Taiwan brews up the art of tea drinking

Taiwan has been known as a producer and exporter of high-grade tea for more than 200 years. At the invitation of Teh Enam Tiga, an importer and retailer of Taiwanese oolong tea in Indonesia, The Jakarta Post's Pandaya took a close look at the tea culture in Taiwan early this month. His articles and photos are below.

TAIPEI (JP): "Tomorrow," the tour guide said, "we will go to a village where everybody talks about nothing but tea and does nothing but make tea."

Of course she was exaggerating, but when we eventually reached Bamboo Mountain in Nantou County, about four hours drive south of Taipei, we knew what she meant. In the county where the finest tea comes from, most citizens make a living from the cherished leaf.

Nantou is Taiwan's third largest tea-producing county. About 4,300 hectares of the land's 23,800 hectares of tea plantations were found in one of the highest plateaus in Taiwan back in 1987, a figure which has probably changed little since the government does not recommend expansion due to the fear of overproduction.

After an exciting journey on a winter day, through endless breathtakingly beautiful misty mountains and hills, the driver pulled up in front of an unpretentious shop-house by the roadside.

Welcome to the home of Lee Chun Chen, a 25-year-old "tea master". The smiling man, we were told, is nationally admired by tea lovers all over Taiwan for the tea-tasting skills he inherited from five generations of ancestors.

His well-lit 4m by 4m living room is decorated with everything related to tea: tea ware, a wooden table where tea is brewed, plaques of honor he has won almost every year in government- sponsored tea-tasting contests, tea-packing machinery and packs of tea.

"Last year, I retained my first place in the annual tea- tasting contest," Chun Chen said through an interpreter while serving tea to his guests.

The chatter about tea was flowing freely.

Tea tasting is a basic part of the work of both tea brokers and tea blenders. The former taste tea to determine their value before the tea is auctioned, while blenders decide on individual teas which are needed for a standard blend.

Chun Chen said it needed about seven years to learn the art of tea tasting; although he has won numerous awards he said he is "still learning it".

He won Rp 300 million in prizes after beating 4,300 other contestants.

Chun Chen demonstrated how to prepare different kinds of tea, sniffing the aroma and flushing our cups every time he offered a different tea.

"In our tradition, tea is served as a gesture of friendship," said Lee Soen Ching, Chun Chen's father, who is also a tea master. "Drinking tea is a good way of breaking the ice with your guests."

Soen Ching runs a family tea enterprise, Soen Chun Tea Manufacture, and owns a 1,300 square meter tea plantation in the hilly county which is forever green with tea plants and wild bamboo clusters.

Fashionable

Like in mainland China, where tea drinking has been popular for more than 3,000 years, tea drinking has become part of the traditional lifestyle in Taiwan.

Shops and cafes exclusively selling tea and tea wares are commonplace. As an art, tea drinking is taken seriously. Traditional teahouses open and close with a ritual.

Spending time in teahouses has become an increasingly fashionable "way of life". For 350 Taiwan dollars a package, customers sit around a tea table, brewing their own tea and shooting the breeze with soft Chinese music playing in the background.

To quench your thirst about the history of the art of Chinese tea drinking in Taiwan, which is also known as Formosa in tea terminology, take a trip to Pin Lin Tea Museum.

The Taiwan Tea Merchants Association also has a wing that is in charge of promoting tea drinking as an art.

The origin of tea in Taiwan has apparently been lost in antiquity. Various records say that Taiwan teas were brought in from Fukien province in mainland China "more than 200 years ago". Taiwanese and Chinese teas, therefore, are closely related in terms of characteristics and history.

The Chinese have three main tea categories based on their making-process: nonfermented, semifermented and fermented.

The light-colored nonfermented tea, best-known as green tea, is believed to have a cooling effect. To make it fragrant, it is often flavored with jasmine.

Semifermented tea tastes strong, and the best-known variety is oolong tea, also the most famous tea from Taiwan overseas. Indonesia also imports oolong, which is available at tea boutiques in Jakarta and other major cities. Oolong tea is principally manufactured in China and Taiwan.

Fermented tea is the most widely used in the world, and is known as black tea in the West and puer (bolei) in Hong Kong. Its warming effect makes it a popular winter brew. Java, Sumatra, Sri Lanka and India are the world's major black tea producers.

Tea business

Taiwan, where the annual tea consumption per capita is 0.7kg, began importing tea in the 1980s. According to the Taipei Tea Merchants Association, the tea importation increased from 1,333 metric tons in 1989 to 8,700 metric tons in 1998.

Jackson C.M. Huang of Taiwan's Tea Manufacturers Association said many Taiwan tea entrepreneurs turned to Vietnam to do business for good quality tea and cheaper production costs.

But exports of oolong tea, with Japan as its number one buyer because it is considered a healthy beverage, remain strong -- about 5,000 metric tons.

The government gives incentives to tea farmers by exempting them from income tax.

"Through research and technology extension, the government makes further efforts to increase tea farmers' income by means of improvement of tea quality and decrease in production cost," said Tsai-Fua Chiu of the Taiwan Tea Experiment Station.

Tradition

Taiwan's tea farmers can be confident that the domestic demand for local high-grade tea will rise as the land of 19 million people continues to prosper.

Chu San of Bamboo Mountain has quit his job in a heavy equipment factory and set up his own tea factory.

"It is easy to make money in the tea industry," he said with a broad smile, glancing at his U.S.-made Grand Cherokee parked in his spacious yard. "Moreover, operating tea machinery is less dangerous (than operating heavy equipment)."

Employing 12 people, each earning 2,500 Taiwan dollars a day, his factory makes 300 kilograms of tea a day.

"For me, making tea means preserving the tradition," he said.