A young tea farmer

James and I took a day trip to Maokong, Taipei this Saturday. Maokong is a small town on one of the hills surrounding Taipei. It is famous for tea farms and tea factories. Or it was. More recently it is a touristy destination at the end of a MAT gondola line. Nowadays you walk out of the gondola station you still see some tea farms on the slope. Unfortunately you will see more fancy modern tea houses that sells coffee, bread and cakes with blasting western music.

I was a bit disappointed while walking around Maokong. It wasn't as quiet as I pictured it. James and I decided to take a trail downhills to get to another MRT station. That's when we saw this young tea farmer. The walking trail is the old path which farmers used to deliver tea to the city and its harbour. Now only old people walk on it for exercise and a few tourists take it to escape the noise in the town. The tea farmer was planting some young tea trees quietly in the afternoon sun and I stopped to sketch him. After a few moments, he invited us in for some tea. I thought he is running a tea house like all the other business people in the town but he isn't. His house is right next to the farm and there is where he studies and makes tea.

The tea farmer told us that the house and the tea making factory in the basement belonged to his grandfather. After his grandfather passed away 4 years ago, he quit his job at a biotech company and took over the family business. He is a certified tea tasting expert and runs occasional workshops to teach people how tea is made and how to taste tea. We ended up staying at his charming house for the whole afternoon and visited his tea making factory. Of course we tasted some nice tea there, too. It was such an unexpected experience. If I weren't an Urban Sketcher and didn't stop for a quick sketch, I wouldn't have had the chance to meet such an incredible young person. Don't you agree?