{"id":23624,"date":"2025-01-20T00:16:51","date_gmt":"2025-01-20T05:16:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/?p=23624"},"modified":"2025-01-20T12:05:01","modified_gmt":"2025-01-20T17:05:01","slug":"taiwanese-tea-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/2025\/01\/20\/taiwanese-tea-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"Taiwanese Tea Culture"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Something I found strikingly different in Taiwan compared to any other country I\u2019ve visited is the deep love and respect for tea. When traveling in Taiwan, tea is far more common than water, soda, or juice. In fact, tea is so ingrained in everyday life that a teashop is often more accessible than a fast-food restaurant. Tea is served with every meal, and it\u2019s drunk throughout the day, at any time. It\u2019s not just a beverage; it\u2019s a cultural ritual that weaves its way through the fabric of Taiwanese life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"723\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-24-1024x723.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-23627\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-24-1024x723.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-24-300x212.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-24-768x542.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-24-1536x1084.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-24-2048x1446.jpeg 2048w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-24-850x600.jpeg 850w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Before coming to Taiwan, I wasn\u2019t particularly fond of tea, but my time here has given me a newfound appreciation for it. I\u2019ve come to savor its subtleties, whether it\u2019s the delicate floral notes of a high-mountain oolong or the earthy richness of a traditional black tea. The flavors are much more complex than I had ever imagined, and I\u2019ve found that there\u2019s an art to brewing and savoring tea that adds depth to the experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"666\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-23-1024x666.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-23626\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-23-1024x666.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-23-300x195.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-23-768x500.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-23-1536x999.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-23-2048x1332.jpeg 2048w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-23-850x553.jpeg 850w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the most interesting encounters I had was when we visited the Alishan mountain range. There, we met many of the local indigenous people, and it was clear that tea is woven into every aspect of their lives. Whether it was in the clothes they wore, the candy they ate, or even in their meals, everything seemed to either be made from tea or infused with it in some way. The Alishan people, who grow tea as their primary source of income, have an incredible respect for the plant. It\u2019s more than just a livelihood for them, it\u2019s a vital part of their identity and their culture. The reverence they show towards the tea plant reflects a deep understanding of its importance not only for sustenance but also maintaining longstanding tradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/IMG_2039-768x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-23625\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/IMG_2039-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/IMG_2039-225x300.jpeg 225w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/IMG_2039-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/IMG_2039-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/IMG_2039-300x400.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/IMG_2039-850x1133.jpeg 850w, https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/IMG_2039-scaled.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Something I found strikingly different in Taiwan compared to any other country I\u2019ve visited is the deep love and respect for tea. When traveling in Taiwan, tea is far more common than water, soda, or juice. In fact, tea is so ingrained in everyday life that a teashop is often more accessible than a fast-food&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":933,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[421,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-taiwan-field-study","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/933"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23624"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23624\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23628,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23624\/revisions\/23628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}