Collaborations

Tea as a medium —
not just a drink

Tea is the go-between. We work with artists, restaurant kitchens, and organisations who want to get closer to where the leaves come from — so that what people know and feel about tea can mean something new in a different setting.

Tea & Art · The tea of two Lu

Mountain tea from two places,
from Sun Moon Lake to Taitung

From Lugao in Nantou to Luye in Taitung — exhibitions and cross-field work with tea as the medium, so that what people know and feel about tea takes on a new meaning in each room it enters.

Puli, Nantou Nangang, Taipei Luye, Taitung
3
Exhibitions
Nantou · Taipei · Taitung
1,000km
Distance covered
Once around the island
2+
Artists
Gong Jingyi · Yeh Jhuwan · Chen Yuxun
10+
Collaborators
Design · Music · Curation · Space · Food · Travel
Exhibition photo
Exhibition photo 2
Exhibition photo 3

Cross-field collaboration

More than ten creators and venues

Design, fine art, curation and installation, tea cuisine, music, and the spaces themselves — more than ten creators and venues made these exhibitions happen.

一碗盆地計畫 微光寓所 &PARK 寶町藝文中心 晃晃二手書店 南島百合 鹿野結米家青旅 阿山哥無毒小棧 梁瀚云 Thalia 賴怡蒨 楊筠

The three shows

Three chapters

Puli opening photo

Nantou · Puli

Humming along Tea
Puli, Nantou

2 – 31 May 2025

Details coming soon
Nangang opening photo

Taipei · Nangang

Brew in the City
Nangang, Taipei

18 Oct – 9 Nov 2025

Details coming soon
Taitung opening photo

Taitung · Luye

Humming along Tea
Luye, Taitung

15 Nov – 28 Dec 2025

Details coming soon
See the other kinds of collaboration ↑
Have an idea for an art collaboration?
Tell us what you have in mind and we'll talk through what's possible.
Get in Touch

Tea in the kitchen · Co-development

Tea on the menu

If you have a dish where tea could play a real part — in the broth, the seasoning, the pairing — we bring an understanding of how Nantou's teas taste and how they behave alongside other ingredients, and help you find the right one, or develop the dish with you from there.

Ongoing case

Finding and blending a tea
for the dishes at simplenoodle

In Puli, Nantou, simplenoodle (山里麵) is a neighbourhood noodle shop known for hand-made noodles and slow-simmered sauces built on a thirty-year family recipe. When the second generation came home, they reworked the shop around naturally grown ingredients from local smallholders.

They arrived with a clear idea: put Nantou tea into two everyday dishes, so that tea isn't only the drink that comes with the meal — it can also bring something bright and lively to Taiwanese cooking built on soy sauce and stock.

Tea-broth wontons photo

Lugao blended black tea

Wontons in tea broth

A black tea stock gives the whole bowl a clean, bright quality, with a soft note of tea in the finish.

Tea-poured rice photo

Nantou oolong (qing cha)

Tea-poured rice

Oolong is by far the most common style made in Nantou. With its jasmine and gardenia character, it lightens a savoury broth — and tea-poured rice is one of the best ways to show off the basin's summer produce.

01

You share the idea

Tell us what you're trying to make — the more specific the better: a soup, a dish, a pairing. It helps if we can taste the base version first, so we understand the flavours you're working with.

02

We find the tea

Once we know the direction, we draw up candidates from the teas of Nantou and further afield in Taiwan.

03

We develop it together

We test combinations in different ways, adjusting proportions and brewing method until the pairing — or the dish — works.

※ How the dish is finally presented and plated is the restaurant's call; we can advise on brewing technique and equipment for the tea side.

Tea liquor photo

Beyond cooking, tea and spirits are another way to present flavour — and an interesting pairing to play with.

See the other kinds of collaboration ↑
Want to put tea on your menu?
A regular supply, a one-off development, or an idea that's still only in your head — we're happy to talk.
Get in Touch
A group tasting together at an origin exchange

Tea Origin Tasting & Exchange

A working visit
to the tea region itself

We bring institutions, associations and companies into Lugao. An origin exchange doesn't take only one form — here you can hear how the local industry developed, see how the tea is grown, work through flavour and processing, and then have a chef translate the tea and the local crops onto the table.

Regional history session photo

How the region developed

Lugao's tea industry rose and fell with Taiwan's and the world's, and that is what has shaped Sun Moon Lake's tea landscape today.

From Taiwan native tea — the island's only native tea species — to the black tea industry of Sun Moon Lake, the island's first modern black tea factory here in Lugao, the revival after the 1999 earthquake, and the flavours and local development of today. How Assam put down roots by the lake, and how Ruby became the tea this place is known for.

Led byChaTravel
Suggested length30–60 minutes
Maximum group30 people
Tea cupping photo

Cupping the teas of Lugao

Through the evaluation of black and white teas, get to know the environment, cultivars, processing and weather of Lugao and Sun Moon Lake — sitting face to face with local farmers and tea makers.

If the evaluation leads to a purchase, you're welcome to talk to the farmers directly, or come back to us.

Led byLocal farmers & tea makers
Suggested length60–120 minutes
Maximum group30 people
Chef's dinner photo
Chef's afternoon tea photo

The chef's table

Built around Lugao tea and the crops of the Sun Moon Lake area, a chef from the area or nearby designs and cooks a table — carrying the taste of the place over into food.

What you noticed during the day's tasting comes back in another form over the meal, translated into the language of cooking.

It can be an afternoon tea or a dinner; it can follow an origin exchange, or stand on its own.

Suggested length60–90 minutes
Maximum group30 people
See the other kinds of collaboration ↑
Arrange an origin exchange for your team
Institutions, associations and companies are welcome — write and tell us what you need. The sessions above can be run separately, or put together into a half-day or a full day.
Get in Touch