Your tour starts with a visit to Thousand Island Lake, which is located in the south of Shiding District, New Taipei City. The catchment area of Feitsui Reservoir surrounded by hills creates the unique scenery—a lake with thousands of islands, which shares the same name with the “Qiandao Lake” (literally thousand island lake) in China due to the resemblance between the two.

The natural terrain and climate make the surrounding area of Feitsui Reservoir an ideal farmland for tea-growing, including Wenshan Baozhong tea and Dong Fang Mei Ren tea. Bagua Tea Plantation is located in this area, too. From the top of the hill, the neatly planted rows of tea look just like the symbols of Eight Trigrams, hence the name. You will make a stop here and enjoy the stunning views of the endless rows of tea plants amidst the rolling hills around you.

Your tour continues with a visit to Pinglin Tea Museum, a Hokkien-style Siheyuan (quadrangle courtyard house) type of building that characterizes the traditional dwelling of Taiwan. The museum has an abundant collection of traditional harvesting tools and equipment, tea sets, tea samples and many more that you will learn about the history and development of Taiwan’s tea industry. Additionally, the AR contents offer immersive experiences that you can interact with the exhibits, and have a better understanding of the world of Taiwanese tea.

Since you are in Pinglin, of course you will not miss out on the opportunity to taste the authentic Taiwanese tea at a local tea shop. The tea shop owner will give an introduction to Taiwanese tea, and show you how to properly brew the tea to bring out the flavors of the tea leaves. You will also have an opportunity to taste different tea samples.

On the way back to our meeting point, you can choose to be dropped off at Taipei 101.