Comparing Taiwan's Tea Culture to China's 

Is there a difference?

Throughout this lens I refer to the "Taiwanese" style, rather than a "Chinese" style of tea preparation. I anticipate some confusion with, or objections to, my differentiating the two. One might point out, correctly, that Taiwan's tea culture came from China. The Manchu rulers of China annexed Taiwan to the Fujian province in 1683 in order to quash Ming loyalists and pirates based on the island. Immigrants from Fujian brought to Taiwan their expertise in cultivating oolong tea along with the gongfu method of preparing it.

While I am fully aware that the implements and practices I describe below are based on the traditional Chinese gongfu style of tea, this method of preparing tea is uncommon in day-to-day business and social settings in modern China, whereas they remain quite common in modern Taiwan. Having lived and worked in both China and Taiwan, my experience has been that in Chinese homes and businesses, the host will most commonly offer you a cup with tea leaves on the bottom over which they pour hot water. When the leaves begin to sink to the bottom, the tea is ready to drink.

In Taiwan, both in offices and in homes, it is common for the host to offer tea prepared with a tea set. The differences between Chinese and Taiwanese tea customs was driven home by a recent business trip to China. I spent a month with a Taiwanese friend and business associate visiting a large number of Chinese-owned and Taiwanese-owned factories around Shanghai. Without exception, every Taiwanese expatriate had a tea set in the room where they entertained business guests, which they used to prepare tea in the old man's style, working the pots as they discussed the business at hand. At every Chinese business we visited, we were offered a tall cup with tea leaves. Besides the language being spoken (Taiwanese versus Shanghaiese or Mandarin), this was the only major way I could distinguish whether it was a Taiwanese or Chinese owned enterprise.

Recommended Books and Video 

Learn more about Chinese and Taiwanese teas and tea culture.

The Renaissance of Tea

This documentary is a wonderful presentation on Chinese and Taiwanese teas and tea culture. (DVD)

Amazon Price: $24.99 (as of 07/26/2008)

Tea Basics: A Quick and Easy Guide

by Wendy Rasmussen, Ric Rhinehart

This book provides a good introduction to tea and the major varieties of tea around the world. It's section on Taiwan provide a good, if brief, introduction to Taiwan teas and tea culture.

Amazon Price: $20.95 (as of 07/26/2008)

The Way of Tea: The Sublime Art of Oriental Tea Drinking

by Km Chuen Lam, Kai Sin Lam

This book provides a detailed history of tea, with a strong focus on China. It includes illustrated, step-by-step instructions for preparing tea in the gongfu style.

Amazon Price: $11.53 (as of 07/26/2008)

All the Tea in China

by Kit Chow, Ione Kramer

A solid introduction to Chinese teas and tea culture.

Amazon Price: $13.46 (as of 07/26/2008)

Tea from Fujian and Taiwan.: An article from: Tea & Coffee Trade Journal

by Jane Pettigrew

This digital edition of an article from a trade magazine offers an affordable and informative introduction to Taiwanese teas.

Amazon Price: $5.95 (as of 07/26/2008)

The Taiwanese Tea Set 

A description of the most common items in a Taiwanese tea set.

Below is a description of the various pieces in a typical Taiwanese tea set. There is no need to feel intimidated. Each piece has a practical and straight-forward use. Making a good cup of tea is not difficult. You can replace many of the items below with other items that you may have around the house (or your fingers) if you don't have a complete tea set. But having a complete matching set with wooden implements adds aesthetic value. Further below I make some tasteful recommendations for acquiring your own tea set.

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  Tea Pot

  The centerpiece of every tea set, Tea pots come in a bewildering variety of forms in China and Taiwan: plain clay, decorative porcelain, and shaped like anything from fruits, bamboo, and vegetables to Hello Kitty.

  Choosing a tea pot is very personal decision. I prefer simple designs. This is a picture of the teapot I use. It is a fairly common design. I appreciate its elegant simplicity and practicality.

  The teapot is lidded to keep the water hot while the tea is steeping and to prevent tea from spilling when pouring into cups or draining into a pitcher. The tea pot gets very hot to the touch when steeping tea and so will almost always have a handle of some sort.

  Note that this tea pot is about the size of a small fist, if not a bit smaller. Chinese/Taiwanese teapots tend to be quite small to better control tea temperature and brewing time.

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  Tea Pitcher

  After steeping the tea, the host pours the brewed tea into the tea pitcher. It serves a couple of purposes. First, it blends the tea, ensuring an even flavor. This helps avoid the last person served getting an overly bitter cup of tea and the first person served getting a weak cup of tea. Second, it allows the host to start brewing a new pot while the guests are served and enjoying tea from the first pot.

  In a set, the pitcher is designed to hold the tea pot upside down for draining the tea out of the pot. You don't have to use a matching tea pitcher. You can pour the tea out into any container and it will serve the same purpose. A matching pitcher, however, does serve an aesthetic purpose and also allows you to free up your hands while draining the tea pot.

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  Tea Scoop

  The purpose of the tea scoop is to--Okay, are you ready for this? It's a difficult concept--to scoop tea. Got it? You are not supposed to touch the tea leaves with your grubby hands. Supposedly, the tea will pick up your odors, but experts disagree. If you don't have a fancy wooden scoop, buy one from a link on this site. Okay, okay, you can just use any old clean spoon from your cupboard or your (clean) fingers. But, come on, the wooden tea scoops looks so pretty, are you sure you don't want one?

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  Tea Tongs

  These are used to remove tea leaves from the tea pot and to hold the small tea cups when "washing" them with tea to avoid touching the inside with your fingers (and to avoid burning your fingers with the scalding tea you are pouring over the cup).

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  Picks
  It is common to have wooden picks to help remove used leaves from tea pots, especially for those hard to get to places where tongs and fingers can't easily get at. These have become less necessary with the use of mesh filters that prevent leaves from getting into the spout. They are still handy, however, for digging out the occasional leaf that is stubbornly stuck to the inside of the pot. To avoid damaging the pot, use wood picks, not metal.

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  Tea Tray
  

  Taiwanese usually prepare the tea on a special tray or table. This can be as simple as a tray with handles to make it easy to move the whole set and avoid water from getting on furniture or as complicated as a full-sized table with drainage and heating elements built in. The picture to the left shows my small tea tray, with the tray removed from the water-collection bin. The tray fits on top of a bin. Since the tea pot is filled to the rim with water, some water will over-flow when the lid is put on. This creates a seal and also helps "cure" unglazed clay pots. But it can also create a mess. You don't, however, need to run out and buy an expensive tray or fancy tea table. You can just put the tea pot in a large bowl or a small baking pan.

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  Teapot Pad

  The drip-drain portion of the tea tray or table is often made of stone or metal. Therefore, a protective pad is often used to protect the teapot.

   

  Tea pot lid saucer.

  This is a small saucer that you put the tea pot lid on when you are filling it with tea leaves or removing tea leaves from it. I don't have a picture of one, because I don't have one. Most Taiwanese don't use one. This may be used in more formal gonfu-style tea ceremonies, but for most people, putting the lid on the tea tray or upside down on the table works just fine.

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  And..oh yeah! Tea cups.
  

  Generally, you'll buy matching tea cups with the pot. But there is certainly no law against buying them separately. While you could serve tea in any old cup, generally the tea is served in small cups without handles.

  Some sets are sold with small saucers for the tea cups, but in Taiwan I rarely see anyone using them.

About My Teaset 

My tea set was crafted by Lin's Ceramics Studio in Taipei. Their Web site is in Chinese and English. Its URL is: http://www.aurlia.com.tw/. I love Lin's simple and functional, yet beautiful designs. I wish I could point you to a site where you could buy their wares outside of Taiwan, but I haven't found any. I am currently looking into offering their wares and sets by other Taiwanese ceramics studios to the U.S. market. Until I set up an on-line shop, please contact me using the link on the right sidebar if you are interested purchasing any tea wares from Lin's Ceramics Studio.

It is difficult to find complete tea sets for gonfu/old man's style tea. I've listed three more traditional Yixing sets immediately below, but I'm looking for other sources to present greater variety. If you are an on-line merchant of quality teawares, with an affiliate program, please contact me about listing your tea sets.

Full Tea Sets on eBay 

I'm surprised how difficult it is to find full tea sets on-line. I've included these three sets from eBay merchants. These sets are almost the same as described in this lens, except that, instead of a pitcher, they use a tea strainer.

These are all Yixing clay tea sets. Please note my caution about cleaning this kind of tea ware in the section entitled "Old Leaves," below.

Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand by

Making Tea Taiwanese Style 

Gongfu Tea / Old Man's Tea

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  The Water.
  

  Not surprisingly, the quality of the water you use can greatly affect the taste of the tea. There are stories of ancient tea masters who could supposedly tell where some particular water came from and whether it was collected from the middle of a river or close to shore. While these accounts may be exaggerated, it is not difficult to imagine that tea made from clean, cold water, taken deep from the middle of a lake would taste differently than brackish water collected from the edge of a pond.
  
  Similarly, even the cleanest tap water will taste different from bottled spring water. But you don't need to stock up on expensive bottled water to enjoy good tea. Simply invest a little money into a good water filter that sits on your counter top or installs on your faucet. Having lived in Queens, New York and now in Taichung, Taiwan, I am used to not drinking unfiltered tap water and have experimented with a variety of filters and bottled water dispensers. I make several recommendations below.

   

  Temperature.

  In general, temperature of the water at the time you pour it into the tea pot should be just under boiling. Achieving the proper temperature is important for opening the tea leaves and releasing their flavor and aroma. Oolong teas can release their flavor and aroma at lower temperature (85-90 celcius), black and pu-erh teas require water to be closer to boiling.

  Specialty stores will sell expensive coal burners or decorative heating elements that are designed to add to the ambiance of tea preparation. In practice, most Taiwanese use more modern kitchen appliances. Water dispensers that heat water to a bit over one hundred degrees celcius. are as common in most East Asian homes as toasters are in American homes.

  The appliance pictured above, which my wife and I use and love, is a plumbed "National" brand hot and cold water dispenser that sits on a counter top. It has four different filters and the water is amazing.
  
  In a prior job in the United States, I had to research and select an office water filtration system, so I am quite familiar with what's available in the States. I'll make a couple recommendations below.
  
  Since my water is not heated at the table where I make the tea, I fill a thermos with water heated to about 102 degrees celcius and use it to add water to the tea pot. The water will cool a a bit in the process, so it should be a good temperature for most teas.. My favorite thermoses are made by the Japanese company Zojirushi. I continue to be amazed at how well they retain heat. Zojirushi should be available in select outlets most major cities in Asian and the U.S. I'll also try to provide links to where you can buy them on-line.
  

• The Tea.

  While you can use any tea, the most common are green, Pu-erh, and oolong varieties. Taiwan produces some of the highest quality teas in the world. It is particularly famous for its oolong teas. Tea vendors generally refer to teas from Taiwan as "Formosan" teas, after the Portugese name for Taiwan: Ilha Formosa (beautiful island). Below I make several Taiwan tea recommendations, provide recommendations for vendors of quality Formosan teas, and provide links for your further exploration of Taiwan teas.
  
  Whatever tea variety you use, you will need the loose leaf form. Brick teas do not work for this brewing method. Generally the Tea is scooped from the canister using a wooden scoop or metal spoon to avoid any odors or impurities from you hands adulterating the tea leaves.
  
  The amount of tea you should add to the pot depends upon the tea you are using. For stronger black or oolong teas, you should only need enough to cover the bottom of the pot. For some green and white teas, you may want to add more, but usually not more than a third of the pot. After hot water is added, the leaves will unfurl and expand, generally filling the pot.

• Rinsing the Tea and the Teaware.

  With a new batch of tea, you pour the hot water over it for only a short time, to rinse it of any dust and begin to open the leaves. You can use the rinse water to rinse and warm the tea pitcher and tea cups.

  Because the water is hot, and also to avoid touching the inside of the cups, Taiwanese often use wooden tongs to handle the tea cups while rinsing them.

• Service.

  After the tea has steeped for a sufficient period of time, pour the tea into the serving pitcher.If you buy a full teaset, the pitcher is designed to hold the teapot upside down, as pictured to the right, so that your hands are free while you let it drain out every last drop of tea. As discussed above, pouring the tea from the pot into a pitcher helps ensure a more evenly blended flavor.

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Five Great Taiwanese Teas 

There are so many incredible Taiwanese teas, that it is hard to know where to start. Below is a conservative list of five standard Taiwanese teas that are of good quality, but still affordable. To explore some rarer or more exotic teas,
check out my list of recommended merchants, below (or just click on this link).

2006 Royal Baozhong Tea Leaves - Gourmet Teas from Taiwan - 1 Pound

Generation Tea has a nice selection of unblended, kosher, Taiwan teas with no additives. For some reason, they do not list all of their products on Amazon. To see all that Generation Teas has to offer, please click this link: Generation Tea.

Amazon Price: (as of 07/26/2008)

Pouchong Tea, 2oz.

This tea is from Adagio Teas, the most popular gormet tea site on the Internet. They have a huge selection, including a variety of Formosan teas, but this is one of my favorite kinds of Taiwan Tea.

Amazon Price: $9.00 (as of 07/26/2008)

Osmanthus Flower Oolong Tea Leaves - Gourmet Teas From Taiwan - 4 Ounces

Another selection from Generation Tea.

Amazon Price: (as of 07/26/2008)

Formosa Fanciest Grade Oolong, 1lb.

This is one of the best Taiwanese teas offered by Special Teas. You can get it through Amazon.

Amazon Price: $61.40 (as of 07/26/2008)

Formosa Oolong (4 Ounce) by igourmet.com

iGourmet is not a tea-specific shop, but they do have a pretty good selection. This is a solid Taiwanese oolong variety. Good stuff!

Amazon Price: $8.99 (as of 07/26/2008)

Four Great Taiwanese Tea Snacks 

The following are some popular snacks commonly enjoyed with tea in Taiwan.

Lotte - Koala's March White Chocolate Cream in Chocolate Cookies - Family Size 9.5 Oz

While I'm not a big fan of jellies, these types of snacks are very common in Taiwan. This is a safe choice if you are an American with a not very adventurous palate.

Amazon Price: $7.99 (as of 07/26/2008)

Royal Family Native Taiwanese Traditional Re Cha (Green Tea) Sweet Rice Cake - 10.1 Oz

This is a unique Taiwanese snack that goes very well with tea.

Amazon Price: (as of 07/26/2008)

Bamboo House Sweet Potato Taro Cake Cookies (11.6 Oz)

Taiwan uses taro in many of its dishes and snacks. This is a fairly typical example.

Amazon Price: (as of 07/26/2008)

Kasugai - Roasted Wasabi Hot Green Peas Value Pack - 1 Lb

I like salty snacks with my tea. This is one of my favorite. Roasted green peas, lightly coated in a wasabi-flavored batter, and salted. Note, these carry a nice wasabi punch. They'll clear stuffy nasal passages for sure!

Amazon Price: (as of 07/26/2008)

Old Leaves 

Cleaning up and further uses for used tea leaves.

 

After several infusions, the tea will begin to lose its flavor and aroma and you'll need to replace the leaves. Remove the old leaves from the pot with a tea tong. You can also use wooden picks to remove leaves sticking to the inside of the pot or from hard-to-reach locations like the spout.

To make this easier, you may want to purchase a pot with a metal strainer on the inside of the pot over the entrance to the spout. The Taiwanese invention is common on many newer pots made in Taiwan. Traditional Chinese Yixing clay pots, however, are unlikely to have built in strainers, so the wooden picks come in handy.

Most Taiwanese keep a wastebasket handy to unceremoniously dump the used leaves into. You can also keep a small bowl on the table to collect used leave. Some Taiwanese keep the used leaves and put them in the refrigerator to control odors, similar to how many American's use baking soda.

A long time ago, I read a book that recommended keeping the tea from the drip-drain bin and using it to wash your hair in the shower. I tried it for a week, but eventually went back to my various Aveda concoctions.

You can rinse out your pots with clean hot water if you wish, but many Taiwanese just clean them in hot tea when rinsing new leaves. As a general rule don't use soap, even with porcelain, as residual soap can affect the taste of the tea.

Special note on Yixing-style teaware. My caution against using soap is especially important when using unglazed clay teaware. The detergent or soap can seep into the clay effectively ruining the taste of any tea they are used with. With this style of teaware, I highly recommend only rinsing them with hot tea. This helps "cure" the teaware, and in time they will lend their own unique flavor to tea prepared with them.

Recommended Merchants 

Go beyond my recommendations...

• Adagio Teas. Adagio Teas claims that it is the most popular tea store on-line. The site offers an extensive selection of teas, including a good variety of Taiwan teas. It also offers teaware, but nothing really appropriate for gongfu or old-man's style tea. The Web site is attractive, easy to navigate, and a joy to shop if you are tea lover.
• Generation Tea. Generation Tea focuses on the health benefits of tea and sells fine, unblended teas from Taiwan and China. All their teas are OU Certified Kosher, and many are USDA Certified Organic. Their teas are unadulterated with flavorings, preservative, or other additives. They also offer a tasteful collection of new and antique Yixing clay teaware.
  
  The Generation Tea Web site is informative, well-designed, and easy to navigate.
  
  Chou Doufu's Generation Tea recommendations: Alishan 1990 Aged Alishan Oolong and 2006 Alishan Spring High Mountain.
• Culinary Teas. Culinary Teas has a good selection of Teas, including a variety of Formosan teas. They also offer a small selection of teaware, but no complete tea sets for gongfu/old man's tea.
  

  Chou Doufu recommends: Try their "Formosa Gunpowder" tea. Sorry for the lack of a direct link. Just click on the link above and click on "Green Teas" in their side navigation bar.

Learn More About Tea and Chinese/Taiwanese Tea Culture 

Chinese tea culture: Information from Answers.com

Brief introduction to Chinese tea culture, including history and explanations of modern practices.

Taiwanese tea culture: Information from Answers.com

A brief introduction to Taiwanese tea culture.

Gongfu tea ceremony: Information from Answers.com

A brief introduction to the Gongfu Tea Ceremony

Wu-Wo tea ceremony: Information from Answers.com

This article discusses the ritualistic Wu-Wo Tea Ceremony. This ceremony was founded by Tsai Rong Tsang in Taiwan twenty years ago, to establish an environment of "group equality without prejudice."

Tea Masters

"Discovering Oolong, Pu Er and the Art of Gong Fu Cha with Taiwan's Tea Masters." A wonderful blog on Taiwanese and Chinese tea ceremonies and teas, written by Frenchman living in Taipei.

Forumosa: Taiwanese Culture versus Chinese

This is a discussion thread that I started on Forumosa.com to compare notes about modern tea practices in China and Taiwan.

The Art of Tea

An official Web page of Taiwan's Government Information Office.

CHA DAO

This is a blog that is, in its author's words, "dedicated to discussion and appreciation of teas, especially those from China and Taiwan." This Blog has many contributers and is a treasure trove for the tea fanatic. A recent post was the "Biochemistry of Tea," which should give you some idea to what level of detail these folks go into in their studies of tea.

Tea Arts Blog

The author of this blog is a certified Wu-Wo Tea instructor. He is quite knowledgeable about Taiwanese teas and tea culture. Definitely worth a visit if you want to go beyond the basics. The author is also an active editor of Wikipedia tea-related articles.

Tea Obsession

This unique blog posts the author's tea tasting notes, along with miscellaneous comments on teaware and Chinese antiques. The tea tasting notes are useful in helping the novice focus his attention and train his palate.

Pu-erh, A Westerner's Quest

Although Taiwan is famous for its oolong tea, it also offers some excellent varieties of pu-erh. To learn more about pu-erh tea, visit this very detailed English language site dedicated solely to the pu-erh variety of tea. The author's description: "This Web Site chronicles a Westerner's quest to discover, and publish, the truth about Puerh. I attempt to dispel the myths, and educate the English speaking public, about this wonderful and mysterious variety of tea through hundreds of links about Puerh."

Joel Haas's visit to a Taipei Tea Merchant

Steel sculpter Joel Haas's visit to a Tea Merchant in Taipei city. Great pictures that perfectly capture the everyday, unpretentious lao ren style of preparing and serving tea. He has another blog entry about a much more formal and ceremonial tea ceremony he attended. Very interesting posts and, even thought it has nothing to do with tea, I recommend checking out Joel's site. I really enjoyed checking out the photos of his sculptures. His artist's statement contains the following: "Some people have asked me if there is any serious or deep meaning to my work. I say, 'I hope not. There're already enough serious and deep meanings in the world to keep thousands of art critics busy.' I just make stuff that transports me to a happier place where I can hum and whistle. Art can do that."

Amen to that!

Reader Feedback 

Let me know what you think of this lens!

Just a note: your post will not appear right away. I hate to do this, but I've set it to require approval. This is the only way to avoid my guest book being overrun by spam. I hope that this doesn't discourage you from posting. Reading your posts is one of the things I most enjoy about creating lens on Squidoo.

credgerey Great Presentation. The Ilonggos( people of ILOILO City, Philippines ) welcome you to Iloilo and build close friendship and bonding. Posted June 03, 2008

shoSt.Louis

5 stars!!! What a great lens to share Taiwan Tea ... great info great photo (especial the set with Aroma cups) Thanks!

Posted March 10, 2008

ChouDoufu Fishy, I'm not sure what you are getting at, but it is clear from my lenses and bio that I am American and my real name is English. You must be referring to "Chou Doufu", which means Stinky Toufu. Also, I think that I've explained my reasons for naming this lens "Taiwan Tea";they're not political. Posted October 20, 2007

fishy

Sir, you tried hard to stress "taiwaness, not Chinese" You neglected to change your very Chinese family name. Go ahead call yourself Suzuki!!

Posted October 17, 2007

alohabc Aoha! Wonderful 5-star lens, great info! Posted July 12, 2007

Astridina

Wonderful site! I found it while in search of Taiwanese tea pots. I have gotten in amicable discussions with chinese guests on this subject. I am very close to a young couple from Taiwan. Indeed, their affinity to good tea is comparable to wine or coffee tasting(I am Italian, my husband French.)

Posted July 08, 2007

jmurphy This is a very well presented and researched lens - why can't mine be tidier? Posted May 27, 2007

Darwin_expat_marketer Ah the fine art of tea making. The process makes the flavor more valuable. Posted April 01, 2007

trying This is excellent, really. I especially like the module on making tea Taiwanese style. Posted March 23, 2007

Mobiiart Terrific lens! I love a good tea, and will be sure to try many of your suggestions. Posted March 07, 2007

kathysart What a great lense! I see more of how to impliment my own ideas on my different lenses and I am also encouraged to start morte of them. seeing your lense i understand more of how to set it up. a definate bookmark! Kathy at www.kathysart.com for free art gifts and a letter from the tooth fairy. Posted February 23, 2007

jayme

I'm a caterer who needed to get the idea of what a Taiwanese tea was to prepare for a wedding proposal. Squidoo was wonderfully informative. Thanks.

Posted January 20, 2007

CafeCram.com

Hi,

I thoroughly enjoyed your treatise on Taiwan Tea. Your pictures are clear and instructional. I just launched my weblog on Caffeine, from a business perspective. Come by and check us out. Drop me a personal note via "contacts" on CafeCram.com. Thanks!

Posted January 07, 2007

TeaLady What a great lens!!!! You rock! Posted January 07, 2007

Joel Haas

we certainly enjoyed learning Taiwan tea culture on a 2005 visit. Would like to see photos of the carved wood tea trays. This is a good lens!

Posted December 26, 2006

fefe I gave you 5 stars for such an interesting Squidoo lens!! Posted November 20, 2006

Taiwan Tea Photoset 

See this lenses photographs full sized on Flickr

All photographs on this lens, plus a few extra, are located in my "Taiwan Tea" photo set on Flickr. Several of the photos contain notes labels the different items in the tea set.

teapot with steeped...

adding hot water

draining the teapot

washing the tea cup

removing leave from...

teaset from top

teascoop2

tea set 5

pot3

teaset with tea

THE END 

Wow! You've read/browsed all the way down to the bottom.