Talking About Tea
From the late Ming dynasty to the Qing dynasty, immigrants from Fujian and Guangdong provinces brought the custom of tea drinking to Taiwan. Since then, tea growing, tea processing, and tea drinking have become inseparable from Taiwan’s development. In Taiwan, tea was first cultivated mainly in the north, around the Taipei Basin, then gradually spread. In its early days, Taiwanese tea was mainly exported and most teaware came from China. Teaware production came later. In the late Qing dynasty, some kilns began producing pottery. By the Japanese colonial period (1895-1945), techniques and clay had been introduced and Taiwan’s teaware production experienced a new milestone. After World War II, tea continued to be produced as before the war, with cultivation expanding to central Taiwan and even Chiayi, up into the mountains, and to Hualien and Taitung. It wasn’t until the 1970s, after Taiwan withdrew from the United Nations, that it began to promote domestic sales. Since the 1980s with the involvement of more ceramic artists, and the introduction of new materials and techniques, Taiwanese teaware has become more diverse and colorful.
