Taiwanese Tea
The spark of Taiwan's tea industry initiated in the late 18th century, rooted in cultivars and techniques originating from China, primarily from the neighboring Fujian province. Despite its small size compared to countries like China, India, and Japan, Taiwan's tea industry stands as a significant and dominant player. With unregistered patents and original genres of tea such as Gaoshan Oolong 高山烏龍, Dong Ding 凍頂, Baozhong 包種, and Oriental Beauty 東方美人, along with a flourishing ceramics industry, Taiwan has emerged as a key player in the modern tea era, especially in wulong tea production. Today, following Japanese occupation for half a century and regional tension with mainland China, Taiwanese tea culture draws influences from both left and right, continuing to shape its identity.
Our Taiwanese Tea
Our tea collection from Taiwan stands out from any other product line originating from the island. This distinction is rooted in a firm decision we made from day one - to not engage in trade of commercial tea whatsoever. Instead, our sourcing of Taiwanese tea is focusing on the most sustainable growing methods practiced today, without human intervention - ye sheng cha 野生茶 and ye fang cha 野放茶. Back in 2015, when we first started sampling tea from the island and sought out growers and masters aligning with our values, maintaining the same ethics that we uphold at every step of our work, we carefully conducted our research. We chose to exclusively collaborate with professional growers, experts in their fields, who cultivate and develop unique teas through handcrafted methods, deviating from the commercial landscape of tea in Taiwan. In their work, they dedicate themselves to environmental and health values, avoiding the use of pesticides and cultivation methods that harm the environment, humans, and animals. Therefore, all the tea we source from Taiwan grows naturally and sustainably.
In the winter of 2024, we expanded our educational and operational activities in Taiwan with an advanced tasting series that resulted in a festive tea tasting set for the occasion of the Year of the Dragon 2024. Additionally, after a continuous year and a half of work and full collaboration with dozens of local growers, artists, and culinary figures leading in Taiwan, with whom we work continuously day by day, we are launching, for the first time, a tea and culinary tour to Taiwan in spring 2024, a 10-day boutique journey under our guidance, to the sources of Yefang wild tea and contemporary Taiwanese cuisine. This is not an average tourist package but an invitation to travel with us. An adventurous educational journey, unique in its kind, combining professional content and an original program that we crafted step by step based on our personal experience over the years. After the success of the first trip, another Yefang tea trip to Taiwan is set to take place in October 2024.
