Wholesale tea merchant and refiner on Chongqing North Road in Taipei's Dadaocheng, founded in 1883 and still run by the Lin family.
One Taiwan Cultural Memory Bank record names 林大村 (first generation) and 林秀峯 (second generation) as co-founders. The other says Lin Huo-shu (林火樹) and his brothers formed the Shiding tea guild in the Japanese era, from which Hua Tai split off. The two may describe different stages; neither cites a primary document.
Two Taiwan Cultural Memory Bank records date the shop to 1883 (Guangxu 9). The Lin family were tea farmers from Fengzilin in Shiding (New Taipei). One record says family members formed the Shiding tea guild (石碇茶業組合), which exported to Mainland China and later split into three shops; Hua Tai bought the present site at Chongqing North Road Section 2 no. 193, built a refining works and widened exports to Southeast Asia. After the Second World War exports fell away and the firm turned to the home market, becoming one of Taiwan's main domestic tea suppliers by selling retail at near-wholesale prices. The shop adjoins its factory floor, keeps tea in large iron drums and is still mainly a wholesaler that also serves walk-in retail customers.
