Wistaria Tea House

Tea arrives here at the pace of the room: leaves weighed, water poured, a first steep discarded, conversation resuming between infusions. Wistaria Tea House has worked this way since 1981, when a wooden Japanese-era house in Taipei's Da'an District became a teahouse, and Taiwanese tea has been the centre of it ever since.

Taiwanese oolong, poured slowly

Oolong is what to remember. High mountain jin xuan is the specific tea to ask for, soft-edged and faintly milky, and the most direct introduction to the house style. The water matters as much as the leaf: it is drawn from mountain springs at Wulai, south of the city, and the steeping happens at the table rather than behind a counter. This is a tea sitting rather than a drinks stop. Time, water temperature and the pauses between cups carry more weight than the length of a menu, and the list stays with tea throughout. Nothing is hurried, and nothing needs to be.

A house that carries Taipei's arguments

The building is half the reason to come. The wooden structure dates from the 1920s and blends Eastern and Western detailing; it served as a Japanese colonial residence before 1945, then as a government dormitory from 1950, and by the 1980s had become a meeting place for Taipei's writers, artists, academics and political dissidents. Taipei designated it a historic site in 1997. The decor still reads to the 1930s, and a renovation was completed before the house reopened in 2008. The name is literal: three wisteria vines shade the front courtyard on the way in. Inside, the mood is calm and Daoist in influence, made for sitting, thinking and letting the city fall away.

Ask first for high mountain jin xuan

Begin with high mountain jin xuan and give it time. It keeps the visit on the teahouse's strongest ground, Taiwanese oolong served in a historic room, and it rewards a second and third steep far more than a single cup does. The only real decisions are which leaf to take and how long to stay with it, so come expecting a long sitting rather than a quick one. Order simply, let the table service set the tempo, and pay as much attention to the courtyard and the wooden beams as to what is in the cup.