. There were very minimal detailed drawings that had to be done since I was able to work around the workers’ skill set. Their experiences had taught me a different way to doing design and I love the way it came out!