Taiwan Tea Bars

Taichung (táizh?ng), Taiwan is the often referred to as the birthplace of the modern tea house.  Anyone who has spent any time in Taiwan has almost certainly visited one of the islands many tea houses. Modern Taiwanese tea houses are a far cry from the western stereotype of a tranquil setting involving an elaborate tea set.  These traditional tea houses still exist (and the style of tea is usually g?ngfu chá), but they are not practical for the modern on-the-go urbanite looking for a quick pick-me-up.

The modern Taiwanese tea-house is more likely to be raucous than tranquil, often playing loud pop music. Others are more like lounges, playing jazz or classical music, and appropriate for business meetings. All offer as many kinds of mixed tea drinks as a bar's choice of alcoholic beverages. 

For this reason, I refer to them as tea bars to disassociate them from the stereotype that most westerns picture when they read "tea house." Many visitors to Taiwan only sample a few of the most common drinks available and, because of language difficulties or timidness, never sample some of the more interesting and exotic concoctions. This lens describes some of the more common teas that foreign visitors to Taiwan often overlook. The Chinese romanization is given in parenthesis.

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