Danny Huang, marketing manager of family-owned Pin Shiang Tea Co Ltd, talked about how the Mingjian Township, Nantou County-based wholesale tea maker has transformed over a decade into a famous brand during an interview with ‘Taipei Times’ staff reporter Lauly Li at Foodex Japan in Tokyo last week

Taipei Times
 Mar 13, 2017

Taipei Times (TT): What prompted Pin Shiang Tea Co Ltd (品香茶業), a wholesale tea

Pin Shiang Tea Co Ltd marketing manager Danny Huang, left, and business manager Ada Lin (林慕幕) pose for a photo in the company’s booth at Foodex Japan in Tokyo on Tuesday. Photo: Lauly Li, Taipei Times

company, to establish its own brands in the past few years?

Danny Huang (黃立倫): The family business was in a dire situation when I joined in 2007. At that time, our sales were plunging because of changes in Taiwanese drinking habits, which accounted for between 60 percent and 70 percent of Pin Shiang’s annual production of 17 tonnes of tea leaves. Coffee, handmade drinks and bottled teas have gradually trumped tea as people’s beverage of choice. On the other hand, the local industry has continued to face excessive supply due to rising imports of lower-end tea leaves from Vietnam, even though Taiwan produced 20,000 to 30,000 tonnes of fine tea leaves last year. In view of the changes in local culture, I believed Pin Shiang needed to find a new way of thinking about fine Taiwanese tea and decided to establish two brands — Tasteful Tea (細品香茗) in 2008 and Daebete (茶米茶) in 2013 — to proactively communicate with consumers.    [INTERVIEW CONTINUES]