Bookish Brews Snapshot
A Magic Steeped in Poison by Judy I. Lin
In a desperate attempt to save her sister after she drank poisoned tea, Ning travels to the kingdom to compete to be the best shennong-shi—masters of the ancient and magical art of tea-making in hopes of winning a favor from the princess.
✒️ Debut Author 🌏 East Asian Rep 🎶 Lyrical Prose 👑 Non-European Royalty
- Genre: Fantasy, Speculative Fiction, Young Adult
A Magic Steeped in Poison Book Review
A Magic Steeped in Poison swept me away in an aromatic and enchanting story. The very first thing I noticed after picking up this book was the beautiful writing matches the cover perfectly. The writing is lyrical, flowing, beautiful, and steeped in stunning Taiwanese imagery.
After losing her mother to poisoned tea, Ning blames herself because she was the one who served the tea. Now she might lose her sister to the very same poisoned tea. In what feels like her last hope, Ning hears of a competition in the kingdom to find the greatest shennong-shi—masters of the ancient and magical art of tea-making. Desperate to save her sister, Ning travels to the kingdom and enters the competition in hopes of winning a favor from the princess.
The writing and connections to tea are truly outstanding. The writing feels like flowers dried into tea leaves. The magic feels like steam rising out of hot tea. The magical connection between Ning and Kang feels like a calm afternoon reconnecting over tea when you have nowhere else to be, perfectly encompassing the intimacy of sitting with an old friend over a cup of tea. It is truly a sensory experience that is as beautiful as it’s cover.
I can’t help but think about how I had the privilege to spend some time in Taiwan drinking tea this winter. Winter in Taipei is chilly and often rainy, so we spent a lot of time wandering into tiny little shops while it drizzled on us on and off all day.
During my pre-trip research on Taipei, I had seen that Jiufen was a popular tourist destination, but had decided to skip it because it’s an hour out of Taipei. I was only planning on being there for a few days, so I thought a drive an hour out of town was going to waste too much time. But every single person that we met on the trip brought it up, so we spontaneously decided to make the trek out anyway and I’m so glad I did so I can sit here today and tell you about it.
Getting to Jiufen, Taiwan
Getting to Jiufen is easy, there are multiple bus routes that will take you right from Taipei to Jiufen. Google Maps has the bus routes on it, so you can just map yourself there and make sure to get on the right bus.
The two routes that will take you directly from Taipei to Jiufen are the 1062 and the 965 and you can pay with the same card that you use for everything else, EasyCard or iPass (both of which are super easy to get at convenience stores). Once you get on, you’ll ride the line all the way until the end and get off on Jiufen Old Street.
📍 Jioufen Old Street, Ruifang District, New Taipei City, Taiwan 224
Exploring Jiufen
Stepping into Jiufen from Taipei feels like going to an entirely different world. We were staying in Taipei across the street from a mall. It was busy with tall buildings, lots of cars, and a night time that is lit up by LEDs. Jiufen, on the other hand, feels like a city picked right out from the past but full of the bustling energy of modernity. It’s lit by lanterns, the paths are alleyways that you travel by foot, and each building looks built with that old unique care.
I didn’t know this beforehand, but even the weather is different in Jiufen. For me that meant that we started the morning opting out of my rain boots because it was a light drizzle in Taipei. Then, when we started approaching Jiufen, we drove right into the pouring rain. And then we had to get off the bus.
After running into the FamilyMart to get a poncho, we got lost in the winding market alleys. The alleys are mostly covered, but the rain breaks through anyway. The streets are well travelled, leaving puddles everywhere you look. The shop owners knew all of us tourists were cold and wet, so they started brewing extra hot tea and warm food samples to encourage us to buy. By the end of the alley, we were drenched and craving tea more than anything else.
In Jiufen, there’s a famous tea house called A Mei. It’s multiple stories and covered in beautiful red lanterns. You can only get to the famous view point by going down worn down stairs in a crowd of other people stopping at random, hoping to get their instagram picture. It’s another covered alley, but if it’s raining, the water will roll off the roof and right onto everyone’s cameras.
📍 A Mei Teahouse, No. 20, Shixia Ln., Ruifang Dist., New Taipei City 224, Taiwan
Our Taiwanese Teahouse Experience
But if you walk just past the stairs for the viewing spot for A Mei, there’s quieter tea house that drew us in. We were hoping to wait out the rain a little bit and walking by, it felt like the peace from inside was radiating outward that we just couldn’t resist.
📍 Jiuefen Teahouse, No. 142號, Jishan St, Chongwen Village, Ruifang District, New Taipei City, Taiwan 22448
Inside, we were ushered to a welcome room before being sat. They explained how ordering tea worked and told us that they hope that we as long as we want to not feel like there’s any need to rush. They even told us we can stay until the rain clears, which could’ve been hours.
They sat us in the most beautiful blue framed glass gazebo that kept the smell of the brewing tea inside while we overlooked the rainy mountains. The tea fogged up the glass of the entire gazebo, and us crazy tourists inside opened all of the windows to watch the rain and let in the cold and the sound of the rain.
When our server came by with our tea, he sat down at our table with us to chat and it felt like he was welcoming us into his home to tell us about his dreams. Jiufen Teahouse was founded inside a 100 year old house in a then-quiet Jiufen, helping reawaken the city that had gone quiet after the end of gold mining in town. It brought tea house culture to Jiufen, which is ultimately one of the things it’s known for today.
Every cup that customers drink from is handmade in the ceramic studio right there. If you venture downstairs, you can even see hundreds of ceramics and art pieces to browse during your stay. Our server taught us how to brew the tea and poured it into handmade cups for us to try. He stayed until we felt confident that we knew the process for brewing so we could sit back and relax.
Spending the evening at Jioufen Teahouse was a sensory dream. It was everything you’ve ever dreamed about for a rainy evening in when you have nowhere to be and your best friend by your side. The tea was not only delicious, but the aroma filled the gazebo with love, care, and calm. The light chatter of everyone else in the gazebo mixed with the sound of rain fell to the perfect level of white noise. The tiny cool breeze from the open windows were a constant reminder of the safety and shelter the tea gifted to us.
Judy I. Lin was right to craft a magic system based off of tea. Tea, especially brewed and shared in this way, has magical properties. It kept us safe inside that gazebo and kept us warm against the cold air. It forces us to sit and pause from our hustle-and-bustle lives that capitalism demands we live. It brings us back to our senses, just like A Magic Steeped in Poison.
A Mei Teahouse and Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away
We didn’t get tea at A Mei like most people do, but we did stop at the outlook and you can see it right from Jioufen Teahouse as well. Hayao Miyazaki denies that Jiufen and A Mei Teahouse inspired Spirited Away, but it famously draws the attention of people who have seen it. The entire town has a striking resemblance to the bath house the Chihiro gets trapped at, especially A Mei Teahouse.
And while Miyazaki denies it, it’s impossible not to see it once someone points it out. The lanterns, the glowing warm lights against the cold mountainous background feel like they could be a still pulled directly from the movie. The tight market alleyways filled with sweet potato balls, rolled ice cream, and beef noodles feel just like the market where Chihiro loses her parents. It’s hard not to look at the stacked food at the market stalls and not think about Chihiro’s dad ignoring her worries about stealing food saying, “Don’t worry, you’ve got Daddy with you. He’s got credit cards and cash!”
Even though I had initially planned to skip Jiufen on this trip, I’m so glad so many people I stumbled upon while traveling told me to reconsider. And even though Jiufen is “not” the inspiration for Spirited Away, one of my earliest memories is watching the movie for the first time, so Jiufen was immediately as magical to me as A Magic Steeped in Poison makes tea.
Stills of Spirited Away & Jiufen, Taiwan
