Wang De Chuan

Wang De Chuan traces to 1862, when Wang An Shang, an immigrant from Jinjiang in China's Fujian province, opened the business in Tainan — then Taiwan's capital — as the island's first dedicated tea house. More than a century and a half later the company is run by the fifth generation of Wang An Shang's family, still built around the fine Chinese and Taiwanese teas the house has traded since the Qing dynasty.

The business has grown well past its original storefront: it entered the Shanghai market in 2010 and now operates four stores there in high-end commercial districts, alongside its Taiwan locations including the flagship on Zhongshan North Road in Taipei. In 2019, Wang De Chuan was specifically invited to perform a traditional Chinese tea ceremony representing Taiwanese tea culture at the Taiwan Visitors Association's Tokyo office — a marker of how closely the brand is now identified with Taiwan's tea heritage abroad.

From an 1862 Tainan storefront to a five-generation family business spanning Taipei and Shanghai, Wang De Chuan has kept its identity as a tea specialist throughout, never diversifying away from the trade Wang An Shang started with.