The first Europeans to visit Taiwan were Portuguese sailors in the 16th century. They were so impressed by its beauty that they called it Isla Formosa, meaning “Beautiful Island”, and it was called Formosa until the Chinese renamed the island Taiwan. The island has ideal conditions for growing tea due to its geographical position, the mountainous terrain and a temperature that never drops below 12˚c (55˚F).
The first tea seedlings were brought by immigrants from China’s Fujian province who came across the Taiwan Straits in the mid-1850s and settled in Taiwan. They not only brought with them tea seedlings and tea-growing and processing skills but their tea culture as well. However, large-scale tea production did not start until about 1866, when English investors imported tea seedlings from China. Taiwan produces green and black teas but is best known for its oolong teas.
One of the most famous and rarest oolong teas from Taiwan is “Oriental Beauty”, (the name, it is said, was bestowed upon it by Queen Elizabeth II when she was presented a sample by a British tea merchant). The tea is also sometimes known as Champagne Formosa and it is highly appreciated by connoisseurs for its deep reddish gold liquor and fruity, rich and smooth taste. Other famous oolongs include Oolong Imperial, Grand Oolong Fancy, Tung Ting and a lightly fermented tea called pouchong.
Tea was an important export commodity until the 1980s but today most of the tea is bought and consumed by the tea-loving Taiwanese. Many enjoy their tea at specially designed tea houses that provide a peaceful atmosphere with no outside windows and are constructed around a central courtyard that usually has a fish pond. Tea houses are also cultural establishments which often display calligraphy and paintings and offer concerts of traditional music.
The Taiwanese love of tea has also resulted in a new trend, called bubble tea, which has since caught on in other parts of the world, including the Philippines and North America, especially where there is a large Chinese population. The drink originally started as a treat in the late 1980s for thirsty children who after lessons delighted in buying refreshing tea at teastands outside school. One innovative concession holder, to the joy of her clientele, started to add different fruit flavourings to her milky tea, which she then shook vigorously to mix everything together. Bubbles formed on top.
The children loved the new dimension to the sweet, cool taste of their tea and other concession holders followed suit. Someone then had the idea of adding tapioca pearls to the tea. These pearls sank to the bottom of the cup, thus creating bubbles on the bottom and bubbles on top. Bubble tea is usually served in see-through plastic cups or containers with an extra wide straw to suck up the pearls which have a soft and chewy consistency. And, for even more fun, the children sometimes like to blow the balls out from the straw to shoot at targets or even each other! Bubble tea has acquired many names, some of them wacky, such as boba, qq (which means chewy in Chinese), and in the West “booboo”.
Like its neighbours, Korea has a rich tea-drinking culture. Green tea (nok ch’a) was introduced from Tang China during the reign of Queen S˘ond˘ok (AD 632‒647) although tea drinking might have been known much earlier. Tea was initially prized for its medicinal properties and was also reserved for special occasions. King Munmu, who ruled from 661 to 681, ordered tea to be used during ceremonial offerings.
Tea-drinking in Korea is linked with the Panyaro Seon (Zen) of tea and is viewed as a spiritual, religious activity leading to higher levels of inner awakening, if not total enlightenment. Buddhist monks commonly drank tea as an aid to meditation and offered tea to the Buddha three times daily. Temples also served tea to visitors. Due to such demand for tea, villages arose near to temples that cultivated tea and became known as tach’on, or “tea villages”.
It was not until the reign of the 42nd Silla monarch, King Heungdeok (826–836), that a royal envoy Kim Taeryom returned from a mission in Tang dynasty China and brought seeds of the tea plant. The king ordered the seeds to be planted on the warm slopes of Mount Chiri, which is still the centre of tea cultivation in Korea.
The ceremonies related to drinking tea at the royal court and elsewhere developed into the custom known as the tea ceremony (tado). Specialised implements for this ceremony were developed, such as a brazier for boiling water, bowls for water and tea, spoons and pots. Types and qualities of tea were also developed, as was a grading system for the taste of water. As in Japan, tea ceremony etiquette is very important in Korea but the harmony of water and tea is even more central to the ritual. Uisun (CE 1786–1866), the famous monk and tea-master, wrote: “In brewing, delicacy, in storing, aridity, in steeping, purity. Delicacy, aridity, and purity are essential to the tea ceremony.”
Other “teas” popular with Koreans are not true teas. They are made from fruits such as quince, citron and jujubes or from other ingredients such as ginseng, ginger and cinnamon. All are drunk for their medicinal properties. Pori ch’a, barley “tea”, made with roasted barley and boiling water and served hot or cold, is the standard beverage drunk with a meal.
Excerpted with permission from Tea: A Global History, Helen Saberi, Macmillan.
