Mr Chen, an avid tea lover, was struck by the similarities between the camellia and tea plants. It got him thinking that tea could be grown in New Zealand but, with no prior knowledge of the tea industry, he did not realise what a hard job that would be. He thought it would be ''easy to bring tea over and start growing and processing''.
He passed the idea on to his son, Vincent Chen, who is the founder of Waikato-based Zealong Tea, New Zealand's only tea-producing company.
The pair went to Taiwan, where they cut tea seedlings and imported 1500. But, after quarantine for 10 months, they were left with 130.
It was a long, hard road, with the first few years of propagation ''basically 90% fail'', Zealong deputy general manager Gigi Crawford said.
That was just one step of the journey.
''When you grow the tea successfully, it doesn't mean you can make a cup of tea. It's got to be harvested and processed,'' both of which were very precise processes. She likened tea processing to wine-making.
Zealong, which produces oolong tea, has established a tea house and estate at Gordonton, near Hamilton.
Food certification company Oritain Global recently initiated and hosted a visit of Zealong representatives in Dunedin.
Mike Darling, from Oritain Global, has been in discussions with Zealong to provide Origin certification for its tea.
''It is a very nice fit for us. Zealong produce a valuable niche product that is unique to New Zealand. It is susceptible to fraud in the international marketplace, due to its high value and quality.
''We anticipate we will to be providing the background geochemical fingerprint that will give consumers in the international market place confidence in this exciting New Zealand product. Zealong will be the world's first tea to be origin-certified,'' Mr Darling said.
The visit also included tea tasting and meeting
Arthur Barnett senior management and former Dunedin mayor Peter Chin. Zealong tea will be available at Arthur Barnett from June.
Ms Crawford said there had been ''scares'' in the tea industry and Zealong had to protect itself to make sure there was no imitation or swapping of tea. Food safety was one of the big issues facing the industry.
While the cost of production in New Zealand was high, more people wanted to know what they were consuming.
The company was not focused on volume but on the added-value market, she said.
There had been several other ultimately unsuccessful attempts to grow tea in New Zealand and she attributed the success so far of Zealong to the passion that Vincent Chen had, although there had been times they were ready to give up.
Those involved in the company strongly believed there was ''great potential'' and did not want to give up. But because they had limited resources they could not ''just fly overnight'', Ms Crawford said.
The small company faced various challenges and needed a lot of community support and also recognition from the Government of the potential of the tea, she said.
Its market was international and it was just starting to do some networking overseas including in Germany, France, Taiwan, China and Hong Kong. While most people did not believe that tea could be grown in New Zealand, Zealong could see its bright future, Ms Crawford said.
