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Where is black tea produced? where is the birthplace of black tea? is black tea also produced in Taiwan?

Published: 2026-08-02 Author: World Gafei

Last Updated: 2026/08/02, Taiwanese love to drink tea, and many parts of Taiwan are also rich in tea. For example, Oriental Beauty and Tieguanyin are very popular kinds of tea. But did you know that apart from imported Assam black tea and Ceylon black tea, black tea is also produced in Taiwan? The flavor is not imported from the ship at all, and Huigan quenches thirst! Let's learn about Taiwan black tea now.

Taiwanese love to drink tea, and many parts of Taiwan are also rich in tea. For example, Oriental Beauty and Tieguanyin are very popular kinds of tea. But did you know that apart from imported Assam black tea and Ceylon black tea, black tea is also produced in Taiwan? The flavor is not imported from the ship at all, and Huigan quenches thirst! Let's learn a little about Taiwan black tea now.

The origin of black tea in Taiwan

Guo Kuanfu, director of the Yuchi branch of the tea industry improvement field of the former Council of Agriculture, said that Taiwan black tea was first introduced to Taiwan by Japanese clubs in the early days of the Japanese occupation, and successively opened up tea gardens and produced black tea in the three Gorges and Hsinchu generations, mainly supplying domestic demand in Japan, but on a small scale and with poor technology. it was not until the 1920s that Indian Assam varieties were successfully planted in Nantou Yuchi, opening the first peak of Taiwan black tea.

High-quality Taiwan black tea needs to pick the buds of "one core and two leaves" one by one manually.

Luo Yilun, curator of the Taiwan Red Tea Culture Center, analyzed that Assam tea seedlings belonged to the big-leaf species, and it was the big-leaf species that were mainly popular in the world consumer market at that time. Because the Governor's House found it profitable, officials began to encourage the production of black tea. The Mitsui Association set up a number of tea factories in northern Taiwan, which were exported to the world under the brand of "Formosa BlackTea." the 1930s was the peak and export of black tea in Taiwan.

With regard to the development of black tea in Taiwan, Luo Yi-lun mentioned that in the face of the conscientious struggle in the international black tea market and the change in the consumption pattern of tea bags after the war, Taiwan's black tea, which is characterized by "fragrance" and "strip", has gradually lost its competitive edge. Taiwan's black tea industry then turned to green tea production, and also had some prosperity. Guo Kuanfu analyzed that Taiwan's economy began to take off in the 1970s, and rising wages made it difficult for Taiwan's black tea to compete with India and other places in price, leading to the decline of black tea.

The "kneading and twisting" in the process of making black tea destroys the surface tissue of the tea by squeezing, pressing, rubbing and kneading, so that the tea can be fermented.

Until 1999, the breeding of Taiwan Tea No. 18 (Hongyu) was successful, and after the 921 earthquake, large enterprises invested resources in the disaster areas. at the same time, the tea industry improvement market provided exquisite guidance to tea farmers on black tea production, which was different from the extensive production in the past. it brings an opportunity for the revival of black tea in Taiwan. In this regard, Luo Yilun takes his own industry as an example. since the year 2000, in addition to maintaining the export of tea production, he has also turned the old space of the old tea factory into a tea industry museum, and the most important thing is to "let the old tea factory employees tell their own stories." combined with the historical and cultural tour and interpretation of tea, enhance the overall added value and create a new industrial model. However, at present, Taiwan's black tea factories will not become simple sightseeing factories, because the business of tourists alone is not enough to maintain revenue, and education and promotion is still the top priority at this stage.

Black tea in the production process of rolling and drying process need the assistance of machines, to the black tea factory can also see these tea-making machines.

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