Tea Emperor

Walking on the streets of Taipei and other bigger cities in Taiwan, you could easily find tea houses from different corners, some locate by big roads while some hidden in small alleys quietly waiting for visitors. Many of them works as restaurant or beverage bar where they serve tea along side with food and other beverages.

a taiwanese tea house, photo by Empress

I still remember vividly that in 80′ when the bubble tea’s trend started, opening a tea house was popular among locals. Since then, tea house was no longer considered as traditional places where only old men go, instead young people liked to gather in tea houses to meet friends, enjoy snacks, lunch, and a good glass of bubble tea which mostly served cold.

As how competition usually goes in an industry, not all the tea houses managed to survive through the next decades, however many quality ones remained. Further more, more and more tea house franchise stores showed up around the corners, having growing faithful customers over the years. In other words, another wave of competition started and remained until the present days.

Thanks to the tea house development the rich tea cultures in Taiwan not only remains but also has been reborn along the way. Nowadays it is easy to find a big variety of tea houses with special characters.  Many of them are so called “mixed-stores” where both tea and quality meal are served. One can also find tea houses that serve tea from other countries, such as tea house for British tea, tea house for German tea… etc.

It is important to mention that the “traditional” tea houses remain and some art tea houses in remote mountain areas are just as popular as those city new comers. Those tea houses serve mainly traditional Chinese tea and Taiwanese mountain oolong tea, hot ones, of course. If you intend to visit traditional tea houses, be sure to reserve enough time to stay and invite good accompanies to get the best out of it, as people do not usually come to traditional tea houses for a quick drink, but having quality time with friends with pots of tea and immersing oneself into the calming atmosphere.