鹿谷故事館

台灣有俗諺所謂開門七件事「柴、米、油、鹽、醬、醋、茶。」茶之於台灣人絲毫不陌生，但台灣的街頭似乎是咖啡店多於茶館，特別是在都會區，可說是到處林立。且喝茶這件事多被歸於中、老年齡的生活因子，而不普遍於大部分的青年世代。雖難說咖啡是一種外國的月亮比較圓的產物，因其也深植於台灣人的生活不少年了；但對於飲茶進而品茶這件事，可以說是「近廟欺神」般的被看待。或許圍繞著咖啡所蘊含的元素，似乎比喝茶這件事浪漫許多。咖啡滿溢著音樂、人文、異國的氛圍，若向女性朋友提一句，我們喫茶去吧!那充滿著疑惑的眼神，可說是難以承受之輕。但茶真得是那麼難以親近或是難登所謂人文或浪漫的大雅之堂嗎?亦或是只是營造的元素不同?

In Taiwan, there is a saying going like this, “seven necessities of the Chinese kitchen: fuel, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea.” It seems that tea is not unfamiliar to the Taiwanese, but we always see the coffee shops on the street rather than the teahouses, especially in the metropolis. In addition, drinking tea is usually classified into the life of middle-aged and elderly people, not into the most part of young people. Although it may not accurately say coffee is the product of Taiwanese’s attitude that worshipping everything foreign, it has still existed in Taiwanese’s life for many years. In contrast to drinking and tasting tea can be regarded as an example of familiarity breeds contempt. Maybe it is because drinking coffee is more easily associated with many romantic things and elements than drinking tea. After all, we always can feel coffee brimming with music, humanities, and exotic atmosphere. If you ask your female friend to drink tea together, she may reply you with a doubtful look that make you uneasy. It is really not a good experience at all. However, is tea really difficult to get close to or not to appeal to refined taste? Or just because people create different elements for these?

    一個平常的午後，見到門前放著一個外型鮮紅印有芝麻街英文玩偶劇中人物的行李箱，但不見這行李箱的主人。拿起手機拍著它並由line給他的主人，他回我一個冒汗的尷尬的圖案，一時沒會意過來，只因這鮮紅的箱子聯想著它的主人可能有的性格樣貌。入住check in 時，才知道他來自於地球遙遠的另一端，德國的漢堡。且他是因對茶葉的執著與熱愛，而到台灣上演一齣萬里尋茶記。

An ordinary afternoon, I saw a bright red luggage printing Sesame Street English character on in front of the hostel’s door, but I didn’t’ see its owner. So I took the picture of the luggage and text it to its owner, and then he replied me an embarrassed expression symbol, I didn’t understand the meaning of the symbol at that time. I just guess the owner’s personality from this bright red luggage. Until he checked in did I know he was from Hamburg, Germany, which is far away from Taiwan. He came to Taiwan from miles away is totally because of his deep love with tea leaves.

    在台灣年輕的族群二十到三十世代中，對於茶葉有著濃濃興致的人，可說是微乎其微，由這位德國人身上散發著對台灣茶的熱血，更顯得令人驚訝!且特別是他那一口標準的中文，更令人好奇!後來交談得知，原來幾年前他曾參加德國政府的國際服務工作，來台一年，回德國後於大學主修中文系。難怪一口流利的中文，在全然歐洲臉孔中透著東方標準的語言，這搭配誠屬難得，但又不顯得突兀。

It was very little proportion of 20s to 30s people in Taiwan have interest in tea. Therefore, this German’s enthusiasm for tea makes me surprised. Also, I am curious about he speaks Chinese fluently and accurately. After the later chatting, I got the answer. It is because he participated in the international volunteering which is the Germany government hold, he had been to Taiwan once and stayed here for one year. After he finished this volunteering job, he went to Germany and majored in Chinese in university. No wonder he speaks Chinese fluently and accurately. Seldom can we know the foreigners speak Chinese great and it sees nothing strange with that. 

    這德國朋友-佑明，這次來台灣的主題旅遊是走訪茶山，來鹿谷便是想喝他數年前味覺記憶中的凍頂烏龍茶。難得遠自萬里外來訪的朋友，且如此熱愛台灣的文化，秉著所謂一期一會的精神，略盡地主之誼，領著他到不少茶行找尋他記憶中的茶滋味，也造訪了幾座茶園，特別是離杉林溪入口處不遠，一座地形十分陡峭的茶園，真的十足感受到，眼前每一杯的茶得來不易!由於歐洲不產竹，所以也領著他去小半天長源圳的孟宗竹林漫遊，也逛了竹山媽祖廟且享用了滋味絕妙的廟口肉圓。

The German friend, You-ming, plans to drop in tea mountains, so he came to Lugu to find Dong Ding Oolong tea that he had tasted many years ago. I uphold the spirit of yi-chi-yi-huei (This is a Japanese old saying: One life offers one chance to meet someone it means that you have to treat anyone you meet just like only one chance in all life.) to lead him to several tea shops, helping him find the taste in his memory. We also visit some tea gardens. Among these tea gardens, there is one around the entrance of Sun Moon Lake is the most steep that I really feel every cup of tea comes uneasily. Besides, I also take him to Jang-yuan tzuan hiking trail to watch Phyllostachys edulis(a kind of bamboo) because I think he have little chance to see this due to Europe is not the place to plant bamboo. Finally, we went to Ju-shan Ma-tzu temple and ate the delicious meat ball around there.