Taichung has a strong claim to Taiwan's shaken iced teas. Chun Shui Tang (春水堂) says it shook the first foam black tea with ice in a cocktail shaker here in 1983, and pearl milk tea followed. Its sit-down teahouses are still the best way to drink tea in the city: order a pot or a shaken iced tea, a few small dishes, and stay a while. For an older, quieter kind of teahouse, go to Wu Wei Tsao Tang and its garden. The city also grows its own tea, high-mountain oolong from Lishan. For coffee, head to the lanes of West District around Shenji New Village.
Shaken tea and the teahouse
Chun Shui Tang began in 1983 as a Taichung tea shop that sold oolong and other semi-fermented teas, then turned hot tea into iced, sweet drinks shaken with a bar shaker. Its first was foam black tea (泡沫紅茶), and its timeline says oolong and other teas followed as cold drinks. It also runs TP Tea (茶湯會), a takeaway tea brand it started in 2005, which the company says was the first hand-shaken tea chain to sell tea lattes, in 2006.
A Chun Shui Tang teahouse is a restaurant as much as a tea shop. Alongside the teas you can order braised tofu and rice cake, fried chicken or fried turnip cake. Its signature cold black tea uses Sri Lankan Uva leaves and goes back to the first year, 1983.
Teahouses are part of the city's character. The Taipei Times described them in 2010 as scattered almost everywhere in Taichung, in all styles and sizes, and as places where people traditionally stayed for hours to chat, play cards or study.
Where to go
Chun Shui Tang, the original store
- Hours Daily, 08:30 to 22:00
- Address 30 Siwei Street, West District
- Getting there Taxi from Taichung Station
Chun Shui Tang (original store) has been on Siwei Street since 1987, the year the company says pearl milk tea went on its menu.
Chun Shui Tang at the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts
- Hours Monday to Friday 11:00 to 22:00; Saturday and Sunday 10:30 to 22:00
- Address B1, 2, Section 1, Wuquan West Road, West District (inside the museum)
- Getting there Taxi from Taichung Station
The Chun Shui Tang museum branch is a good tea break between galleries.
→ National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts
Chun Shui Tang, Donghai Art Street
- Hours Daily, 10:30 to 22:00
- Address 48 Yishu Street, Longjing District (東海藝術街)
- Getting there Taxi from Taichung Station
The Chun Shui Tang Donghai Art Street store opened in 2000 on the art street near Tunghai University, in the west of the city.
Wu Wei Tsao Tang, a garden teahouse
- Hours Daily, 10:30 to 21:30 (as listed on Google Maps in October 2026)
- Address 106, Section 2, Gongyi Road, Nantun District
- Getting there Taxi from Taichung Station
Wu Wei Tsao Tang (無為草堂) is the calm one on busy Gongyi Road: a two-story wooden teahouse around a Chinese garden, with corridors, pavilions, flowing water and a carp pond, plus private rooms and tatami seats by the windows. The name comes from Daoist thought, and it has been open since the mid-1990s. It serves Taiwanese teas, with set meals and hot pot at mealtimes. It has no website we could find, so the hours above are from its Google Maps listing.
Make your own
Chun Shui Tang's Dadun store on Jingming 1st Street runs a 50-minute Bubble Tea DIY Workshop on weekdays at 10:00, 15:00 and 17:00 (at least two people, age 6 and up). Details are on our bubble tea page.
Good to know: Chun Shui Tang's Taichung branches open later than usual one day each month, for a staff meeting. The date is posted on the company's announcements page.
High-mountain tea from Lishan
Taichung grows its own tea, high in the mountains. Lishan (梨山), in Heping District (和平區), the largest of the city's districts, grows high-mountain oolong between 1,800 and 2,500 meters above sea level, about 280 tons a year, according to the city government. It describes the tea as known for its aroma and mild taste, made from soft, thick leaves, with a fruity, honey-like brew.
Because blends have been sold under the Lishan name, the Heping District Office runs a Lishan tea certification mark (梨山茶產地證明標章) that shows the tea was grown there, and the Ministry of Agriculture lists it among Taiwan's tea origin marks. When you buy Lishan tea, look for that mark on the package.
Coffee
Taichung's independent cafes are easiest to find in West District. Shenji New Village, the revitalized old neighborhood of small shops, cafes and weekend markets, is the place to start, and the streets around it make a good afternoon of cafe hopping. These four are well known and easy to fit into a day in the center.
The Factory Mojocoffee
- Hours Monday to Friday 09:00 to 18:00; Saturday and Sunday 10:00 to 18:00
- Address 22 Jingcheng 6th Street, West District
- Getting there Taxi from Taichung Station
The Factory Mojocoffee, one of Mojocoffee's Taichung shops, sits near the Jingming shopping streets, with open bookshelves, big windows and outdoor space. The city's tourism site notes that foreign media count it among Taiwan's best cafes; in 2020 the travel site Big 7 Travel ranked it third in Taiwan, the Liberty Times reported.
Coffee Stopover
- Hours Monday to Saturday 11:00 to 20:00; closed Sunday
- Address 24, Lane 217, Minquan Road, West District
- Getting there Taxi from Taichung Station
Coffee Stopover opened in late summer 2015 in a small old house and roasts its own beans; this first shop is for pour-over and espresso. Its second shop, Coffee Stopover Black, at 7 Fulong Street in the same district (Tuesday to Saturday, 14:00 to 19:00), brews with a lever espresso machine, AeroPress, French press and siphon.
Zhongfei Coffee
- Hours Monday to Thursday 08:30 to 18:00; Friday to Sunday 08:30 to 19:00 (as listed on Google Maps in October 2026)
- Address 46 Siwei Street, West District
- Getting there Taxi from Taichung Station
On the same street as the original Chun Shui Tang, Zhongfei Coffee (中非咖啡) is one of Taichung's well-known old coffee houses, in the words of the city's tourism site. Its owner has been roasting for more than 30 years, and it is known for siphon coffee. The hours are from its Google Maps listing.
Hausinc 1035
- Hours Daily, 10:00 to 17:30 (as listed on Google Maps in October 2026)
- Address 73 Shifu Road, Central District
- Getting there Walk from Taichung Station (about 1 km)
Hausinc 1035 is a cafe in a detached Western-style building near Taichung Station that was a clinic in the Japanese era. The name is the clinic's old phone number, 1035, and the registration window is still at the entrance. Miyahara, the restored eye clinic, is also near the station, so the two make an easy pair.
Coffee with lunch
In West District, Shin Yuan (馨苑), a MICHELIN Bib Gourmand restaurant in a sunny villa, mixes coffee into its Taiwanese cooking, down to a coffee vinaigrette, and ends the set meal with a fresh brew (taxi from Taichung Station).
→ Shenji New Village → West District → Miyahara
Sources
Chun Shui Tang's history, TP Tea and drinks: Chun Shui Tang's history timeline and home page. Store addresses and hours: Chun Shui Tang's original store, museum store and Donghai Art Street store pages. Workshop: Chun Shui Tang. Taichung's teahouses and Wu Wei Tsao Tang's building: Taipei Times (CNA, 2010). Wu Wei Tsao Tang: the Taichung Film Development Foundation's location page, Global Views Monthly (2002 and 2007), NOWnews (2023) and its Google Maps listing (October 2026). Lishan tea: Taichung City Government (2020), CNA (2016) and the Ministry of Agriculture. The Factory Mojocoffee: Mojocoffee's store page, Taichung Tourism's coffee walk (2024) and the Liberty Times (2020). Coffee Stopover: its home page and shops page. Zhongfei Coffee: Taichung Tourism and its Google Maps listing (October 2026). Hausinc 1035: Business Today (2025) and its Google Maps listing (October 2026). Shin Yuan: MICHELIN Guide (2026).
Checked October 2026.