Tea Museum: Sin Hong Choon

Totally by luck, we walked past this free tea museum! We were on our way somewhere else and some tea spirits called out to us from this dark and mysterious place, and we heeded the call—the tea spirits being in the form of wafts of air-conditioned air.

 

Sin Hong Choon is a museum and exhibition space dedicated to the history of the tea trade in Taipei and Taiwan. A particular delight to take a pause from our city trekking in this air-conditioned piece of history.

 

Here is a link to its location on Google Maps.

 

It is not necessarily a must-see for a family like ours, which is made up ferrets and squirrels, but it’s a lovely stop if you happen to be in the neighbourhood, or if you like tea. (We like tea, but less in the way the Queen likes tea and more in the way thirsty plebes like tea.)

The above photo is from the internet.

 

From Google translate: After Taiwan opened to trade in the 1860s, Dadaocheng gradually became a commercial center for exporting Taiwanese products to the international market. Tea and camphor were first collected and distributed in Dadaocheng, and then sailed to the world via Dadaocheng Pier. Xinfangchun Tea Shop, located on Minsheng West Road in Taipei, celebrates the golden years of the tea industry. Built in 1934, this mixed-use western-style residential and commercial building with Eastern and Western characteristics has experienced its ups and downs as the tea merchant Wang family came to Taiwan from Anxi, Fujian, leading us to witness the prosperity and splendor of Dadaocheng in the past.

 

And free! How could these sweaty tourists say no.

 

 

Beautifully restored architecture, dark and cool, and even with an elevator. Accessibility is not always a given, and while we’re lucky enough to have a Sherpa (Jon) to carry the stroller if we’re faced with insurmountable stairs, or we can leave a stroller somewhere and schlep just the Ewok up, Taipei does have a good number of elevators. Theoretically Junia could also walk on her own two very healthy legs, but what good is it being the baby if you can’t get carried everywhere?

 

 

It was lovely to see the displays with pieces of history, along with seeing how the old building was so thoughtfully restored.

 

 

They also have a children’s craft area, where kids can colour a little illustration of the museum, fill in their name and date of visit, and hang it upon their clotheslines.

 

 

And you can try out and purchase tea. A very friendly tea master.

 

 

And of course, the obligatory museum stamp. One nice thing about collecting these stamps is that it’s a later reminder of where we went that day, and I can backfill (sometimes days later! Or sometimes not at all!) the adventure.