Yuchi Township

This township is at Nantou’s geographical heart, where foothills meet high mountains. At its heart is Sun Moon Lake, an iconic Taiwan tourist attraction offering visitors a splendid array of leisure, recreation, and accommodation pleasures. The main route here is National Highway 6 from Taichung City’s urban core, with a switch to Provincial Highway 21. Sun Moon Lake is also known for black-tea production. In the 1920s, the Japanese, Taiwan’s rulers from 1895~1945, introduced plants from India’s Assam region. Black tea became an important Taiwan export. As production costs rose in the 1960s-1970s, many fields were converted to Oolong or Pouchong, consumed domestically. Today about 400 hectares remain dedicated to black tea.

Hohocha

Hohocha is a large-scale attraction right beside Highway 21 just north of Sun Moon Lake. The theme here is black tea (Assam, Amber, Ruby, Amethyst varieties). Its diverse facilities sit amidst an expansive hillside/hilltop tea plantation. For the best visit experience, join one of the regular free guided tours (Chinese). These start at the main building, a three-story Japanese-style wood-built edifice that’s a combination exhibit/retail/dining facility. Your guide explains the tea-processing operations on the main floor and introduces the building’s different services. It’s then into the fields for an intro to the various leaf types and hilltop leaf-gathering facility.

In the main building’s 3F dining/DIY hall visitors enjoy a free tea-sampler tray and succulent Hohocha tea egg. Tea ceremony and DIY activities are held here: tea kneading, blending, sealing, etc. The 2F retail center has teas and a big array of teatheme snacks; a bakery provides oven-fresh tea cookies, biscuits, and other goodies. On a 2F balcony is a stand with seating at which house-made gelatos, sausages, and dried bean curd are sold, black tea used as a flavoring for the latter two and for numerous gelato selections. DIY tea-as-ingredient pizza sessions are also held here. 1F stands sell fresh-prepared tea eggs, tea luwei (soy-braised tasties), and tea drinks.