Ten years ago, it would have been difficult to imagine a Taiwanese brand like POUYUENJI. Its emergence signals a major step in Taiwan’s evolution from manufacturing toward lifestyle. Tatler sat down for tea with CEO Ming-Lun Tsai for a second time to discuss the next chapter of POUYUENJI HILLS: the Tea Social members’ club, now nearing completion. His father purchased the land, planted the trees, and amassed a collection of extraordinary teas. Yet building a future on these treasure-filled hills has hardly been the smooth journey outsiders might imagine. Stepping away from the expected path of the family business and into the unknown, Tsai is gradually bringing his ambitious vision to life. It all began with a cup of tea—but it is about much more than tea.
Asked what POUYUENJI might look like in ten years, Tsai, fresh from his first cover shoot, found the question both direct and thought-provoking. After a moment’s reflection, he offered no definitive answer, but his vision was clear: “Will tea still be the main focus? I don’t know. Tea is certainly a starting point. Through tea, we connect with the many aspects of daily life—what we eat, wear, and how we live and travel—and experience tea’s culture and presence.” That uncertainty reveals the scale of his aspirations for the brand.
When a brand grows to the point that tea becomes merely “a starting point,” its destination extends far beyond the cup. What makes the story especially compelling is that, despite having the resources of a business group and his father’s decades-long tea collection, Tsai has chosen the harder path: starting from scratch to build a world-class brand.
Read the full Tatler feature (Traditional Chinese): https://www.tatlerasia.com/power-purpose/impact/tatler-issue-pouyuenji-feature-zh-hant
