Engineer Turned Tea Farmer for 10 Years Wins Grand Prize at Hsinchu County 2021 Oriental Beauty Tea Black Tea Competition
Hsinchu County held its annual Oriental Beauty Tea summer tea competition finals this morning. This year there were a total of 10,726 jin of submitted tea samples, with total registration points reaching 943. Although this year adopted online livestreaming, the judging process still invited professional Tea Research and Extension Station experts to carry out the judging work.
Hsinchu County held its annual Oriental Beauty Tea summer tea competition finals this morning. This year there were a total of 10,726 jin of submitted tea samples, with total registration points reaching 943. Although this year adopted online livestreaming, the judging process still invited professional Tea Research and Extension Station experts to carry out the judging work. In the end, 11 groups were selected for the top-grade finals category, among which the one receiving this year's highest honor, the Grand Prize, was the "Dazizai Space" tea shop in Zhubei.
It is understood that the founder of Dazizai Space was not from a tea farming background, but rather a mid-career convert from the technology industry engineering sector, who devoted himself to this field out of a love for tea leaves, yet in merely 10 years won the Grand Prize honor; after the results were announced earlier, because the participating tea shops could not attend in person, County Magistrate Yang Wen-ke immediately instructed that Dazizai Space be contacted to congratulate them on winning first place in this year's Hsinchu County Oriental Beauty Tea summer tea competition.
In addition to the Grand Prize being won by Dazizai Space tea shop, the remaining rankings in order were: Top Grade 1 Emei Township Zeng You-xian, Top Grade 3 Emei Township Yang Long Tea Garden, Top Grade 3 Zhubei City Dazizai Space, Top Grade 5 Emei Township Zeng You-xian, Top Grade 6 Emei Township Zeng You-xian, Top Grade 6 Emei Township Xu You-jie, Top Grade 8 Emei Township Zeng You-xian, Top Grade 9 Emei Township Shijing Tea Garden, Top Grade 10 Beipu Township Yichun Tea Garden.
Emei Township Farmers' Association General Secretary Chen Guan-yi stated that being able to hold the summer tea competition this year was very difficult, because in the first half of the year there was drought weather, total production decreased by 20% compared with the past, and in the middle there was also the pandemic severely affecting tea picking work at various tea gardens, which later also caused the competition schedule to be delayed. Quite a few tea farmers at one point worried it could not be held, but because of the low rainfall, this year the small green leafhoppers bit more, which also made the overall tea quality very good.