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Built in 1926 and covering 1,670 ping, the Daxi Old Tea Factory—originally named “Jiaobanshan Factory”—is tucked away in a quiet alley. A green building that blends Taiwanese, Japanese, and British styles, it remains understated and fresh, its charm unchanged after nearly a century. In the heyday of Taiwanese tea, when exports to Europe and America peaked, tea was revered as “black gold.” The old factory ran three shifts a day, its machines clattering day and night, producing up to 600 tons of “Higashiya” black tea every year. Disaster struck in 1956 when a fire nearly reduced the plant to ashes. Fortunately, while en route to his Jiaobanshan residence, President Chiang Kai-shek noticed the familiar factory was missing; after learning what had happened, he ordered army engineers to rebuild it, allowing this precious historical legacy to survive to the present day.