Yesterday morning we finished up our tea education with a lecture about the history of the tea industry in Taiwan and further details about the science of producing tea, given by Dr. Kai-Hsien Chen.  He is one cool cat.  His research focus is on the chemical composition of different teas, and he studies these compounds using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry.  Sweet!  In addition to lecturing, Dr. Chen gave us samples of a few tea varieties using both a smelling and a drinking cup.  The way the smelling cup is used is that the tea is first poured into the tall, narrow smelling cup about 3/4 full.  Then the drinking cup is placed over the top.  The pair is quickly flipped over so that the tea pours into the drinking cup and the head/air space over the top of the tea is in the bottom of the smelling cup to collect the aroma.  The scent is first appreciated in the smelling cup, then the tea is drunk from the drinking cup.

This is actually the set from the head table during our tea ceremony, but I didn't take a picture of the plain white ones we used yesterday.  Left is the smelling cup and right is the drinking cup.

Dr. Chen in the pink demonstrating his mad tea pouring skills.

Nifty teapots

In addition to the tea lecture, we had a lecture from Dr. Yuan on birds.  After the classroom portion we went out into the park for a brief bird-watching experience.  This was also important because it was the first time we had the opportunity to see more of Xitou so that we could start to think seriously about ideas for our group project.  We actually spent the afternoon and evening preparing our proposals for our projects, which we presented this afternoon.  My group decided to make our project a study of soil pH and plant species growing alongside a paved road versus a wood chip trail.  We plan to survey somewhere between 3-5 sites with a plot next to each material at every site.  We will also take at least one pH sample somewhere further into the forest where there is no trail.

This morning we had our last two lectures before our transition into just working on our research projects.  The first was on soil biodiversity, and the second was a Dr. Tom lecture on biodiversity and conservation biology.  For his lecture we went outside to a deck where they had set up a white board for him.  It was really more of a discussion that he came up with on the spot, and it was quite enjoyable. 

Dr. Tom Gavin

After lunch all of the groups presented their project proposals to their teachers and peers.  Our proposal was well received, so it looks like everything should work out.  We will have to see whether or not they can actually get a pH meter for us to use, but hopefully they will.  When all of the presentations were finished we went back out to the trail that we will be studying to scout out the sites we want to survey.  I think we found plenty of suitable locations.  The biggest challenge will be having to count lots of small and/or viney plants.  When the serious business was finished we walked further into Xitou to see the skywalk.  This is a metal walkway that is up on poles about ten feet from the tops of the trees.  It was pretty neat, and we got a group picture up there.  Thanks to Janet for the Dr. Tom and skywalk pics :)

Project group! From left to right: Angela, Me, Rebecca, Dominique, Janet