Jia Long | The Good Dragon Tea

Mr. Chen calls his invention ‘Jia Long’, or the good dragon tea. It was made GABA tea style, oxidized without oxygen. Exactly how it’s made is unknown, as he is hoping to obtain a patent some day. In any case, after knowing him for 3 years, he has finally decided to let us visit his farm.

It’s about quality, he said, not quantity. He barely fertilizes his bushes , intentionally letting them take their time to grow. After 8 years or so, his organic garden produces about 80 jins of Jia Long a year. Normally, his plot would expect to produce about 200 jins or more. In his boutique garden, he nurses Jin Shuan, Green Heart ‘Chin Xin’ oolong varietals, and a White Hair Monkey varietal, a new creation in the 80s that has since gone out of favor but produces tiny, white buds that are perfect to make Taiwan Beauty. Well, the joys of nuance for Mr. Chen and the rest of us. As I happily compared the differences in leaf size, texture, and application of varietal, I noted that probably not one single other person on the planet, aside from me and Mr. Chen, would actually care about that particular detail.