The Eco-Cha Indiegogo. Support Sustainability - Get Great Tea
UPDATE: TAIWANESE MEDIA INTEREST IN ‘PROMOTE SUSTAINABILITY – GET GREAT TEA’.
A major component of our mission for this campaign was to show the local (Taiwanese) tea industry that there is international demand for oolong tea that is produced using sustainable, hands-on methods.
Thanks to YOUR support, we’ve taken another step towards that goal.
The success of this campaign has made Taiwanese news media take note. This Friday we’ll be joined by local news crews on Mr. Lin’s farm to show them around and discuss all aspects of the campaign. Of course Mr. Lin will be there too to share his vision for organically produced oolong tea.
This major step in sharing this story with the Taiwanese tea industry was made possible by your support.
We’ll be snapping some behind-the-scenes photos and video to share with you all soon. We’ll post links to the published stories as well.
UPDATE: TASTING!
At long last we are drinking the brewed tea leaves that grew, were harvested, and processed since we visited Mr. Lin’s farm with the organic certification inspectors three months ago!
The aroma of the brewed leaves is reminiscent of warming spices and roasted vegetables. The brewed tea tastes like toasted grains with hints of floral and leafy notes. It has a subtle yet broad range of flavor that continues to unfold as the leaves are brewed, and organic tea keeps brewing for a while!
Full details on the roasting and tasting here:
http://eco-cha.com/blogs/news/16110112-inaugural-harvest-tasting-notes
UPDATE: ROASTING COMPLETE!
After six separate sessions for a combined total of almost 40 hours of roasting, the leaves are ready to be vacuum sealed to lock in the flavor of both lighter and heavier roasted batches.
The heavy roast batch of tea was roasted for 26 hours overall, and yet it still remains a mild, full-bodied, complex brew that represents a classic Dong Ding Oolong. The later stages of roasting also brought out notes of honey flavor that indicate the leaves were affected by the green leaf hopper insect that is responsible for the making of Concubine Oolong.
This subtle complexity of flavor and well-balanced composition is hard to come by, and is undoubtedly rooted in the fact that this tea is organically cultivated.
So, at long last, we are ready to package the tea and send it off to you, the supporters of this project!
p.s. There’s more to the story behind this roasting, read it all here:
http://eco-cha.com/blogs/news/16061092-inaugural-organic-harvest-oolong-tea-roasting-process-the-final-chapter
STRETCH GOAL MET! We’ll be building a tea classroom! Thank you!
STRETCH GOAL: If we reach $15,000 (3K to go) by Nov 21 we’ll repair a damaged cabin on Mr. Lin’s farm to create an educational space for students, farmers and others in the tea industry visiting the farm.
If we reach this stretch goal each $50 and up backer will get more tea as well!
And you’ll be contributing to the development of this new organic tea farm and to the promotion of organic tea farming in Taiwan.
Click here for details: http://igg.me/at/Eco-Cha
Hi Steepster,
I’m really exited to share our our Indiegogo campaign with the tea community here. We’re hoping to raise awareness for traditional, small-scale tea making and share the story of an inspiring tea farmer, along with an exclusive batch of tea from his new, certified organic farm.
Please have a look at the video, it’s short, and explains everything in detail, and has some great shots of tea making!
VIDEO HERE: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/promote-sustainability-get-great-tea/x/8547470
Mr Lin is a 60 year-old farmer who has gone from a self-run local farm to remote, large-scale tea production, and is now returning to his family land to grow organic tea and cure it in his home factory. His experience with large-scale tea production made him realize that going back to local, organically-grown tea allows him to make better quality tea that is more in line with his values.
The story of Mr. Lin is the epitome of what Eco-Cha is about. We are committed to supporting small-scale artisan tea producers because their tea is unique, it’s more sustainable and it tastes better.
We’d really love to hear feedback and need your help to get the word out. So if this is something you believe in please share with your friends (and back to get some great tea!).
Thanks so much!
I’m in! Some of the best money I’ve ever spent. Supporting organic family farms and getting some tasty tea in the process. :)
Thanks inranger! We really appreciate your support!
We really hope that this campaign can have an impact on the industry here in Taiwan and abroad. We hope that showing publicly that people like you support family made, hand-made, organic tea will encourage other farmers to make tea like this!
We’re getting great footage of the harvest and processing as well, can’t wait to share the documentary!
Thank you!
I still haven’t decided which level I want to contribute at.
Can you tell me more about the tea judging set in the $100 level?
Hi Cheri,
Great question! I’m going to throw this answer up on our campaign page as well, with a shout out to you!
This is the standard set used for tea judging in Taiwan. It’s also used a lot of the time when tasting tea to buy.
You can see some photos of the sets here: http://eco-cha.com/blogs/tea-culture/14079845-lugu-farmers-association-dong-ding-oolong-spring-tea-competition-2014-part-one
The standard tea judging set is: White porcelain 150 mL cylindrical lidded cup, a white porcelain bowl, and a white porcelain spoon.
In Taiwan, the standard tea judging method is to brew 3 grams of tea for six minutes in 150 ml of boiling temperature water.
The brewed tea is then poured into the bowl and left to sit for 2 to 3 minutes to cool to an optimal temperature. The next step is to view the color and consistency of the brewed tea and then to smell the brewed tea leaves in the cup before finally tasting the tea.
At the $25 level, is there a way to specify the light roast versus the heavy roast?
Hi Marzipan,
Sorry, unfortunately not. It gets pretty complicated to track choices within perks levels so we decided to make the $25 and $50 dollar levels the light roast. The double roast packs at the higher levels will include the light and the heavy roasts.
Which roast would you chose?
Ah ok, sorry about that! This one will be roasted, but it will be a light roast. If we figure out a way to specify I’ll let you know!
One other question…Does the one time discount on your website expire?
We are very excited to announce that the winter harvest of Mr. Lin’s organic tea was a great success! It was a beautiful sunny morning that provided ideal harvest conditions.
We documented the whole event and look forward to sharing the tea and the video with you soon. The tea still needs to undergo stemming and about 30 hours of roasting over the next 3 weeks before it will be ready for packaging.
It will be worth the wait!
For our Chinese speaking friends, and our aspiring language student friends, here’s a Chinese/English translation of the key points of our campaign. http://igg.me/at/Eco-Cha
協助保存傳統製茶並推展台灣⼩規模有機茶葉種植.
Help preserve traditional tea making and promote small-scale organic tea farming in Taiwan.
我們希望能藉由這個活動.讓傳統,⼩規模的製茶受到重視. 並分享關於⼀個⿎舞⼈⼼的茶農.以及他經過認證的有機茶葉
In this campaign we aim to raise awareness for traditional, small-scale tea making and share the story of an inspiring tea farmer, along with an exclusive batch of tea from his new, certified organic farm.
林先⽣今年六⼗歲.經歷過⾃營的地⽅茶園到⼤型的製茶產業.現在他選擇回歸⾃家農地並以有機農法種植並⽣產有機茶葉. 在⼤型製茶產業的經驗讓他理解到. 回到⾃家農地並以有機的⽅式⽣產.才更符合他對茶葉⾼品質要求的價值觀.
Mr Lin is a 60 year-old farmer who has gone from a self-run local farm to remote, large-scale tea production, and is now returning to his family land to grow organic tea and cure it in his home factory. His experience with large-scale tea production made him realize that going back to local, organically-grown tea allows him to make better quality tea that is more in line with his values.
林先⽣的故事恰恰反映出⼀⼝茶創⽴的理念.我們致⼒⽀持⼩型⼯匠茶產業. 全因這些茶是獨⼀無⼆,永續發展並有著絕佳⾵味.
The story of Mr. Lin is the epitome of what Eco-Cha is about. We are committed to supporting small-scale artisan tea producers because their tea is unique, it’s more sustainable and it tastes better.
⺫標:
我們希望藉由這個活動能夠買下林先⽣的⾸批收成並獨家分享給我們的守護者(守護著傳統製茶).
我們同時也會拍攝⼀部關於這個有機茶園從檢驗到認證乃⾄於採收,製茶的全程記錄影⽚. 讓台灣其他的茶農及製茶產業了解到傳統並永續的製茶⽅式是世界的趨勢.
Our Goal:
The goal of this campaign is to purchase Mr. Lin’s inaugural harvest and make it available exclusively to the backers. We’ll also produce a video documentary on the entire process of developing this new organic farm, from inspection and certification to harvest and processing. Our aim is to send a clear message to other farmers and the tea industry in Taiwan that there’s a global demand for traditionally made Taiwanese tea.
Here’s an album of photos from Mr. Lin’s farm and factory. Harvest, processing, roasting, and more. Hope you enjoy this look into small scale oolong tea making!
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1016121451747130.1073741843.174530835906200&type=1
So cool! I’m happy I was able to budget this in this month!
Hi All,
Thanks to the amazing generosity of our backers we have reached our original goal, but we still have many perks available!
This has enabled us to set a stretch goal that will provide a lasting contribution to the development of this new organic tea farm and hopefully, to the promotion of organic tea farming in Taiwan.
With an additional $5,000 we will repair a damaged cabin on Mr. Lin’s farm to create an educational space for students, farmers and others in the tea industry visiting the farm.
The cabin renovation will provide a simple field classroom for people interested in observing and learning about the development of his farm as a case study in sustainable organic tea farming in Taiwan. Small groups can tour the farm and discuss the topic of organic tea cultivation in Taiwan and the industry at large.
We will use the money to:
1. Remove and replace all the damaged and rotted wood on the exterior of the cabin.
2. Reinforce and level the cement foundation on the first floor.
3. Purchase classroom furniture and equipment to facilitate presentations and group discussion.
If we reach this stretch goal of $15,000 total all backers will receive additional/bonus items as part of their perk. So help us spread the word and let’s make it happen!
As a backer, this means more tea for everyone! What you get:
1. Every level backer gets their name on our thank you page.
2. Every $50 backer will get an additional medium box of Jin Xuan (Milk) Oolong.
3. Every $100 and up backer will get an additional large box of Jin Xuan (Milk) Oolong.
*You can upgrade your perks. e.g. two $25 perks can be turned into a $50.
I’m planning to support your campaign, but I haven’t decided which level. Could you tell me a bit about the gongfu pot included in the $50 contribution?
Hi adagio breeze,
Thanks for your interest and support!
The gongfu teapot is clay, made in Taiwan and, will be one of these: http://eco-cha.com/collections/teaware/products/gongfu-clay-tea-pot
We actually haven’t decided if we should get all the same design or a variety.
What do you think? Would you rather chose yours or get a surprise?
Here are some photos of the market we’ll get them from:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.946155465410396.1073741841.174530835906200&type=3
Oh, and if we reach our stretch goal the $50 dollar perk will come with an extra 75 gram box of Jin Xuan Oolong.
I love the clay pot I got in that initial deal. I like the idea of all of them being different, and completely random.
I like that too, having a variety will allow us to chose the nicest teapots as well. And it’s fun!
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