HOJO TEA : A Gift From The Mountain.

A GIFT FROM THE MOUNTAIN

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HOME > Oolong Tea >Ginseng Oolong

High Mountain Formosa

 


Ordinary Ginseng Oolong is made in China. The tea is compressed into dark little pyramid-shape pellets. It consists of tea dust made of tea leaves harvested in summer. Usually it gives artificial sweet taste and does not taste like made of quality tea leaves, though some people may tend to like this kind of tea. I’ve been requested by many customers to look for Ginseng Oolong, yet I was not motivated to seek for it. When I heard that there was a unique and exclusive Ginseng oolong in Taiwan, I was not motivated to taste. But I was surprised when I saw the tea sample. The appearance was completely different. It maintains the original shape of oolong tea leaf.


Grinding the bottom workshop

Tea is coated with genuine ginseng

Due to the high altitude, tea garden is even covered with snow at times despite Tawain is sub-tropical climate.

I was very impressed when I drank it for the first time. It was completely different cup of tea from what I would call “Ginseng Oolong”. This tea gives a flowery flavor in addition to firing flavor of tea leaf. It gives good extent of aftertaste as well. The flavor of tea and taste lingers down the throat for a long time. The sweetness of tea stays on my throat for even as long as an hour. Another reason why I can enjoy this tea is that it does not have overwhelming Ginseng flavor. No doubt that Ginseng is good for our health. But we drink it as tea. I do not think overwhelming Ginseng flavor would gives a good impression. This tea is made of high mountain oolong leaves that are cultivated at around 2000m at the place called Shan-lin-xi in Taiwan. At first, oolong tea leaf is processed followed the traditional method. The rolled-up oolong tea leaves is then mixed with fresh osmanthus flowers in order to let it absorb the fragrance of flower. After the scenting process, the tea leaves are dried, and then blended with the ground Ginseng powder that is made of genuine Ginseng root.
This tea gives a pleasant lingering sweetness. This tea is suitable for drinking in afternoon onwards. It is also nice if you drink after meal or during break time.

Shan-lin-xi tea garden is situated at 2000m. Dispite Tawain is under sub-tropical climate, once in a while there is snowing.

If you wish to learn more about "Oolong Process", please click here >>

 

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Recommended Brewing Method

(1) Water
In you are using tap water, it is necessary to filter the water using an activated carbon filter. If not, you wouldn’t be able to enjoy the authentic taste of tea. Chlorine is added to tap water in order to sanitize bacteria. This chlorinated water will also harm our body cells. Concerning about our health condition, it is very important to remove chlorine from drinking water. The most effective method in removing chlorine is to install an activated carbon filter. This type of filter is designed for removing organic substance. It will remove not only chlorine, but also other harmful substance such as contaminated pesticide. The activated carbon filter can be easily obtained from the common hardware shop in most countries. If activated carbon filter is not available, please place a charcoal inside the water and leave it for over night. The material composed of activated carbon filter is made of ground charcoal.  The difference is that activated carbon filter contains much finer particles and hence it has extremely large surface area for a better efficiency in filtration. We do not suggest RO water (reversed osmosis water) or distilled water. This water carries no mineral, the taste and flavor of tea tends to be very unstable, unless you have very superior quality tea and tea equipment.
It is also advisable not to use fresh tap water. The intensity of after taste becomes stronger if water is kept overnight. Keeping water with stones or inside clay jar will increase the content of minerals. However, you need to confirm whether or not the water kept inside particular jar or with stone is suitable with your tea or tea equipment (such as teapot). If water jar carries certain minerals like copper or zinc, it will rather spoil the taste and flavor of tea. For this, you need to confirm with experiment on try and error basis.
For boiling water, please do not use aluminum or copper kettle. It spoils the taste of water. We suggest using kettle made of iron, stainless steel, tin or glass. 

In the long run, you may observe a thick layer of scale accumulated inside your kettle. Our mother usually taught us to wash and remove it with citric acid. But please do not even try to remove the scale. Scale consists of minerals that exist in the water. The mineral composition is reflected from the water you used. If you remove the scale, the mineral ion balance between scale and water is destroyed. This balance is called buffer effect in science. The flavor and taste will seriously run out and you won’t be able to get previous taste and flavor for a long time. It is also important to stick to the same type of water whenever brewing tea. If source of water is changed, it carries different type of minerals. It will affect the mineral ion balance too.


Go to further information about suitable water for brewing tea >>
(2) Quantity of tea leaves

To determine the quantity of tea leaves to be used, we divide the volume of water by 5. For example: the volume of teapot = 200ml; 200ml/50 =4g. You need to measure 4g of tea leaves for 200ml of water.


(3) Temperature
It is important to use boiling water. Please do not stop as soon as water is boiled. It is advisable to keep boiling for about 30 seconds to 1 minute.


(4) Brewing time
Pour the hot water into the tea pot, and brew for 30 second. For second and third brewing, use the same temperature as first brewing. The brewing time for 2nd brewing is about 20 seconds. For 3rd and 4th brewing, prolong the brewing time for additional 10 seconds. If you brew correctly, you can brew up to 6 times.

 


In order to enjoy oolong tea, always ensure that the water temperature is very hot. Use boiling water and rinse tea pot with boiling water to keep it hot.

Storage of Tea Leaves

Keep tea away from moisture

Once a bag of tea is opened, please finish it within 3 months if you wish to enjoy its freshness. From the medical point of view, it is safe to consume the tea even if it is kept for a few years. However the freshness disappears if it is kept for too long. Tea must be tightly sealed before it is kept. Tea should be kept in ambient and dry conditions such as in the living room, but it must be completely away from humidity. Tea should not be kept in the kitchen as the environment is very humid. Avoid enclosed area such as inside the cupboard or drawer as these places are damp. Also avoid opening the bag of tea in humid atmosphere. It is recommended to open the bag during a sunny day or under air-conditioned atmosphere. Once tea leaves absorb moisture, deterioration of tea will be triggered within a few days. Tea will then give an astringent taste, sometime might even taste sour. The fresh aroma also becomes weaker.

Beware of keeping the tea in the fridge

The quality of tea lasts longer if it is kept in the fridge. However we strongly recommend you not to keep tea in the fridge. When tea is withdrawn from the fridge, usually water condensation will take place. Once tea is exposed to moisture because of water condensation, the quality will deteriorate within a few days. The higher moisture content in the tea leaves triggers oxidation and it will completely spoil the quality of tea.

What if I seal the bag using tape or what if I pack the tea in a zipper bag and store in the fridge?

For your information, these simple sealing methods are not sufficient. When the bag is withdrawn from the fridge, it is cold inside the bag and therefore causes negative pressure. Air will be drawn from outside and water condensation will take place. In addition, if the bag is frequently taken in and out from the fridge, this will cause heat stress to the tea leaves as temperature is increased and decreased very frequently. If tea is kept in the fridge, when it is withdrawn from the fridge, it is necessary to leave it in ambient atmosphere for more than 24 hours in order to warm up the tea leaves. Based on our experience, 12 hours is not long enough. We may think tea is warmed up, but inside the bag, the tea leaves are still cold due to insulation.

Safety as a Part of HOJO's Quality

 

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Payment

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We accept various kinds of credit card through Paypal.

Only if customer prefer other option of payment, we suggest "Bank Transfer".

 

Shipping

Various choice of shipping method

EMS, SAL, Small Packet, Small Packet (SAL) Yamato Express and Surface

For shipping tea, we usually suggest small air parcel, the estimated shipping cost of tea in 100g (with wrapping material ) is

Small Parcel

USA JPY 600, EU JPY600 and Asia JPY470

Small Packet (SAL)

USA JPY380, EU JPY380 and Asia JPY320

The shipping fee to oversea by small air parcel happens to be even cheaper than domestic shipping fee in Japan.

 

Custom Fee

For your information, some countries, EU in particular imposes custom duty. We need buyer to bare the duty. We are sorry, but we cannot change the amount on the invoice, and we do not mark any packages as gifts. We will strictly follow the custom regulation.

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