Ye Liangjin was born in the late 60s, and his family have been living in Houkeng (the main region for Taiping houkui) for centuries. The local government assigned the tea garden to him in the 1980s, in an overgrown and wild state. Despite over a century having passed uncared for, Master Ye took to the task of carefully tending the abandoned tea trees, recognising the excellent location and environment for tea growing. After years of blood, sweat and tears, he brought the tea garden back into commission as it once would have been in its heyday in the Qing dynasty.
I've being following Mr Ye's Houkui green tea in the last two years. From the first time I got to know him, I was full of curiosity, and his insists of making the best tea touches my heart. I feel lucky that I encountered such a good tea master in my life of tea.
葉良金師傅是一位60後，世代居住在猴坑，上世紀80年代政府把這片茶園分配給了他。這座荒蕪了一個世紀的茶園，剛接手的時候，草木叢生，但地理位置、自然環境卻是非常難得，他不忍放棄，以一人之力，耗費半生心血，修復了這座清代古茶園。
我關注葉師傅的猴魁和他的茶園已經有兩年了，從初遇之好奇和欣喜，到再遇之感動和欽佩，但再多的讚美，也比不上茶湯入口，清香襲來。
A few days ago, his handmade Taiping Houkui finally arrived here in the UK. I immediately set about unpacking, and was greeted by the crisp, fresh smell of handmade Houkui tea leaves, a clean, complex fragrance hanging in the air.
I readied my cupping set: 3g, water just off the boil, steep for five minutes. The tea is smooth on the palate, sweet and umami, and a slightly bitter flavour perfectly balanced. As Master Ye might say, this Taiping Houkui really is ‘handcrafted by nature’.
You don’t need to worry about waiting for the water to cool before steeping the leaves, nor what teaware you should be using. In fact, the more you experiment with different steeping methods and different teaware, the more ways you can find to bring out the complex flavour profile of these leaves!
前幾天，翹首以盼的茶終於到了，迫不及待地開袋，乾茶是乾淨通透、馥郁有層次的花香，驚喜與滿足感在心中漸次升起。準備好審評器，3g，沸水，悶泡5分鐘。茶湯入口，鮮甜潤滑，湯感完美平衡。這款茶沖泡時無需考慮如何進行修飾，沸水更能激發茶香，充分溶出茶葉內含物質，也並不會苦澀。玻璃杯，蓋碗，瓷壺，隨心所欲更能體驗不一樣的茶湯之美。
Master Ye’s daughter tells me that they only make around 20kg of this tea each year, and are always sold out through preorder before the end of May. I laughed at my luck – it turns out I had got my hands on the last 1kg, had I got my order in only days later and I would have had to wait another whole year until I might have the opportunity to drink Master Ye’s Taiping Houkui.
葉師傅的女兒說，這款茶每年只有不到40斤的產量，5月初就訂完了，我收到的是最後的兩斤了。我笑稱，我要是再晚幾天，可能要再等一年了吧。
I might not be the best at doing business, or advertising, calculating costs and profits, in fact that’s never been my strong point. But I know and love tea. I see how market demand has driven changes in the tea industry in recent years, and leaves me wondering whether I like it or not. Great tea doesn’t have to come at eye-watering prices. We should strive for reasonable pricing, where tea growers are fairly compensated for their time and effort, and avoid inflating prices simply for profits sake.
From the tea garden to tea table, when tea is grown, bought, sold and drunk simply for tea’s sake and nothing more. In that time, I am at my happiest.
我可能不是一個知道怎麼做生意的人，市場，推廣，成本，利潤，從來不是我所擅長的，我投入的是我所有關於茶的知識和熱情。我也不認同如今以價格為導向的茶葉市場，好茶不一定非得天價，以合理的價格買到優質的產品，不埋沒製茶人的辛苦耕耘，也不誇大茶葉本身的價值。讓茶回歸茶的本源，讓大家簡簡單單地喝到好茶，才是我最開心的事情。
-the end-
written by Fang yaoyao
translated by Thomas Staniforth
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