來到北埔，除了吃粄條、菜包、客家擂茶，別忘了走進這棟風格細緻典雅的洋樓，親眼見證那段茶金歲月。Visiting this old house and listening their stories in this elegant building, to appreciate the hidden beauty treasure here and also to experience that Gold Leaf age in Beipu.
什麼是「椪風茶」？椪風茶又叫「東方美人茶」，以小葉種的青心大冇製成的白毫烏龍茶，因被小綠葉蟲咬過而產生出獨特的蜜香。當地茶農原以為是蟲害，然而有茶農不甘損失，將被咬過的茶葉製成茶帶至城裡販賣，特殊的風味深受洋行喜愛且熱銷，其返回山上跟村裡的人炫耀時，大家嘲笑此茶農在「膨風（吹牛）」，因而得名。此茶葉後來被洋行帶往英國，相傳英國女王對此讚不絕口，稱之為「東方美人茶Oriental Beauty Tea」。
台灣碰風茶以新竹縣北埔鄉及峨眉鄉一帶丘陵茶園產量較多。講到北埔茶業，就會提到北埔姜家，而姜家祖先姜秀鑾為清朝時期漢人開墾北埔的始祖，北埔老街的慈天宮、金廣福、天水堂、姜阿新洋樓，全都描述著姜家在此留下的故事。
金鐘獎史上入圍最多獎項紀錄的大戲《茶金》，即為改編自姜阿新洋樓主人-姜阿新的故事。身為望族後代，個性浪漫樂觀好冒險，大膽開啟北埔製茶事業，寫下台灣的茶金年代。
姜阿新洋樓建於1946年，費時三年完工，是當時招待貴賓的場所。後因戰後南洋茶產地恢復生產，台灣茶業潮不敵價格競爭而衰落，姜阿新洋樓於1965年抵押給銀行，後於2001年被指定為縣定古蹟，在2013年由其孫女集資買回，成立姜阿新教育基金會，2018年依照記憶中的老家模樣將其修復完成，並開放給大眾參觀。
來到北埔，除了吃粄條、菜包、客家擂茶，別忘了走進這棟風格細緻典雅的洋樓，處處隱藏的令人驚豔的細節工藝，反映著主人浪漫不拘泥傳統的特性，聽著洋樓後代描述著小時候的記憶及這棟建築裡的寶藏，親眼見證那段茶金歲月。
姜阿新洋樓：新竹縣北埔鄉北埔街10號
開放時間：全預約導覽制，詳見官網
【如何去：】
- 從高鐵新竹站搭乘台灣好行獅山線，於北埔老街下車，步行3~5分鐘即可抵達
- 搭乘台鐵至竹東站，轉搭計程車前往北埔老街。
- 開車前往：北埔老街旁有許多收費停車場，公有停車場->鄧南光公有停車場(新竹縣北埔鄉公園街15號旁)
Have you tried Oriental Beauty tea in Taiwan? It is also called "Pomfong tea" and why? This tea is made with Taiwanese small-leaf species and is the well-know "White-tip Oolong tea". Once upon a time, a tea farmer found that it generated a special honey scented flavor once the tea leaves had been bitten by tea green leafhoppers. This tea farmer made a huge fortune by selling them in city and went back to the mountain telling the neighbors. However, people didn't believe him and call it "Pomfong" (means "Boast"). Then this special honey flavor tea had been brought to Unite Kingdom by foreign trade companies and it is said that the queen loves it and named it "Oriental Beauty tea"
This Oriental beauty tea is mostly grown and produced in the hills of Beipu, Emei township in Hsinchu. When it talks about the tea industry in Beipu, people always mentioned about the Chiang family in Beipu. In Qing dynasty, the ancestor of Chiang family was the 1st han people came to Beipu for opening up. Many ancient buildings in Beipu old street such as the Citian temple, Jinhuanhfu mansion, Tianshui Shrine and Chiang A-hsin mansion are all described the histories of the Chiangs.
Chiang A-hsin is an optimistic, brave and romantic person who was always caring about staffs and local community development. He loved to take challenges and lead the whole Beipu tea plantations to an Age of Gold Leaf.
Mr. Chiang was enthusiastic in art of architecture which built this western and oriental fusion style mansion in 1946 and the feature of this house just perfectly reflects his personal innovative and untraditional characteristic. This house was designed as self-residential and reception house for his business. The exterior or interior design are all completed by local artisans with various native high quality building materials.
This mansion was mortgaged to bank in 1965 due to the declining of tea business of Taiwan after WW II. In 2001, this building was listed as Historic site of Hsinchu County and the granddaughters of Chiang A-Hsin bought it back in 2013. They took 5 years to repair it and open to public since 2018. They welcome people to visit their old house and listen their stories in this elegant building, to appreciate the hidden beauty treasure here and also to experience that old tea golden age in Beipu.
*Currently it is open for reservation guided tour in Mandarin ONLY.
Official website: https://chiangashing.wixsite.com/english
Chiang A-shin mansion：Google map: https://g.page/chiangahsin?share
【How to get there：】
- By Bus: Take the Taiwan tourism shuttle bus – Lion head mountain rout from THSR Hsinchu station and get off at Beipu old street, walking distance to the mansion is about 3~5 mins.。
- By Taxi: Take the train to Zhudong train station then take the taxi to Beipu old street.
- By Car: there are many parking lots around the Beipu old street as it is a famous tourism spot.
