Temples, mountains, tea plantations, markets… there’s so much to see and do in Taiwan. But even if you’re eager to soak up every experience this amazing destination can throw at you, there’s bound to be a time or two when you just want to sit down and enjoy a good cup of coffee.
Taipei: A coffee drinker’s heaven
Among tea drinkers, Taiwan is renowned for its world-class oolongs. Not so many people know that it’s also a superb place for coffee lovers. Back in 2014, the BBC website declared Taipei one of the world’s top six coffee cities, singling out for praise ‘the particularly strong cafe culture near the National Taiwan University’. Detailed guides to the capital’s caffeine-sipping scene can be found online at The Way to Coffee and Kape Diaries. Taiwan is said to have at least 3,800 coffeeshops, close to 1,000 of them being in Taipei and suburbs such as Tamsui. Among them are international chains like Starbucks and local franchises such as Louisa Coffee, Cama Cafe, and 85°C Bakery Cafe. Each day, a vast number of takeout coffees bought from convenience shops like 7-Eleven.
Grown-in-Taiwan coffee / Courtesy of jaanjia.com
Coffee growing in Taiwan has a start-stop-restart history of more than 130 years. Both British traders and Japanese colonists recognised that several mid-elevation locations were ideal places to cultivate the bean. These early experiments came to naught, however. Shortages during World War II led to farmers tearing out their coffee bushes so they could plant food crops. It wasn’t until the last decade of the 20th century that fields of coffee were once again a common sight in places like Gukeng in Yunlin County and Dongshan in Greater Tainan.
Taiwan Coffee Festival
As in previous years, Gukeng is set to host the 2024 Taiwan Coffee Festival. The principal venue will be Gukeng Green Tunnel, a long strip of country road shaded by hundreds of mature trees. Come here on any weekend and you can expect to find a lively market, dozens of vendors selling local products such as honey, and various free entertainments. This autumn, on October 26 and 27 and November 1 to 3, the focus will be very much on Taiwan-grown coffee.
If you want to buy gifts for coffee-addicted friends back home, this could be the place. As well as freshly-brewed beverages for consumption on the spot, you can expect to find unroasted beans from different parts of the island, drip bags, and other attractively-packaged products. The festival will also feature local artisanal foods and musical performances.
Even if your travels won’t take you close to Gukeng (which is an easy detour when driving from Taichung to Tainan), you’re sure to have opportunities to sample Taiwan’s refined coffee-drinking habits. Thanks to the ever-growing number of Taiwanese willing to pay for quality, in every city there are establishments that take great pride in the fastidious selection of beans, in-house roasting, and perfect temperature control. When planning your private guided tour of Taiwan, let us know that a great cup of java is something you’d like — and we’ll make it happen. If you seek a more in-depth experience in a coffee-growing area, you might find inspiration from this previous client’s experiences.
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