Witnessing the growth of recreational tea-drinking in Taiwan, Agriculture and Food Agency, Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan (AFA) has collaborated with Nantou County Government to guide Association of Taiwan Tea in hosting the “2020 Gift-packed Tea Dessert Selection”, which has entered its 7th anniversary. Through cross-industry cooperation, participants like tea producers and bakeries joined together to create delicate tea desserts using fresh, quality domestic ingredients. Desserts and renowned Taiwanese teas were bundled into exquisite gift packs to create more added-values for agricultural products. This contest was judged by a group of field experts and scholars, who selected the seven most outstanding gift-packed tea desserts from all contestants. In today's (Sept. 9) press conference at YOSHANTEA Tea Culture House, held in Zhushan Township, Nantou County, those finalists are revealed to the public, as they will be available for purchase at “2020 Nantou Global Tea Expo” taking place from October 9th to 18th.
Specialty tea served with creative tea desserts—bringing new joy to tea-drinking experience
The AFA explains that Taiwan’s geological location provides unique climate conditions for crop growth, which in combination with sophisticated agricultural techniques enable every county to develop agri-products with their own local specialties. For example, Chiayi pineapples, Nantou sweet potatoes, Yunlin peanuts, Pingtung Adzuki beans, and Taichung wheat are all perfect ingredients for tea dessert creation. Since they are domestically produced, they have an advantage in freshness, flavor, and traceability, and with creative touches by our contestants, agricultural crops are transformed into commercial products with high added-values, benefiting both consumers and producers alike.
The theme of this year’s tea dessert selection is to mix “Specialty Taiwanese Teas” and “Creative Tea Desserts”. Participants are not only strictly required to use domestically produced tea leaves, but the tea desserts must also be made of at least 15% of domestically grown agricultural ingredients, as a token for the “Local Production, Local Consumption” policy.
The preliminary selection cut 19 enrolled participants to 10, and a judge group of experts and scholars further selected seven that are the perfect match for their Taiwanese teas. This year’s seven finalists are “Tea Joy for One” by Handmade Tea and Lai Wang Tea from Lugu Township, Nantou County, “Good Things Happen with Peanuts” by Sweetheart Witch Workshop and Throne Tea (Naturally-Grown Sun Moon Lake Black Tea) from Nantou City, “Taiwanese Tea Chocolate Flakes” by Tea Dessert House and Chenxi Tea House from Taipei City, “Taiwan Fung Tea” by Hsu’s Bakery and Man Guan Tea Garden from Chiayi City, “Manner of Modesty” by Yellow Dove House and Luku Tea from Taichung City, “An Afternoon Treat” by Chun Jhou Food and Long Gu Tea from Zhushan Township, Nantou County, and “True to One’s Self” by Chuan Fa Tea and Fu Hsiang Food from Mingjian Township, Nantou County.
The AFA stresses that this year’s tea desserts stand out with exceptional creativity, offering consumers more desserts to go with their tea enjoyment, and those ingenious ways to match teas and desserts can enrich local tea culture by bringing in trendy elements. Also, be sure to visit “2020 Nantou Global Tea Expo” between October 9th and October 18th, where vendors exhibit and sell the aforementioned select products; all are welcome to have a taste and make purchase. For pictures of the press conference, refer to the following link (https://reurl.cc/Z7A3l3).
