日月老茶廠 | Antique Assam Tea Farm

Oct 04, 2014 Apr 06, 2015

This is a tea farm with history that was rebuilt with perseverance, vision, and belief. It was a tea farm built by Japanese to export assam tea, possibility when Japan ruled Taiwan between 1895 and 1945; this tea farm might have been around for a century! As time evolved, this tea farm gradually declined. In 2003, a group of like-minded employees decided to rebuild the tea farm and bring back its former glory. They re-use every thing possible to reduce wastage, and refurnish the infrastructure with minimal changes to maintain the beautiful historical exterior.

With belief of protecting our environment and providing the best tea to people, they start experiment ways to farm without the use of chemicals and rely on the most primitive ways of dealing with pests (e.g. food chain). After intensive research and years of perseverance, their vision eventually come true!

To know more about the tea farm, guided tours are available. There’re 2 types of guided tour to enroll, with buffet lunch, and without buffet lunch. Aside from sharing the documentary on the tea farm, there will also be an enriching presentation given by the employee, and freshly brewed tea will be given out for tasting too.

One of the stories shared by the employee left a strong impression on me. One day, they found an owl soaring above their tea farm; it was an indication that the tea farm cultivated a healthy food chain. It was on that day that they knew their efforts were affirmed by the nature.

Last, there will be a walking tour round the tea farm to deepen your understanding of tea-making and appreciate the beautiful vintage machinery. I was in luck as my visit happens to coincide with their harvest period, the machinery were operating and the aroma of tea leaves was lingering in the air.

The guided tour was insightful, and buffet lunch was delightful! Seasonal ingredients were used for the buffet lunch; the dishes were intricate, definitely eye-pleasing and absolutely delicious! These vegetarian dishes does not have carry any pretense (e.g. mock meat), or artificial favouring (e.g. MSG), but focus on bring out the authentic flavours of the ingredients. The dessert, which was tea pudding, was my favourite.

Guided Tour
There’re 2 slots daily: 10am and 12pm, subjective to availability based on participation rate. For large group, about 30 paxs or more, it is recommended to book a month in advance. You can email them at assamfarm2004@yahoo.com.tw for enquiry or download the application form for bookings.

Guided Tour without Lunch – TWD 50 – estimate 1.5 to 2 hours
Guided Tour with Lunch – TWD 450 – estimate 3 to 4 hours

All the guided tours are conducted in Mandarin.

More Photos

If you’re not interested in the guided tour, the tea farm is still worth a visit. You will enjoy the fresh air with dragonflies circling around you, and you get to purchase some nice tea leaves. The first tea brew was generally discard, a process to wash the leaves; with the organic tea from this farm, you can enjoy the first brew that is most favourful, since no chemical was used.