In the region surrounding Sun Moon Lake in central Taiwan, black tea was developed for export by Japanese tea growers during their occupation of Taiwan in the years preceding and during WWII.  In 1925 the Japanese tea research center (on Taiwan) imported tea seeds from Assam, India, with the intent of cultivating tea bushes in Yuchih Township for the purpose of producing black tea for export .

The Japanese growers succeeded in establishing these tea bushes, and later, after the departure of the Japanese from Taiwan, the Taiwan Tea Research Institute continued the research into determining the most suitable tea bush cultivars for the production of black tea on Taiwan.

Black tea production in Taiwan went into decline for a period, but a resurgence in interest has come about in recent years. While Taiwan does not produce large quantities of black tea, we discovered during a visit to this tiny but beautiful region that these teas are very tasty and special, and somewhat unknown even in other parts of Taiwan.

Black tea steeping instructions

New Tea, Rested Tea, and Aged Tea