Taiwan Tea Culture

30-second overview: Taiwan's tea culture has undergone three remarkable transformations. In the 1930s, being excluded from the International Tea Restriction Agreement accidentally catalyzed a rise: annual export volume surged from 3.29 million kilograms to 5.80 million kilograms. In the 1980s, a glass of foam black tea redefined the drinking of tea. And in 1987, bubble tea — created by adding the "little snack" of tapioca pearls — ultimately became the symbol of Taiwan's soft power conquest of the world.

In 1934, when major tea-producing nations including India and Sri Lanka signed the International Tea Restriction Agreement, no one anticipated that Taiwan — the small island left out of the deal — would use that exclusion to open the most brilliant golden era in tea industry history.

That year, Taiwan's black tea export volume reached 3.29 million kilograms, standing equally alongside the three powerhouses of pao zhong (包種) tea and oolong tea. By 1937, that figure had surged to 5.80 million kilograms, accounting for 52% of that year's total exports. Taiwan's black tea not only dominated Asia but carried its fragrance 8,800 kilometres to the Danish capital of Copenhagen.

An overlooked tea-producing nation — how did it find its opportunity within restriction?

The story begins with a Japanese merchant.

The Rejected Innovation: A Tea Route from Siberia to Europe

In 1906, Taiwan began exporting its first batches of black tea to Russia. Interestingly, these teas were of a form now almost impossible to imagine — "red brick tea" (紅磚茶): tea leaves compressed into a brick shape for ease of long-distance transport to Siberia.

Leading this venture was the most legendary merchant of the Meiji era, Kabuto Zenshiro (可德前三). This merchant from Kumamoto learned black tea production in his youth, traveled to Hankou in China to study the craft of making red brick tea, and even opened a tea shop in Siberia. But the 1917 Russian October Revolution changed everything — demand for black tea plummeted, and Taiwan's first period of black tea exports quietly came to a close.

The Japanese government refused to give up and pivoted toward the European market. But Taiwan's small-leaf-variety black tea was not robust enough in flavor to suit the European drinking style centered on Britain — adding sugar and milk. In 1925, Mitsui & Co. imported large-leaf Assam tea seedlings from India, and Taiwan finally had genuine "large-leaf variety" black tea.

The turning point came unexpectedly.

An Accidental Golden Age: Slipping Through the Net of the International Restriction Agreement

In 1930, global tea production was excessive and black tea prices crashed. The major black tea-producing nations — India, Sri Lanka, and others — concluded the International Tea Restriction Agreement, setting production and export limits for 1933–1940.

But Taiwan was left out of the agreement. This decision, which appeared to marginalize Taiwan, became the greatest opportunity for Taiwan's tea industry.

While other tea-producing nations were forced to cut production, Taiwan could push forward at full speed.

Arai Kojiro (新井耕吉郎), known as the "guardian of Taiwanese black tea," came to Yuchi (魚池) in 1936 and established the Central Research Institute's Yuchi Black Tea Experiment Station. He built large-scale, industrialized Ceylon-style tea-processing factories; at its peak, the tea-growing area in Yuchi reached a historic high of 3,000 hectares.

During this period, Yuchi Township became the homeland of Taiwan's black tea. In addition to Yuchi, Guanxi in Hsinchu also became an important black tea-producing center.

From Exports to Domestic Consumption: The Watershed of 1975

1975 was a critical turning point for Taiwan's tea industry. The global energy crisis combined with the appreciation of the New Taiwan Dollar caused tea exports to stall. The Council of Agriculture began to ask: how do we get Taiwanese people to drink tea themselves?

At the time, Taiwanese people hardly drank tea.

Soft drinks and coffee had both become popular beverages among ordinary people before tea did. Only the wealthy had a tea-drinking habit. The Council of Agriculture decided to lead with a health message: noting that foreign research showed tea to be healthier than coffee, it held a press conference in 1975 to promote the connection between tea and health.

That same year, the first tea competition in post-retrocession Taiwan — the Xindian Pao Zhong Tea Competition — was held. Meishan began cultivating high-mountain tea. In 1982, the tea production management regulations were abolished, and Taiwanese farmers were able to "self-produce, self-process, and self-sell" for the first time.

Competition drove brands to proliferate, and Taiwan's oolong tea-processing technology made rapid leaps forward.

In the 1980s, the Taiwan stock market soared past 10,000 points and Taiwan entered an era of "money flooding the streets" (錢淹腳目). Teahouses (茶藝館) opened like mushrooms after rain, becoming venues for card games, meetings, and matchmaking. Taipei's Purple Wisteria Teahouse (紫藤廬) and Taichung's Yangxian Tea House (陽羨茶行) — predecessor of Chun Shui Tang — were both founded during this period.

The Cold Drink Revolution: From Foam Black Tea to Bubble Tea

In 1983, an experiment changed Taiwan's tea culture.

Chun Shui Tang founder Liu Han-chieh had seen techniques for making iced coffee in Japan. During the summer, he asked a staff member to add ice cubes to black tea, but was told: "Nobody drinks iced black tea!"

Back in Taiwan, Liu Han-chieh bought a cocktail shaker (雪克杯) and poured black tea, cane sugar, and ice cubes into it and shook. Four-degree-Celsius tea entered the mouth — the aroma of black tea wafted in waves, and the dense foam added a distinctive texture. "Foam black tea" (泡沫紅茶) was born.

But the real revolution came later.

In 1987, Lin Hsiu-hui, then stall manager at Chun Shui Tang, tried adding "tapioca pearls" (粉圓) to a prepared iced milk tea during her work. This combination of a beloved Taiwanese street snack with fragrant milk tea not only broke down the boundary between "tea drink" and "snack," but met with enormous enthusiasm from customers when it was trialed. This was the birth of bubble tea.

Chun Shui Tang's golden ratio "7:2:1" — tea liquor, ice cubes, foam — became the standard formula for bubble tea.

Interestingly, Hanlin Tea Room in Tainan also claims to have invented bubble tea, and the two companies went to court over the issue for ten years. The judge ultimately ruled that bubble tea was a new type of beverage rather than a patentable invention, and there was no need to dispute who was the "progenitor." The dispute was left unresolved.

The Numbers Behind the Tea Drink Empire

Today's Taiwanese hand-shaken drink (手搖飲) industry is of remarkable scale:

• 2024 hand-shaken drink revenue: NTD 133.13 billion — a historic high
• Total hand-shaken drink shops in Taiwan: 16,070 — accounting for 57% of all beverage shops nationwide
• Rate of new openings: an average of 40 new shops per month
• Annual Taiwanese per-capita consumption: approximately 1.075 billion cups (calculated at NTD 50 per cup)

Taichung residents' hand-shaken drink consumption is particularly striking — consumption volume significantly exceeds the proportion that population size would suggest.

By gender, female consumers in every age group outpace male consumers, with women aged 25–34 accounting for approximately 20% of total consumption. In terms of sweetness preference, over half of consumers choose "slightly sweet" (微糖), followed by "no sugar" (無糖) at 39.7%.

World Conquest: From Taichung to Global Reach

Chun Shui Tang's bubble tea now sells an average of over two million cups per year. But more importantly, this drink with its "little snack" additions has become the symbol of Taiwan's soft power conquest of the world.

By 2020, Taiwan had over 15,000 hand-shaken drink shops — the highest density in the world.

Taiwanese hand-shaken drink brands such as 50 Lan (五十嵐), CoCo (都可), and Qing Xin Fu Quan (清心福全) have expanded rapidly overseas, entering markets in Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Bubble tea is not merely Chun Shui Tang's enduring flagship product — it is a milestone in spreading tea culture around the world.

The global hand-shaken drink market in the Asia-Pacific region reached USD 1.14 billion in 2024, with Vietnam and Taiwan projected to have the largest sales volumes. The China market has grown nearly fivefold since the early 2020s.

From Formosa Oolong to Bubble Tea

Looking back across 150 years of tea industry history, Taiwan's tea culture has demonstrated extraordinary adaptability and an innovative spirit.

In 1869, English merchant John Dodd shipped 210,000 jin of "Formosa Oolong" from Dadaocheng to New York for the first time. No one at the time imagined that this beautiful island called "Formosa" would, a century later, conquer the world with a cup of bubble tea.

True sustainability lies not in rigidly guarding tradition, but in continuously redefining what tradition means.

The secret to Taiwan's tea culture's success may lie precisely in this philosophy of "keeping the core, flexing the perimeter." From the traditional kung fu tea ceremony to modern hand-shaken drink culture, from "Formosa Oolong" to "Bubble Tea" — Taiwan has always found balance between tradition and innovation.

This is not merely a story about a cup of tea. It is a story about how an island maintains its cultural subjectivity amid the waves of globalization, while simultaneously using innovation to conquer the world.

References

• Historical Context of Taiwan's Tea — Tea Talk Academy
• The Invention of Bubble Tea — Chun Shui Tang Official Website
• Intense Drink Craze: Revealing All of Taiwan's Hand-Shaken Drinks Through Data — LnData
• Witnessing Taiwan's Economic Transformation: The Development of Taiwan's Tea Industry in the Twilight of "Tea Gold" — AgriBusiness Weekly
• Taiwan Tea — Wikipedia

Related Topics

• Taiwanese Street Food (zh only: 台灣小吃)