[resolutebat]

Tea shops in Taiwan mostly sell bubble/boba tea, which is drenched in syrup and artificial flavors and the actual leaves themselves are an afterthought at best. The latest wave of higher-end places like Chicha San Chen are placing the focus back on good quality tea and proper brewing, but these are still a minority and it's still far, far away from the austere world of Japanese tea ceremony.

https://chichasanchennorcal.com/

[rjzzleep]

That is absolutely not true. It's hard to describe just how wrong your assessment of Taiwan's tea situation. The only way I can imagine you coming to that conclusion is that your experience with Taiwan tea is walking through the Ximen night market, but you just walk around random neighbourhoods in Taipei you'll find dozens of Tea shops. If you spend a little time driving through Taiwan's mountains you'll find plenty of Tea plantations, some of them with tea shops attached to them and others not.