Touring the Pinglin Tea Plantation from Taipei: Taiwan’s Tea Capital
About an hour drive from Taipei you’ll find yourself in Pinglin District, Taiwan’s tea capital. Surrounded by lush hills, breathtaking scenery, and Shihding Ciandao Lake (Thousand Island Lake), Pinglin is one of the best day trips from Taipei.
Pinglin District is known for its Tea Plantations and high quality Baozhong tea, which is a type of oolong tea. Tours of Pinglin Tea Plantation offers visitors a unique opportunity to learn about Taiwan’s tea culture, participate in a tea ceremony and sample tea, visit the Pinglin Tea Museum, and take pictures at a tea plantation.
If you are a tea lover or like me, just interested in the experience and seeing more of Taiwan, I highly recommend booking a Tea Plantation tour from Taipei.
I wrote this post to tell you about our day trip to the Thousand Island Lake and Pinglin Tea Planation and what is included in the tour. You can decide if it’s the right tour for your Taiwan adventure!
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If you want to visit Pinglin and experience Taiwan’s tea culture then I highly recommend booking a tour online prior to your trip to Taipei through Viator or Get Your Guide.
I recommend a tour because the guide drives to all the sites, tastings and entrances are included, and you get a lot more out of it as opposed to doing it yourself.
I felt our guide on the Pinglin Tea Plantation tour was very knowledgeable and we learned a lot!
Here are two recommended tours from Taipei to the Pinglin Tea Plantation.
About the Tour: Stops, Tea Shops, and Much More!
We booked this tour: Thousand Island Lake and Pinglin Tea Plantation from Taipei.
The Pinglin Tea Tour included a tour guide, vehicle, tea tastings, stops along the way, and entrance prices. After taking the tour, I highly recommend the Pinglin Tea Plantation Tour.
I outlined the Pinglin Tea Tour itinerary below with some information regarding the stops and attractions included with this specific tour.
Thousand Island Lake Views
The first stop along the Pinglin Tea Plantation Tour was an overlook of Feitsui Reservoir, otherwise known as The Thousand Island Lake.
There were a few tea plantations and terraced fields at the lookout locations. This stop was great to see the tea leaves and take photos among the tea bushes.
Tea Plantations: Bagua Tea Garden
Bagua Tea Garden is another quick stop before making it to Pinglin Old Street. Here you get more fascinating views of the Thousand Island Lake and get a chance to see tea bushes up close and learn a little bit more about the growing and harvesting processes.
Pinglin Old Street and Sampling Tea
Personally, I’d consider the Pinglin Old Street and tea tasting to be the main event of the Pinglin Tea Plantation tour.
At one of the tea houses here, we got to sit with an actual tea master where he guided us through the proper ways to brew the tea, steep tea, serve, and even drink the tea. I guess I’ve been doing it all wrong!
The Tea House we visited on the tour was called Xuan Zi Ju House. In case you want to visit Pinglin on your own without a tour, you can come here and still do a tea tasting and sample the various stages of tea.
Here, we tried the Baozhong Oolong Tea, which is famous in the area. We also sampled Honey Scented Black Tea and traditional Oolong Tea.
Here is how little I knew about tea prior to this tour. I thought different tea comes from different tea plants. But I learned that they all come from the same plant and the difference is the oxidation levels that occur during the process.
The tea master had three pots on the table and we each had our own tea cup. He would freshly brew the tea, steep it, and serve it to each of us around the table.
The drinking process was fun, as he poured the tea in a smaller cup and we flipped it into the proper tea cup. The smaller cup was warm and he had us rub it on our faces. Not sure if it was a joke or if that is what they do to stay young. Either way it felt nice!
We got to hang out at Xua Zi Ju Tea House for about an hour sampling the tea and learning about the process.
I bought some tea to take home to share with friends and family. Here, you don’t have to feel obligated to buy anything, but the tea is really good and makes a nice gift or if you love the teas you tried, then treat yourself!
They also sell this peanut sugar candy that paired nicely with the tea that I brought back home.
Pinglin Tea Museum
The last stop on our tour was the Pinglin Tea Museum. The museum is located across the river from the Pinglin Old Street.
According to the museum, it is the premier government-run tea museum in all of Taiwan and is a must for tea lovers.
The museum does have many exhibits from harvesting tools and equipment and displays of the tea making process to historical tea sets and displays showing the history of tea in the Northern Taiwan area.
Conclusion
A tour from Taipei to Pinglin is the perfect way to explore Taiwanese tea culture and see beautiful nature just outside the city. I highly recommend booking a Pinglin Tea Plantation tour to fully experience, understand, and enjoy the famous Baozhong tea that comes from the Pinglin area.
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Plan Your Trip: 🗺 ✈️ 🇹🇼
Booking Accommodations ⛺️ 🛖
For booking recommendations on the best deals and locations, check out Agoda or Booking.com
Activities and Tours 🏖 🚁
Find fun activities and things to do through Tripadvisor. If you are looking for tours and day trips, Viator and Get Your Guide have a lot of great options.
In need of a car rental? 🚗 🚘
I recommend checking with Rental Cars.
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