Powdered Ancient Highway

Mr. Xie (Xie Yuan Zai, 謝元在) is a third-generation tea farmer in Mingjian, Nantou, in central Taiwan, where his family has grown small-scale oolong across three lifetimes. He has farmed organically since 1997, converting after agrochemicals began affecting his wife's health, and weathered years of lost customers, working part-time as a painter and carpenter to keep his family afloat rather than compromise his principles. By the early 2000s his organic craft had matured into award-winning teas that have been featured on Taiwanese television. He has since formed a local co-op, teaching neighboring farmers organic methods and offering them equal shares, and several farms around Mingjian, including those beside his own fields, have joined him.