Tours are guided by the farm’s founders and sisters Yeh Yen-ling and Yeh Tzu-ling. Wearing bamboo hat and carrying bamboo basket or tea sieve to collect tea leaves, you will get to experience the day-to-day living of tea farmers. Perhaps you will be distracted by chickens clucking nearby as they peck the ground to “exterminate” pests in the farm.
Introduction
Tours are guided by the farm’s founders and sisters Yeh Yen-ling and Yeh Tzu-ling. Wearing bamboo hat and carrying bamboo basket or tea sieve to collect tea leaves, you will get to experience the day-to-day living of tea farmers. Perhaps you will be distracted by chickens clucking nearby as they peck the ground to “exterminate” pests in the farm.
Leaf a Little Farm began as a tea production factory which became a tea seller. When the sisters Yeh Yen-ling and Yeh Tzu-ling took over from their father, they established the Leaf a Little Farm brand name. To boost brand recognition, the sisters bought over farmlands originally belonging to their relatives in the neighborhood and took a couple of years to prepare the soil for growing tea trees. They then planted a wide variety of tea trees in the farm and open it to visitors.
The main species of tea grown at Leaf a Little Farm is the purple bud tea. The farm also grows 12 other species of tea, including Qingxin-damao, Jinxuan, Sijichun, Tieguanyin, Qingxin Oolong, Bailu, Ruby Black, Yingchun, Taiwan indigenous wild tea, Golden Oolong, Wuyi and Buddha’s Palm. Visitors picking tea leaves will carry a bamboo basket and wear a bamboo hat, and in the process, learn the different species of tea trees and know a little more about tea leaves.
Due to its eco-friendly farming method, the tea farm is bound to get visits from little creatures. Besides the tea green leaf-hopper, other insect and animal visitors include egrets, falcons, snakes, fireflies and frogs. If you visit at the right time, you will have opportunity to see these animals and insects moving around the farm.
In addition to tea picking, you can learn to sift out impurities in tea leaves, experience tea appreciation, savor the best tasting tea, and learn to make tea cake and tea plum. You will even get to try deep-fried purple bud tea leaves and aromatic tea rice.
Features of Agricultural Tourism
Tea
As the new generation taking over the tea farm, the Yeh sisters have some different thinking about tea planting. To protect the environment and the surrounding ecosystems, they focus on eco-friendly cultivation and reject the use of pesticides. They compost kitchen wastes and add organic substances, such as tea dust, sawdust and charcoal, for use as fertilizer. To control pests, they also utilize the food-chain approach.
Furthermore, they have spent much time researching processed tea products. Besides common whole-leaf tea, such as black tea, green tea and oolong tea, they also make convenient tea bags. Unsold tea leaves are re-fermented and pressed into tea cakes to prolong their shelf life, giving the tea a different character and aged taste. There are also premium gifts that are creatively packaged, including tea melon seeds, tea plum and bitter orange tea.
What attracts one most about Leaf a Little Farm is the tremendous knowledge and fun it provides. Visitors learning about tea species and experiencing tea picking can also learn tea appreciation and discuss tea with its owners. You can even learn to sift tea leaves and experience one day in the life of a tea farmer or choose your favorite type of tea and make your own tea cake to bring home.
When it comes time to eat, Leaf a Little Farm serves a variety of delicious fare, including purple bud black tea rice, tea-flavored dried tofu, tea-flavored braised pork, Tieguanyin chicken soup, purple bud crisp, tea rice, tea egg and purple-bud frittata. From fun activities to appetizing food, you will enjoy a beautiful day at Leaf a Little Farm.
