According to Tsai, poor production techniques are the biggest obstacle to overcome before growers can enjoy higher yields and lower production costs. The lack of a fully regulated certification system remains an important issue as consumers remain skeptical about the myriad organic products.
To unify the certification programs, the COA has begun issuing national CAS organic production certification this year in addition to those of the four private agents, but further emendations of the regulations are required if the programs are to be internationally recognized.
All told, local organic tea farming seems to have a long and bumpy road ahead. But for Chou, the high quality of Taiwan's tea is definitely worth the effort. "The island has a very unique natural environment where tea trees can grow between elevations of 500m to 2,600m, which are fit for a wide variety of tea varieties from black tea [fully fermented] to green tea [non-fermented]. Nature has given us such uniqueness," said Chou, a self-made ecologist who travels Taiwan and China studying the language of nature.
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