Tea and kindness on ‘The Beautiful Island’

ALISHAN, Taiwan-“The Beautiful Island” was the Portuguese nickname for Taiwan as they sailed past the East Coast on the way to trade with Japan in the 16^th century. After visiting a tea plantation in the green mountainous Alishan area, I understand what they meant.

 Any good travel experience really depends on the guide. I had the best, Robert Dawson, my wife’s old college roommate who has been living in Taiwan for the past 30 years. Not only did he introduce me to his town, Tainan in South Taiwan, he organized a tea plantation visit in the Alishan region.

 Dawson moved to Taiwan for a year to study Mandarin, but quips it took longer than expected. He taught English and started to enjoy it while also making a little money. He met his future wife and five years later he was married. He then opened an English school in Tainan and raised three children who are now in college.

 “I love Taiwan because of the safety,” said Robert, just asked about what he liked best about Taiwan. In his time living there, he has never been a victim of crime, except for the one time he returned to his scooter and found some fresh eggs missing. He also mentioned some other benefits to living in Taiwan: “The food is so natural and healthy, they don’t have time to freeze it. The healthcare is amazing. You go where you want, when you want, and it’s all free - the co-pay is like three bucks. There is very little wait time, and all the doctors speak English.”

 When asked about the fear of a Chinese invasion, he said, “There is none at all. Every time there is a new wave of the international media on board about how China is on the rampage, the local media is reporting on the latest sausage and rice dish.” I mentioned that I saw a pair of military jets flying over my hotel a few times one morning. He said it was common to see. This was a consistent response I got across Taiwan. I received an alert text on my phone saying that there was an incident at the Taipei train station, so I inquired at the front desk. They said it was just a routine drill and not to worry.

 Robert’s presence was essential because of his ability to speak Mandarin and Taiwanese. His other strength was his ability to pass on his tea knowledge to me prior to our visit. He poured me a cup of his own cold tea with just a little honey and lemon. It was incredible, like nothing I had in the past.

 Tea was brought to Taiwan in the late 18^th century from south eastern China. In the late 1860s tea became their number one export. In the 1980s there was a shift from quantity to quality due to the high labor costs and global demand. While the volume of tea has declined the focus has switched to specialized teas like Oolong and domestic consumption.

 Alishan is an area in central Taiwan famous for its high-altitude tea plantations and dramatic sunrises that display a sea of clouds. We got an early start, and a few hours later, we were in the mountains arriving at the Shiu Lung Tea Factory, which is famous for preserving traditional tea processing techniques including hand rolling the tea.

 Shiu lung is a small tea plantation and factory run by Mr. Lin Bing-Hui and his wife Ms. Liu for the past 40 years. Ms. Liu walked us around the plantation. She explained that tea was originally grown on trees, but they changed it to a bush which made picking much easier.

 Although every day as a tea farmer is busy, they only pick the tea leaves four days per year, two in April, and two in Nov.. They use additional workers including migrants from Vietnam, Laos, even Argentina. Good tea is always hand-picked, and they have frequent quality checks to make sure the workers are picking only two leaves and one bud. I jokingly asked if they were worried about AI, and she answered very seriously, “The machines can’t differentiate the ratio between the leaves and the bud right now.”

 We then witnessed the famous fog in the area moving up and down the surrounding mountains. Ms. Liu mentioned that this type of climate mixed with high elevation was helpful to the tea because it helps reduce direct sunlight. I also learned that growing tea wasn’t about the money for them. Otherwise, they would have switched to other cash crops like coffee or betelnut. To them, it was about preserving the process and the culture.

 We tried the hand-rolling process with a cloth and two metal sticks over a flat tea basket. The tea was placed into the cloth and rolled in a circular motion until we formed a ball. Then, we tightened the ball more and more by turning the metal sticks inside the cloth. Immediately noticing my poor technique, Ms. Liu quickly took over my tea ball and corrected my process.

 Finally, it was time for a tea tasting and tea ceremony. Before we got started, Ms. Liu served us fried noodles cooked in tea oil with local soybeans, which was quite tasty. This dish was served to help us understand that there are other products produced from the tea farm.

 Mr. Lin Bing-Hui arrived to make the tea, as is custom in Taiwan - usually the men make tea. I was struck by his presence. He resembled a man who had been laboring in the fields and the sun for the past 40 years. I asked through Robert, how much tea he drank every day, and he said, “I drink tea all day, and I never got covid,” referring to the health benefits of the beverage. Ms. Liu joked about her husband liking farming and tea more than her. When we jokingly brought this up to Mr. Lin, he replied, “I do like farming.”

 We sat down and he made two types of tea, Oolong and Jinxuan. He used a very small teapot and served us the second or third brew, for the tea to be able to release more flavor. He would then pour the tea into what looked like a shot glass for us to smell, then we would pour the tea from the glass into our own small bowls for drinking. The process was repeated several times with a variety of teas.

 On the way back to Tainan, we stopped at a town called Chiayi for a late lunch. The town was famous for its turkey rice. Turkeys are not native to Taiwan and were brought to the island by American troops to celebrate Thanksgiving when they were stationed here after the Second World War.

 The dish came with shredded turkey over rice with a brown sauce on top made from the turkey drippings and soy sauce. It was accompanied by pickled radish, tofu, and several other vegetables. The most amazing part was the price - all under 10 dollars for both of us.

 As Robert left me at the train station, I had some time to wait for my train back to Taipei. As I watched the sunset, I reflected on how much I had learned and experienced over the last week. I realized I was just scratching the surface of this place, and a return trip would be necessary. Robert’s kindness was a reflection of everyone I had met in Taiwan. They were always happy to share their culture with me. I realized why Robert had decided to call this place home. mlp