Nestled in Yuchi Township, Nantou County, Sun Moon Old Tea Factory was established in 1956 as the Yuchi Tea Farm under Taiwan Tea Corporation—a cornerstone of the Sun Moon Lake black tea industry. The building has weathered six decades of rise and decline—standing through Taiwan's export heyday before falling into near-silence as the industry contracted. When overseas markets dried up, only five tea masters remained to keep the factory running. Retail store manager Tong Shih-hsuan recalls it as a moment when "the world was changing": the conventional farming model—high-volume, wholesale-oriented—was no longer sustainable, and the pressure it placed on the surrounding mountain ecosystem was becoming impossible to ignore.

The transformation began in 2003. The farm stopped using chemical fertilizers and pesticides entirely, rethinking its relationship with the land from the ground up. It went on to earn certification from Tse-Xin Organic Certification (editor's note: Taiwan's organic agricultural certification agency, accredited by both the EU and the United States, verifying the absence of chemical pesticides and fertilizers). For Tong, the shift reoriented the farm's entire philosophy: yield was no longer the goal. Under natural farming methods, tea plants and weeds are allowed to coexist—output dropped, but what remained was cleaner, more layered, and unmistakably alive in the cup.

Architecture in Harmony with Nature

That same respect for nature shapes how the factory's spaces have been preserved. Sun Moon Old Tea Factory follows a principle of restoration without reinvention, keeping its original 1950s blue-painted wooden window frames intact—the same frames that served as a backdrop for the television drama Gold Leaf. The most distinctive of these is a design known as the pivot window, and its purpose is anything but decorative. Positioned to follow the contours of the surrounding hillside, these windows channel mountain breezes directly into the interior, facilitating a critical step in tea production called zou shui—the process by which freshly picked leaves release moisture, either naturally or through controlled airflow.

Today, Sun Moon Old Tea Factory has evolved well beyond a single processing facility into a cultural base that weaves together tea production, ecological awareness, and culinary experience. Visitors can join guided tours and sit down to taste Ruby (Taiwan Tea No. 18) in all its complexity—mint, cinnamon, and a faint floral note lingering at the finish. The factory has also developed a range of tea-forward food and drink offerings: cold-brew Ruby, black tea lattes, and tea confections designed to complement the tea's flavor profile. The result is tea that rewards slow attention—an edible language of place, meant to be savored and remembered. This slow-living philosophy has earned a devoted following among Taiwanese visitors and drawn increasing numbers of international travelers.

From glory to silence to renewal, Sun Moon Old Tea Factory is more than a repository of local memory. It is a living effort to carry forward a transcendent taste—across generations and into Taiwan's shared cultural heritage.

☛ The Sun Moon Old Tea Factory has been selected as one of the Ministry of Culture's inaugural 100 Culture Bases.