{"id":25416,"date":"2016-08-20T23:49:49","date_gmt":"2016-08-21T03:49:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thatdope.com\/food-drinks\/taiwan-tea-entrepreneurs-brew-up-new-twists\/"},"modified":"2016-08-20T23:49:49","modified_gmt":"2016-08-21T03:49:49","slug":"taiwan-tea-entrepreneurs-brew-up-new-twists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thatdope.com\/food-drinks\/taiwan-tea-entrepreneurs-brew-up-new-twists\/","title":{"rendered":"Taiwan Tea Entrepreneurs Brew Up New Twists"},"content":{"rendered":"
Cheap instant \u201cbubble tea\u201d has become one of Taiwan\u2019s best-known culinary exports \u2013 now a new wave of entrepreneurs hopes a high-end modern take on traditional brews will also be sipped worldwide.<\/p>\n
Taiwan has been producing tea for more than 200 years and a cup of the island\u2019s famous oolong is obligatory for many visitors, but exports have been knocked by rising labor costs and bubble tea has eclipsed a carefully crafted cuppa.<\/p>\n
Often artificially flavored and loaded with milk, sugar and tapioca pearls, bubble tea has in recent years gained a global following, from Southeast Asia to the United States and Europe.<\/p>\n
Ultra-modern tea shop \u201cXie Xie\u201d is one business trying to turn the tide back to sophistication.\u00a0Founder Xie Yu-tung, 30, (pictured top) comes from a family of tea producers and uses leaves grown on their plantations in Taiwan\u2019s mountainous Dayuling and Lishan areas.<\/p>\n
Her sleek all-white tea boutique at Taipei\u2019s Mandarin Oriental hotel is stacked with teabags in book-like boxes and clear cylindrical bottles of ready-to-drink cold brews.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Taiwan has the best oolong and it\u2019s a pity that it\u2019s not seen all over the world,\u201d says Xie. She sells pure and flavored oolong \u2013 a fragrant, semi-fermented tea.<\/p>\n
Infused with spearmint, chamomile, rose and ginger, she hopes the pretty packaging and ready-made bottles will attract uninitiated foreign customers.\u00a0At Tw$680 ($21) for 10 teabags, she says it is a reasonable price for top tea.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery step (in producing oolong) has to be exact. I think the craftsmanship involved matches that of international luxury products,\u201d she says.\u00a0Xie has served up her tea at the Venice film festival, Paris fashion shows and Milan design week since launching two years ago.<\/p>\n