Tea Culture Group Receives Proclamation from City

Demonstrating ancient preservation methods of exotic teas are among the reasons the American Tea Culture Association drew a large gathering, including several Bay Area dignitaries—and an official proclamation from Cupertino's mayor—at its recent 10th anniversary tea ceremony.

A volleyball-size foil ball with tea leafs inside aroused curiosity at the American Tea Culture Association at Quinlan Center Jan 23.

Chiung-Chih Lin, founder and director of the Cupertino-based nonprofit,  explained that the ball is used to preserve a new type of tea called Red Heart Tiguanyin (tiguanyin in Chinese can be roughly translated to "iron goddess").

"This method of preserving tea dates back to Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD)," said Lin. "But it has always been used to preserve Pu-Er Tea only. Now we are also using it to preserve the new Red  Heart Tiguanyin."

The medium-fermented, heavily baked Red Heart Tiguanyin was among the 10 types of tea featured at the open-to-the-public event.

Another exotic-sounding one was Concubine Tea, named after a Tang Dynasty emperor's Concubine Yang (719-756 AD), because the alluring aroma of the tea reminded its first growers of the historical beauty.

There was also Oriental Beauty Tea, named by Queen Elizabeth II when she first tasted and loved the heavily fermented, non-baked tea.

The other seven were Dong Ding (frozen mountaintop) Four Season Spring Tea, Honey Green Tea, Honey Black Tea, Wen San (Mount Wen) Bao Zhong (Select) Tea, High Mountain Tea, Red Jade Black Tea and Traditional Tiguanyin. Compared with what the average tea drinker consumes, the 10 teas presented at the ceremony are considered premium, high-quality tea.

For the past 10 years, the American Tea Culture Association has hosted classes and annual events to introduce exquisite kinds of tea, the history and health benefits of tea, and how to properly make tea.

To recognize the nonprofit's decade-long efforts in promoting a healthful tea culture, Cupertino Mayor Gilbert Wong presented Lin's wife, Janice Sung, who is the president of the ogranization, with a city proclamation.

In addition to Wong, other luminaries included, Cupertino's other four council members, Santa Clara County officials and Sunnyvale City Councilman Otto Lee.

Officials from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in San Francisco and the South Bay were also there, because the event marked not only the 10th anniversary of American Tea Culture Association but also the 100th year of the Republic of China, which is the longest living republic in East Asia, despite its loss of Mainland China to the Communists in 1949 and its current territory being limited to Taiwan and some small islands on the Taiwan Strait.

The tea ceremony drew attendees from Cupertino and neighboring cities.

Vicky Chu, a Saratoga resident originally from Taiwan, said she took her 82-year-old mother, Hui-Fang Ma, to the event, for Ma's love of tea; Chu doesn't drink tea herself at all.

"I'm Americanized to drink coffee, instead," said Chu.

Dennis Wu of Cupertino is not so Americanized; he said he still loves tea and brought along his American-born 6-year-old son, Alex, in order to expose him to his Chinese heritage.

"I'd like him to learn about the culture I'm coming from," said Wu. "Also, I haven't had much good tea in the U.S. It's a great opportunity for me to taste some high-quality tea and some new types of tea I've never had before."

While the majority who attended and presented share Chu's and Wu's ethnically Chinese background, others such as tea ceremony presenter, Elizabeth Meyer, who is Caucasian, are involved in the traditionally Chinese event.

Meyer is a tea instructor and has been involved with the group for several years.

Going into its second decade, American Tea Culture Association will continue to open tea culture seminars. The next one will be a two-session course on Sunday and Feb. 6,  starting at 1:30 p.m. at Lin and Sung's Cupertino residence at 22519 Alcalde Rd.

For more information about the seminar, call 408-343-0149.

Download the movie