Brewing Influence: A Collective Force from Small Farmers

Red Oolong is making its way from Luye, Taitung on Taiwan's east coast to the urban center. Behind this movement is a cooperative of just 48 people -- Red Oolong Tea Cooperative works through every step of the process: from cultivation, production, quality control, design, marketing and even establishing a national level tasting and evaluation system. They commit themselves to upholding the quality and celebrating the terroir, bringing the taste of Luye to Songshan Cultural and Creative Park (SCCP), National Taichung Theater, and even aboard the Taiwan Railways Shanlan train. What Red Oolong Tea Cooperative represents is more than a product. It stands for people of the land, bound together by mutual trust.

In 2015, Chuan Nan-Yen returned to her hometown after fifteen years as a nurse, coming back to Luye to help with her family's Yan-Wo Guesthouse. Over time, she noticed the inefficiency of local tourism operations and the scattered flow of information in the industry. This sparked the idea of creating a platform to bridge those gaps and make things clearer for travelers. She went on to establish the travel site "Imagine Taitung," aiming to address the region's missing pieces in service from the traveler's perspective.

Before long, she realized that accommodation experience alone was not enough to create lasting memories for the travelers. "I wanted to design something people could take with them," she said, "so their emotional connection wouldn’t end with the trip, and its value could continue to grow." So, a new Red Oolong brand emerged—one that will connect Luye to the world.

 

 

Pioneering an Organic Transformation

"I believe Red Oolong has great potential," says Chuan Nan-Yen. "We have farmers, processing plants, and local tea shops. It's an industry that can thrive."

With that vision, she launched the "Play in Luye" project, connecting tea farmers to travelers through hands-on tea experiences. Guests wandered through rows of tea bushes, feeling the rhythm of the land, learning about Taitung through a single cup of Red Oolong tea. As her engagement deepened, Chuan began to really see the beauty and complexity of Red Oolong.

She hoped Red Oolong could be grown organically and sustainably to preserve the land. Yet when she proposed this to farmers, she was often met with "impossible" or "we'll still need chemicals at the beginning." Instead of pushing back, she chose to understand their resistance and then decided to plant organic tea herself. "I wanted to take a different path, to create a brand distinct from tradition." In her blueprint of the future, going organic was essential.

She began at the root — cultivating seedlings and growing tea without pesticides. After three years, when the plants proved strong and healthy, she turned to understanding farmers’ needs and market trends. This led to the creation of the Red Oolong Tea Cooperative, dedicated to highlighting the tea's origin, defining its quality, and raising its value. They introduced five guarantees, the most challenging of which was a strict policy of zero detectable pesticide residue. As these standards took hold, more farmers adopted eco-friendly practices, and by harvest time, pesticide detections had gradually fallen to none.

 

Building a National-Level Evaluation System

Like any product developer, Chuan soon faced the challenge of quality consistency. Tea flavors are impacted by soil, weather, and how it is processed; one season rarely tastes like the next, which is a potentially fatal flaw for a commercial product. To solve this, she and her partners created a precise processing protocol. Each batch of tea must undergo at least twenty hours of final roasting, then pass tests for moisture content and flavor stability before it may proceed to formal tasting.

The tasting and evaluation system is the core of Red Oolong Tea Cooperative. A team of specialists from the Tea and Beverage Research Station (TBRS), plus in-house evaluators and apprentices screen every batch for pesticide compliance, then score it across three aromatic categories: "fruity aroma", "floral aroma" and "honey flavor". With these scores in hand, the Cooperative's "Flavor Team" selects raw teas for blending. They match lots to the brand's three product lines: "Midday Sun" which highlights the notes of honeyed fruit, "Dusk Sun" with the notes of gentle wood and blossom, and "Dawn Sun" which builds on the notes of sweetness from warm roast.

"My goal is that the drinker can instantly recognize the flavor yet not be overwhelmed by it." Chuan explains. By following this system, and by limiting each blend to no more than three kinds of raw tea, the Cooperative produces stable, standardized offerings. Every product line carries a clear, memorable profile.

 

 

The Bold Investment That Shaped the Brand

When Red Oolong Tea Cooperative was founded in 2020, its members included tea farmers, tea merchants, owners of processing plants and even a documentary filmmaker. Determined to move beyond conventional sales models, they pooled NT$300,000 to hire a professional marketing firm to build a proper brand. Later, they raised another NT$1.5 million just for the preparation of one thing: product launch.

Chuan Nan-Yen recalls that nerve-wracking six-month period when the Cooperative just founded: "The Cooperative was established in October. While waiting for the license, we were still in the middle of product design. Everything had to move fast— the design was finalized in January, prototypes in February, harvest in March. The product was launched on April 7^th and made its first debut at an event held by SCCP." But it was also the peak of the COVID outbreak. "We took turns going up to Taipei to man the booth," she said, "but not long after we began, SCCP shut down under Level 3 COVID-19 alert."

"We burned through the million dollars fast," she says now with a calmness that belies the chaos back then. Thankfully, the event left a strong impression. When the SCCP reopened, the Cooperative was invited to return to officially set up their shop there. From here came the opportunity to the National Taichung Theater and later, a spot on the Taiwan Railways Shanlan line. What began as a risky gamble turned into a major success, allowing Red Oolong to finally find its place in urban life.

 

Expanding the Cooperative’s Reach

The Cooperative has been running for five years, and the contracted tea field now covers 70 hectares, which amounts to nearly two-thirds of Luye's tea-farming area. Through the cooperative model, Chuan has helped farmers make the shift toward eco-friendly tea farming, while also creating local job opportunities. At the same time, the Cooperative launched the "Red Oolong Tea Pass" program, encouraging travelers to explore tea farming regions. The program has boosted the local economy, bringing meaningful change to the area.

Looking back, Chuan Nan-Yen does not have a shred of regret or hesitation. "This is something that if I didn't do then, I might never have done at all." She says firmly. Looking forward, she believes Taiwan must be seen through a global lens. For Red Oolong tea to stand firm on the world stage, Taiwan must be recognized as its homeland and within Taiwan, Luye as its point of origin. Through cross-regional quality certification, the Cooperative has secured Luye's identity as the tea's original growing area, giving Red Oolong not just a distinct origin, but a greater social impact.