Omiyage is a gift or souvenir that you bring back home for friends, family, co-workers, etc. It’s a thoughtful way of saying to someone that they matter and that you care.
Searching for the perfect omiyage to bring back from Taiwan, I settled on a few items including tea from Linhuatai and honey from Green in Hand (掌生穀粒糧商號 / jiang sheng gu li liang shang hao).
Because honey lasts for so long and it takes on the unique characteristics of the flowers the bees collect pollen from, I thought it would be a fun way to share my experience of Taiwan with others.
Green in Hand is located in Xinyi District steps from Taipei City Hall.
The location is small and unassuming. When I dropped by, it actually looked like the store was closed. They were just waiting for customers like me to come in.
When you come in, you can browse the various honey bee products they have. The cool part, though, is the tasting area. You can try out the many varieties of honey that they sell.
This was actually my first experience with honey tasting, as I was never really a fan of the honey (note that my experience with honey prior was the kind that came in the bear bottle).
The honeys that I tasted were pretty distinct from each other. One of my favorites was the Winter Herbal Honey (百草蜜 / bai cao mi) due to the crystalline nature of the honey.
In the end, I ended up getting a the set of nine honeys that I eventually distributed to different friends. Here’s was the set looked like:
For anyone also interested, Green in Hand also carries rice, tea, and alcohol that can also make for a nice gift.
All in all, the little gifts were well received. Success!
Will definitely be back sometime in the future for both more gifts and just to treat myself.