Grower: Goe Tea

Tea Maker: Alfredo Lin & Master Aones

Location: Nantou, Taiwan (multiple locations: see below)

Elevation: 180-300m (590-980ft)

Cultivation: Conventional OR All-Natural

Signature Teas: Zhushan Oolong

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Alfredo Lin, founder of Goe Tea, comes from a long line of tea growers and teamakers. His extended family has been farming for hundreds of years.

However, Alfredo has founded his own gardens, separate from the rest of the family, to apply his own techniques and personal principles in tea. He uses specific techniques like aerodynamic withering (using even airflow to allow for even withering), giving his leaves more consistency, but also likes highly oxidized oolong tea in the traditional style.

He sources conventional leaf from his uncle's farm in Zhushan Township (Nantou, Taiwan: 187m), and sources all-natural leaf from his friend's farm in Mingjian Township (Nantou, Taiwan: 300m). The all-natural gardens he shares with his best friend are now 15 years old. They have managed to preserve the gardens by allowing tea bushes to mature into tall, mature trees along the perimeter of the garden. Without the protection of these tall tea trees, the insects from surrounding fields would overwhelm his tea plants due to the high use of conventional pesticides in much of Taiwan.

Alfredo Lin also works with his teamentor, teamaster Aones, who is famous for popularizing black tea varietals like #18 and #21 in Taiwan, which won awards at the Taiwan Tea Competition and the Development and Extension of Multiple Tea Product. Master Aones features his incredibly well-crafted black teas as part of Goe Tea; his fields and workshop are along Sun Moon Lake in Yuchi Township (Nantou, Taiwan).

Both Master Aones and Alfredo Lin are fond of new styles of processing, experimentation, and highly oxidized teas. Alfredo has been studying with Master Aones for 9 years now, and it will take him another 21 years to earn the title of "teamaster".

In addition to tea farming, Alfredo also farms sweet corn and sweet potatoes.