Drinking tea has always been about more than simply quenching thirst. It's a culturally proscribed ritual and an occasion to meet with friends or conduct business. Wistaria teahouse(紫籐廬) takes the tea tradition further by bringing a political-historical element to it.
Located almost equidistant between Taiwan National Normal University and National Taiwan University on Hsinsheng South Road, the teahouse was a meeting point in the early 1980s for many emerging political figures, artists and intellectuals who made up the so-called Tangwai opposition movement, which metamorphosed into the DPP.
Owner Chow Yu (周渝), who was himself active in the opposition movement, opened the teahouse in 1981 with the intention of providing a public space for like minds to meet and discuss the pressing issues of that politically tense time. Being the martial law period, Chow and his friends' form of politicized self-expression attracted the attention of KMT authorities, which tried on several occasions to shut the place
down, though to no avail.
Despite its reputation, Chow says the teahouse was not conceived as a hotbed of political dissent, but rather as a cultural and academic meeting point, which it remains to this day, hosting various cultural and academic activities and providing exhibition space for contemporary artists.
Tea, however, is the main cultural element that Chow sought to emphasize in opening Wistaria. The menu offers a hard-hitting Yulong tea (NT$240), a Wenshan paochong (NT$260) tea from Taipei County and an Iron Kuanyin tea (NT$240) from the hills of Mucha. The most unique of the flavors available is the bitter Yunnan Pu'er teas, of which the shop offers 12 to 80-year-old varieties. According to Chow, any Pu'er tea made after the Cultural Revolution is of inferior quality, so he recommends the 40
or 50-year-old teas (NT$350).
The wonderful teas aside, most visit Wistaria to bask in its laid-back ambiance and historical significance. The interior is a mix of Western architecture, atmospheric tatami rooms and Chinese decorative elements.
Wistaria is open every day from 10am to 11:30pm and is located at 1, Ln. 16, Hsinsheng S. Rd., Sec. 3 (台北市新生南路3段16巷1號).
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