Yu Ting Chen

How long have you been growing tea and what got your started?
I was brought up in the tea mountains and started picking tea when I was a teenager. It's been 25-28 years.

Can you describe a typical day out in the field?
Every day I get up at 5:30 in the morning, and check in at the tea garden around 6am to 7am, around 10am I will take rest. After lunch, around 1:30, I will go to tea garden again, for weeding and fertilizing, etc. until 5 pm.

What is your favorite part of growing tea?
I like the pan-firing part, the temperature at that time is really high so it can release the leaf's flavor. It is really nice and I like when I smell the scent.

Conversely, what is the hardest part of your job?
The difficult part of tea plucking is worker problems due to the weather changes. All the tea in high altitude is harvested almost at the same time, but there are not enough workers for it, so sometimes we cannot follow the schedule to process, this problem will get worse in the future.

Are there any tips you can give on how to best brew your tea?
I usually follow my heart to make a cup of tea, see the color of liquid, take time to make your tea. You will taste different beautiful flavor.