Two wild, indigenous tea subspecies, Taiwan Tea( 台灣茶 ) and Red Sprout Mountain Tea, were discovered in Taiwan as early as the seventeenth century. However, they are rarely sought after and not widely used for their bitter style and thin, brittle leaves.
About two hundred years ago, some tea plants were delivered to Taiwan from the Fujian province of mainland China. This was the beginning of tea culture in Taiwan.
Women pick tea on low stools at the very Dadaocheng warehouse Men pack tea into crates for overseas shipping
During the Qing dynasty, completely different tea varieties were imported from the Fujian area and cultivated in northern Taiwan. During his visit to Taiwan in 1865 to see the natural resin trade, British bourgeois John Dodd discovered the Taiwanese tea market. The tea he exported to NY became a surprise hit, making Taiwanese tea internationally famous and attracting alternative exporters to Taiwan. Thus began the prosperity of Taiwan's tea industry and its role as a significant industry in northern Taiwan.
Island Gardens at the San Francisco Exposition, 1915 New York's Formosa Tea Region 'California's World Authentic Formosa Tea Gardens' Island Gardens at the San Francisco Exposition, 1915
During their occupation of Taiwan, the Japanese expanded Taiwanese tea plantations and encouraged the cultivation of indigenous varieties with four main varieties: Qingjin Cha (green-hearted oolong), Qingjin Damo, Dae Cha (big-leaf oolong), Ying Zhi Hongxin. ("hard-stemmed red-heart"). Also, a Tea Analysis Institute was established to promote black tea cultivation and production.
In 1926, the Japanese introduced province selection in Taiwan and experimented with its cultivation in Yuchih Township, Nantou County. The self-brewed results gave birth to the currently celebrated specialty tea of Sun Moon Lake.
China was subject to trade embargoes in the nineteen-fifties and 1960s, and now Taiwanese tea growers and marketers concentrated on existing, well-known varieties. When mainland goods became more accessible and therefore the tea market more competitive, the Taiwanese tea trade successfully shifted its pressure to produce special versions, particularly of oolongs, which were virtually substitutable with Taiwanese tea by the late nineteenth century. century
See also: China tea Premium Gift box( 頂級禮盒 )
There are many reasons for the high quality of Taiwanese tea. Perhaps the most important of these is Taiwan's unique climate. Taiwan's climate is subtropical, and therefore the mountainous parcels provide ideal conditions for tea expansion. High mountains and cool, damp air slows down its growth, and together with fertile soil providing unique characteristics of tea leaves, it is here - one of the most effective in the world. Taiwan has its own well-established tradition of tea processing, which is suited to domestic conditions.
In the 1980s, as Taiwan's economy progressed, the tea-drinking population and tea consumption rate increased rapidly. Let alone the active promotion of tea culture, consumers began to put a lot of pressure on the tea industry and became selective about its quality. As a result, Taiwan's tea business has shifted from export to domestic consumption. This is the reason why finding high-quality Taiwanese tea outside of Taiwan is not straightforward.
No wonder, Taiwanese people say: "Have friends and tea - that's how you're rich."
