The typhoons this year were unrelenting, the crop will be minimal this year. Everywhere, I observed that the teeth on the leaves have gotten deeper, and more cutting, defending itself against something in the environment. On the mountains along the world, we saw cherry blossoms blooming- in October! Did the blossoms think it was spring of 2016 or spring of 2017? Climate confusion, said the village folks. Maybe there was no global warming- but there is definitely global climate confusion. The evidence is real- the research institute at Tung Ting said the bugs are confused too, attacking teas all at different times than they ever have. The yield on tea this year is less than the last, and if not for the expert artisans saving the day, we saw lesser artisans unable to turn a poor crop into good tea. Forget excellent teas we are used to. It will probably snow in tropical Taiwan again this year. We need to all savor the excellent teas in front of us.













