Upon arriving in Taiwan, from the very first tea tasting, you can feel that everything is subtly different on this tea island compared to the mainland.. They classify their teas and brew them slightly differently, their tea pairs are unique and ikebana is an original touch on their tea tables.. Their focus seems to be more on nuances and subtle shades, their drive for excellence is evident. Their tea competitions are truly unique and once you reach the high-mountain tea area you want to stay there as long as you can. Their special love for aged teas, which they call ‘lao”,’ is striking. It is impossible to fully grasp this tea world in 12 days, but something was revealed to us on our October tea route: Taoyuan – Lu Gu – Sun Moon Lake – Alishan – Taipei, where we had many wonderful encounters with tea people and tea places. The people and their stories are always what make the entire journey memorable
Getting Acquainted with the Tea and Beverage Research Station (TBRS)
Right after arriving in Taiwan, we dropped off our suitcases, grabbed a quick bite, and immediately attended a tea tasting organized by the staff of the Tea and Beverage Research Station. It was previously known as the Tea Research and Extension Station (TRES), but on August 1, 2023, it was renamed the Tea and Beverage Research Station (TBRS) under the Ministry of Agriculture. We were truly lucky to visit this station right at the beginning of our trip, not just because they don’t allow walk-in visitors. Most importantly – they gave us a clear and authoritative overview of the modern classification of Taiwanese teas.
The TBRS and its four branches are responsible for conducting experiments and research in the Taiwanese tea industry, improving tea cultivation and processing technologies and providing training and knowledge dissemination. This is a unique professional organization involved in consulting and promoting tea; its activities cover all tea plantations in Taiwan. All of this was explained to us by Cheng-Nan Lai, a junior specialist at the TBRS, who also showed us on a screen how they solve the problems of tea bush reclamation, helping farmers avoid drought. I looked out the window, and it was pouring rain. “You’re unlucky, a typhoon has started today, but we predicted it!” – the junior research fellow smiled brightly, and I sighed, which probably meant no walks through tea plantations for the next couple of days.
Taiwanese Tea Classification
The official TBRS website lists 8 special Taiwanese teas that represent the country in the tea world: Green Biluochun, Wenshan Baozhong, High-Mountain Oolong, Dong Ding, Tieguanyin, Oriental Beauty, Red Oolong, and Red (Black) Tea. They are grouped into 6 types of Taiwanese tea, combining Dong Ding, Tieguanyin, and Red Oolong into one type of dark oolongs (yes, Tieguanyin in Taiwan is dark—quite heavily oxidized and roasted).
TBRS staff organized a tea tasting for us with 10 teas, explaining the three main varieties of red teas, thus broadening the selection: small-leaf red tea, large-leaf red tea and honey red tea made from leaves bitten by Jacobiasca formosana.
“Our classification does not match perfectly the 6 types of Chinese tea,” one of the tea enthusiasts later explained to me, “it is more complex, and it’s better just to accept it as it is. We don’t call Baozhong an oolong, it’s just Baozhong. Red Oolong, by technology, is a mixture of red tea and oolong technology. Oriental Beauty, being highly oxidized, can be placed in the classification between Red Oolong and Red Tea; its production is unique, so it is a separate type of tea. We rather try to emphasize the individuality of each tea, considering the production specifics. But if you want to generalize, we have three groups of teas: unoxidized, semi-oxidized, and highly oxidized teas”. White tea is also found in Taiwan, but it was not included in the list because it is relatively new and made in small quantities.
Tea tastings in Taiwan are usually conducted based on 3 grams of tea per 150 ml of water, steeped for 6 minutes. There is a local tea flavor and aroma wheel, specially developed for Taiwanese teas. At TBRS, we were told that this wheel was developed through the joint efforts of 25 tea producers and tasters, and professional TBRS researchers working in small groups. They selected the best and most representative teas from tea competitions across Taiwan, including samples of all varieties. They tasted, analyzed, and described 495 tea samples. Then, through discussion of the terminology, they reached a consensus and selected the one that is suitable for different types of tea. In 2020, TBRS officially released the “Flavor Circles” for the “6 Types of Tea,” which include the aromas of Taiwan’s special teas. This step was aimed, among other things, at helping farmers enter the international market.
All farmers, guided by TBRS developments, introduce their creative approach and individuality to the enzymatic oxidation and roasting process, achieving their own tea flavors. That is why there is such diversity in the tea competitions, and everyone hopes to win a prize for their tea. Tea of winners is very expensive and raises the prestige of producers in professional circles.
The Story of One Family
In the first few days, we spent a lot of time with the family of Mrs. Huang Shu-fen (aka Mina) and Mr. Chiu Kuo-siung in their “Sui Yuan Tea Space” in Taoyuan, Longtan district where they demonstarte different tea brewing styles, conduct tea trainings, show tea production and organize various tea events. They have a shop there as well where they sell their own tea. They told us their tea story which turned out to be very long and full of hard work.
In 1980, out of love for tea, the couple opened the “Suiyuan Tea Shop”, actively participated in various exhibitions and events, established good relationships with many collectors, and traveled to mainland China and Hong Kong in search of tea. In 1996, they founded the “Suiyuan Tea House”, and between 1998 and 2002, they opened 20 tea shops in Taiwan.
In 1990, on Christmas eve their store was burglarized and all their funds disappeared. They didn’t know what to tell their customers as they had a long list of orders. When the news spread, their clients not only refrained from blaming them but also extended a helping hand. Many of these people happened to have a surname “Lin”. In order to express their gratitude, when later a new company was established, Huang Shu-fen and Chiu Kuo-siung specially incorporated the character “Lin” into their brand “Chi Cha Lin” to symbolize the warmth of human kindness. And finally, they opened the “Suiyuan Tea Space” in the unique Longtan district—the birthplace of “Oriental Beauty” tea.
Mina is very proud of her husband, his high professionalism in tea and economics. Smiling, she listed all his positions : “He is an international tea judge, a certified expert in tea tasting in Taiwan, a lecturer on tea culture in China and Taiwan, the director of our tea company. He holds a master’s degree in tea industry economics, he is the Vice President of the Taiwan-Shanghai Business Cooperation Association, founder and director of the Hong Kong International China Tea Culture Association, honorary president of the Korean Institute of Chinese Tea Culture, Chairman of the Board of Directors of “Hong Cha Lin International”, honorary Chairman of the Taoyuan City Tea Merchants Association, honorary president of the Taipei Cross-Strait Trade Promotion Association and artistic director of our ‘Suiyuan Tea and Art’ cultural park”. When we asked how they find time for everything, Shufeng laughed: “We work very hard!” The list of all Mr. Chiu’s accolades is interesting as it highlights the breadth of various tea associations in Taiwan and his involvement in international cooperation.
As a souvenir, Mr. Chiu presented us with his book on pu-erh, which he has been studying for many years. And I remembered how one of his friends told us: “Mr. Chiu is Hakka, and for these people, the most important value is education”.
Awards for Tea
On the walls of the “Suiyuan Tea Space” we saw a lot of beautifully designed large wooden plaques with inscriptions about the honorable competition places received for the production of tea. Two plums, three plums, first place, second place, third, etc. Different years, tea varieties, and competitions. We later saw similar ones in many tea shops and factories we visited —they hang usually at the entrance, in the most visible honorable place, a kind of quality mark for the company and we also encountered mentions of competition tea awards on business cards.
In the second half of 20th century, the government decided to support farmers and stimulate tea quality through tea competitions. Teas that won the competition immediately increased significantly in price; it became prestigious to receive awards and earn more from quality tea. Now, up to 200 tea competitions are held in Taiwan annually, but only 10–20 of them are considered the most significant. In the largest Dong Ding competition in Lu Gu, the number of participants can reach 6,000.
Another interesting way to promote competition teas is a tea tasting organized in different places for the public. For example.. at the airport. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw a large stand with a tea area at Taipei Airport , where three tea competition winners were promoting their tea, conducting a tea tasting for anyone interested, and these teas could be purchased nearby in the duty-free zone. This was a short-term government campaign to promote quality Taiwanese tea and young farmers who won the “Top 100 Farmers of the Year” competition, which is held among all Taiwanese farmers under 45, including tea farmers. The most touching thing was that the cans of tea featured photos of the winners who were promoting them. It was impossible not to buy the tea with their image, especially since it was delicious tea.
One more tea champion we found in Zhushan, Nantou’s Shanlinxi area. Young farmer Luo Cheng-Bin, one of Taiwan’s Top 10 Young Farmers, created there his own brand “Cha Yue Shan Lin”. He has a tea estete that is managed with eco-friendly farming, full traceability, and organic certification to protect the mountain environment. At high elevation, surrounded by mist, it produces fragrant, smooth Taiwanese high-mountain oolong and black teas. Apart from very high quality tea he insists on hand-weeding and low-chemical cultivation, and also promotes agri-tourism and hands-on tea-making experiences so visitors can discover both the land and local tea culture. We didnt manage to visit his tea plantation but we had a teatasting session with his teas.
His signature teas include Cha-Shan Yunlong, Pineapple-Fragrance Ruby Black, Qi-Yun Black Tea, Honey Fragrant Gui-Fei Oolong, High-Mountain Jasmine Oolong, and Oriental Beauty. Among them, the TTES No. 22 “Qin-Yu” series is especially iconic, featuring elegant magnolia and citrus blossom aromas with a gentle honeyed sweetness, expressing the refined flavor and sustainable spirit of a new generation of Taiwanese high-mountain tea. I couldnt resist to buy it to enjoy with tea lovers at home.
The “Suiyuan Tea Space” has many teas that have won competitions, and I wanted to buy a competition Oriental Beauty. The price of a tea that won an award was quite high. Mina clarified that if I wanted to buy it without the competition can, the price would be significantly cheaper. Then she showed me that they had two recommended prices for competition teas—with and without the competition packaging. In all stores, competition teas are always easy to spot by these special packages —they differ depending on the tea type, competition, and year. If you are in Taiwan, tasting competition teas is simply a must.
How I Found My Dong Ding
Taiwan is famous for its roasted oolongs. I couldn’t find “my” Dong Ding for a long time until I visited two places in Lu Gu. We were led there by Wu Meng Chen (aka Jenny), our second “guide” to Taiwan’s tea places. Jenny’s family owns the “Wuji” packaging company, which makes eco-friendly and ultra-modern packaging for 95 percent of all tea in Taiwan, so they know all the tea producers. Jenny, when planning our program, chose the tea producers that could be interesting for us, and she always succeeded. Everywhere we went, she smiled and pointed out “Wuji” logo on tea packaging, especially drawing attention to the premium paper, which I had never encountered before. Its secret is that the teas in it can be stored for years, as it does not allow moisture in, lets the tea breathe and age well.
First, she took us to a small, very cozy store, Lee Tê in Lu Gu, where the entire family of fourth-generation producers, whose specialty was precisely Dong Ding, was waiting for us. Jenny bet that I would like their tea. The hostess, Ms. Kuo Huang-Lin, was already waiting to brew us tea in Taiwanese tea pairs. And the Dong Ding she brewed captivated me, and so did their whole family. Instead of the planned hour, we spent three hours there; after all, tea does not like haste.
I asked them what makes their Dong Ding special. “A complex question,” the father of the family, Li Ming-Zheng replied. “First, the raw material must be a heavily oxidized oolong. The most important skill, if you want to make a tea that wins a competition, is the roasting process. The tea must be roasted to the level required for Dong Ding oolong, usually over three to four rounds, with the total roasting time being between 25 and 50 hours. Different teas require different roasting methods, so it is difficult to explain unequivocally how to achieve the perfect roast. Experience is crucial: you need to spend a lot of money and tea leaves to accumulate your own knowledge in roasting. Only after many failures and numerous exceptions do you gradually realize your shortcomings”.
Then it turned out that this family also has a tradition of making Gui Fei. And according to the master, to learn how to make quality Gui Fei, you must first learn how to make quality Dong Ding. The difference between them, he said, is that Dong Ding is less oxidized and roasted longer, while Gui Fei is oxidized longer but roasted less.
The second place that impressed me with the taste and quality of Dong Ding, Jenny presented to us as the only place in Lu Gu where you can find Dong Ding pressed into cakes. The owners of the “52 Tea” shop (the sound of “52” in Chinese and the sound of the words “I love” are very similar) also greeted us in a family way—father, mother and two children. Family tea business is a typical theme for Taiwan. They immediately arranged a tasting for us, bringing out their pressed Dong Ding from various years of aging. “Externally, pressed Dong Ding looks very similar to Shu Pu-erh,” someone in our group said.
The pressed tea was brewed using multiple infusions, in proportions of 8 grams per 120 ml, the first infusion for 1.5 minutes, then 1 minute each. This tea can be stored for many years and its quality improves with each passing year and the price grows, like all old aged oolongs. We were also shown the production and pressing process. Roasting of Dong Ding takes 30–40 hours, at different temperatures from 100 to 130 degrees. During pressing, the leaves are steamed for 5–10 minutes , then pressed and dried for 40-50 hours. The correct oxidation is a very important moment, as if insufficient time is allocated to this process, the aroma will be inexpressive, and the aftertaste tart. To visit Lu Gu and not find your Dong Ding is impossible, because this place is the heart of this tea.
100 Years of Assamica in Taiwan
We arrived at Sun Moon Lake, which is located in the heart of Taiwan, opening up a view of the beautiful lake surrounded by mountains. This is the region of Taiwanese red tea (“black tea” as we call it here), as it was here that the first assamica, brought from India, was planted 100 years ago. This was a time when Taiwan was a Japanese colony, and the Japanese were very interested in making and exporting red tea.
Jenny brought us to a tea plantation planted with assamica bushes. The owner of the plantation, Mr. Liang, showed us the oldest, 80-year-old tea tree and told us his story. He himself is a native of Lu Gu and mainly drank oolongs, but when he started working at TBRS at Sun Moon Lake in 2001, he rediscovered black tea and fell in love with it. In 2015, on the recommendation of a friend, he acquired this piece of land. At that time, areca palms grew on it, and wild, abandoned old tea trees grew beneath them. He cut down the areca palms and in 2016 he and his wife registered the “Watanabe Farm Taiwan” brand.
The history of Watanabe Farm dates back to 1925, when the Governor-General of Taiwan imported large-leaf tea seeds from Assam (India) and passed them on to Watanabe Den”emon, the first Japanese person to grow tea at Sun Moon Lake. He founded Watanabe Farm, training farmers in tea cultivation, and worked on it until the end of the war in 1945.
Mr. Liang is very proud of this history, lovingly manages the farm and dreams of creating a park dedicated to tea culture and education in this area. He and his wife already began building a tea factory in the beginning of 2025 and opened a program for the adaptation of tea trees. In the future, they will offer courses on tea study, one-day workshops for tea specialists and tasters, as well as workshops on manual tea picking and processing. They cooperate with other tea masters who rent tea rows. On the plantation we met a woman who rented one of the tea rows to study the tea making process, as tea was her hobby. Mr. Liang immediately took the tea leaves we collected to the production area and said that our red tea would be delivered to our hotel a couple of days later. There wasn’t much of it, but it was delicious!
Taiwanese Red Teas
According to TBRS summary, red tea in Taiwan is mainly made from two cultivars: Ruby 18 and the newer large-leaf cultivar Number 21 Hong Yun. However, in recent years, red tea has also been made from the small leaves of Chinese camellia, as well as from raw material bitten by Jacobiasca formosana, which gives the tea a very sweet honey aroma and gave the variety the name Honey Red. Red teas usually have a strip-shaped twist, but we managed to find a family in Alishan that makes ball shaped red tea. Because Taiwanese people love to experiment!
Alishan and High-Mountain Oolong Production
We started early in the morning with Jenny in a rented minibus from Chiayi to climb to an altitude of 1400 meters in a couple of hours and reach the tea plantations in the Zhangshuhu village, where a family of farmers met us to talk about the production of high-mountain oolongs and show the stages of tea leaf processing. The village itself is small; about 30 families live there, and only 10 of them have their own production facilities, so they cooperate and rent production workshops from each other. We joked that we could easily come to such a beautiful place and work as tea pickers for pleasure. Yu Ting Lo, the daughter of the farm owners, who showed us the plantations and production, hearing our dreams, smiled: “For us, this is an ordinary landscape, just like the city for you. And as for tea picking, we probably wouldn’t hire you. When the tea leaves are ready for picking, we have 40–45 days to harvest the entire crop before the leaves over-mature. Only a team of experienced pickers can manage to harvest in time”.
Tea picking is done by hand; pickers tie blades to their index fingers, put scarves on their heads and bright wide-brimmed straw hats over them. Manual picking is explained by the very steep slopes and, of course, the desire to make higher quality tea. Pickers are paid by the number of kilograms collected. Price is not reduced if they collect five leaves instead of the top three. Good pickers are scarce, and every family tries to retain them. Tea picking usually ends at the end of November, and the bushes, along with the pickers, rest in winter.
The Lo family has been involved in tea for 35 years. The head of this family is considered a very good tea master. They produce 21 thousand kilograms of tea annually. Workers are hired seasonally; they live together and eat at the tea farm. In total, there are about 100 tea factories in Alishan, and the competition is high. After a delicious and simple lunch prepared by Yu Ting’s mother, we tasted the teas. For Yu Ting, the most interesting oolong is the high-mountain one that they produce in the family. She, like many Taiwanese people, is a little skeptical of GABA tea, calling it a tea for sleeping and emphasizing its relaxing properties. “We have so many wonderful teas that GABA is definitely not a priority”. I heard the same opinion from other Taiwanese people. I asked Yu Ting what she thought about the tea categorization offered at the national level. She smiled and briefly replied: “The Research Station categorizes and invents new varieties, but local masters still believe that they understand more about tea”.
Tea Pairs and Cha Yi (Tea Art)
Taiwan is famous for its art of brewing tea—Cha Yi. We heard from the Taiwanese that the revival of tea ceremony art began with them 40 years ago, and in mainland China only 25 years ago. The cup of fairness (gongdaobei) and the aroma sniffing cup (wenxiangbei) began to be used for tea precisely in Taiwan, around the 80s. No one could clearly tell us exactly how the tea pairs originated, but there are legends about a master Sheng who lived in Japan for a long time, then returned to Taiwan and suggested using tea pairs. Tea pairs are widely used in Taiwan for brewing tea in tea places, but at the same time, there is an opinion that this tradition is already fading. Different sizes and colors of cups are used for tea pairs, and the tea is just poured from one cup into another to enjoy the aroma and taste separately. The arrangement of tea ware on the table varied from master to master, sometimes giving the impression that it was an art performance. We often heard from Mr. Chiu that the taste of the tea matters much more than beautiful arrangement. But we still wanted to see a real Cha Yi.
“Aliona, Cha Yi requires complex preparation, and you need many guests; it’s a tea art performance,” people around me said and I almost lost hope to see it. Mina helped me. She came up with the idea of organizing a tea cultural evening in their “Suiyuan Tea Space” just before our departure. “We make an exchange of tea experience between Taiwan and Belarus”, she suggested. It turned out to be an impressively rich tea celebration. One of the most famous ikebana masters from China, Mr. Wang Guangzhong was invited. He decorated all the tables with his flower art and held a small master class. Five experienced Taiwanese tea masters showed Cha Yi, each at their own table. I admired their arrangement and performance.
Taiwanese tea art is always demonstrated on cloth, and the selection of the fabric, the choice of colors, the utensils — everything is very important. Some of the masters brewed in tea pairs, while others simply in cups; there was a lot of freedom in movement and concentration on the process, beauty and elegance.
There was another amazing tea gathering that I had never encountered before—at Mr. Chang’s tea space in Lu Gu. It was called the “Tea Gathering by the Fire”. This is a unique method that Mr. Chang and his wife created 15 years ago. They combined Japanese and Chinese brewing styles, adding a touch of the Taiwanese tea tradition of Wu Wo. The Wu Wo tea party, which originated in Taiwan in 1990, assumes that all guests brew tea simultaneously and silently and treat three neighbors to their left. In Mr. Chang ceremony there are 6 seats with 6 small low tables, each having own tea brewing utensils. The tables are arranged in a circle, and inside it there is a fire place with a Japanese pot full of water, and each participant has their own wooden ladle (hishaku) for filling the gaiwan with water. Mr. Chang first showed us how to brew tea, gave us brief information about teas and then we began brew our own tea and treat the neighbors to the left and right. Everyone brewed and treated in the same rhythm. At the end of the tea party, Japanese sweets were served with the tea , and we could then simply sit at the table and socialize. The whole event lasted about an hour, and we tried 6 fragrant oolongs produced by Mr. Chang. He turned to be one of the best tea farmers of the region!
At the “Suiyuan Tea Space” we also got acquainted with Song Dynasty tea whisking. We had to grind tea on special millstones to make tea powder, whisked it with water to make a thick foam, and afterwards drew a picture on it. The “paint” for the drawing was tea powder diluted in water to a thick consistency. Tea foam painting was very popular in ancient China.
The Hakka People, Lei Cha, Oriental Beauty, and Jacobiasca formosana
We first heard about the Hakka people in Taiwan when we went to Hakka Cultural Center and then we found out that Mr. Chiu is Hakka. And in “Suiyuan Tea Space” we were lucky enough to participate in workshop on making Lei Cha (Pounded Tea). This is a very special and ancient tea drink, where tea, sesame seeds, nuts, and herbs are ground in a mortar and then poured over with hot water. The Hakka moved to the island of Taiwan in the 17th century from the mountainous regions of northeastern Guangdong fleeing wars. They had to endure a lot of hardships, and preparing food like Lei Cha helped them survive in any conditions. The Hakka have two main values—family and education. They also joke about themselves that they are very resourceful, and try to make use of everything.
And it is precisely with their resourcefulness that the legend of the appearance of Taiwan’s most famous tea, Oriental Beauty (Dong Fang Mei Zhen), is associated. According to the legend, the thrifty Hakka decided that they should not lose the harvest every year when tiny grasshoppers attack the tea leaves. They thought: “Even if the leaves are bitten by Jacobiasca formosana, tea can still be made from them”. And they were right. Now there are three teas made from leaves bitten by Jacobiasca formosana (this name of the insect we read in Hakka cultural center): Dong Fang Mei Zhen (Oriental Beauty), Gui Fei (Imperial Concubine) and Honey Red. All three are very honeyed and aromatic.
Taiwanese Tea Spaces
Speaking about Taiwanese tea spaces, I would like to note the great variety of formats. It can be a large three-story tea space, like “Suiyuan Tea Space,” featuring tea production , tea plantations at the entrance, a store and educational spaces arranged in different tea styles. Or it can be a tiny tea house in the center of Taipei, where it seems there is no space to drink tea, only shelves and a tea table and then we raise eyes and see a small staircase leading up to a small tea room. In Nantou, there are many small and large tea shops owned by tea producers who produce and sell the tea themselves. You can even find a stylish and modern tea boutique right in the middle of a plantation where they serve bubble tea, cold teas and tea from a teapot.
I was very impressed by the hundred-year-old tea house in the small town of Jioufen by the ocean, with two floors overlooking the ocean and a huge collection of tea artifacts and pottery belonging to the owner of this tea house. Tea tables there are designed based on the hot-pot principle — there is a deepening in the middle of the table for a fire and a kettle. In all big and small cities in Taiwan one can find the most popular tea drink – bubble tea which was invented also here.
We visited one tea shop where a family specializes in producing decaffeinated tea. And they do this using a scientific method which was approved many years ago —through multiple roasting of the tea in an oven, as a result of which the caffeine evaporates. And they showed us what caffeine looks like—very unexpected white a bit fluffy stuff. This method gained many awards. Also, in this store they serve eggs boiled in tea and then serve tea in glasses. The owner explained that this is their way to make tea service more modern and attractive for young people.
To conclude the story I would like with one of the most unusual spaces, the construction of which has just been completed and its tea life has started. “The Beautea Space” in Nantou, the official grand opening of which is scheduled for the summer of 2027. We would never have known about it if it weren’t for Jenny, who turned out to be its director. This is the second major project of their family. Besides having very elegant and artistic design this place has a global idea—to unite all Taiwanese tea farmers and make their center an active international platform for tea exchange.
“You see, we are not tea producers, and we do not compete with them, but we know everyone, and everyone knows us. For many years, we have observed that in Taiwan, unlike mainland China, there is no single platform where wholesalers and shop sellers could meet, find out who has what to offer, what the prices are, what the quality is, compare and choose what they like best. Since there is no such platform, no one knows where the neighboring store buys tea, what suppliers exist, who to buy from and at what price. The information is kind of closed. We want to change this situation and make our tea center an open platform so that different players in the tea business can find each other, create more openness. We want to host tea events of various levels: conferences, tea tastings, auctions, competitions and bring speakers here from all over the world on a wide variety of tea topics. We want to popularize Taiwanese tea, become intermediaries and a platform for inspiration, and bring together business, science, culture and innovation”.
I listened to her and looked at the huge teapot on the roof of the multi-story glass building, at the beauty of modern architecture, where the glass has a soft colour of brewed oolong, and the pond around the building makes it look like a large cup of tea that Taiwan offers to the world. I sincerely hope that the world will drink it with joy, and that this center has a great future, just like Taiwanese tea.
Acknowledgement
Special thanks for assistance in organizing the tea program of the trip go to the “Suiyuan Tea Space” and the family of Huang Shufeng (aka Mina) and Chiu Kuo-siung, as well as to the director of “The Beautea Space” Meng Chen Wu (aka Jenny) and her father, Wu Xuan Tong , the director of the “Wuji” company.
