Taiwanese Dao of Tea: To Bag or Not to Bag?

Upon arrival in Taiwan I was disappointed in the variety and quality of tea available in stores. In Hangzhou there was usually at least one convenience store on each block. Boy, let me tell you; life there was pretty convenient. Something I particularly enjoyed was the wide variety of teas that were available everywhere. The store closest to me had teas and opened a conjoined shop that sold only teas. I began my exposure to and love for Chinese Teas in high school and obtained a basic tea-literacy through a friendship with a Chinese family before I even conceived of going to China to study. Once I arrived in Hangzhou the city famous for Dragon Well Green tea and Chrysanthemum used to make infusions – “only tea, is tea” – and I tried a few types of tea, viewed and used different types of mugs, and visited tea fields I felt even more confident in my knowledge of tea.

In Hangzhou and the other places I visited in China loose tea leaves were preferred for brewing (over bags) and were left in your cup or tea pot to have water continually added to it. This is how I brewed tea in the United States also. I have come to enjoy chewing on the occasional tea leaf. The first night in Taiwan, I went to the local grocery store (which doesn’t carry fresh fruits or vegetables) and only saw tea in bags, with an alarming proportion being Lipton’s! I immediately was concerned for the Taiwanese people, surely this part of their culture hadn’t been destroyed by globalization!

I did eventually find loose tea, in the same store I initially thought was devoid of non-bagged goodness, and began sporting a giant mug that I would put tea leaves in and refill with water throughout the day. I was glad to finally get this part of Chinese, and I assumed, Taiwanese Culture up and running in my new home. Then today Eden, the coordinator of activities and classes in Taiwan, a Taiwanese woman gave me a packet that looked like tissues. It was a packet of bags to put tea in. Eden said that she had felt bad for me drinking tea with the leaves always floating. How funny that we saw things exactly opposite.