What's On at Yun Hai
This is a mostly up-to-date list of limited time discounts, product launches, and special events at Yun Hai. Find us online at yunhai.shop and in person at the Yun Hai Taiwanese General Store in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Holiday Gift Guide: Good Things from Taiwan
Our holiday gift guide celebrates Taiwan Wei through the lens of small, ordinary happinesses. It’s part product showcase, part photo essay—we’ve paired classic Taiwanese goods with pieces from my personal collection to telegraph Taiwanese vibe. We’ve already shared some of it on IG; look for more in the coming days.
Most of the props were a generous gift from Mikey Chen—designer, creative director, and tea wine maker—shared from his personal collection in Taichung when our founder Lisa met him there in 2022.
Holiday Gift Guide: Good Things from Taiwan
This season’s jam gift box celebrates a quintessential element of Taiwanese daily life: the newspaper.
Newspapers capture locality—they document daily life, from political affairs to classified ads. As archival material, they preserve the texture and rhythm of a specific time and place. They’re also practical. In Taiwan, it’s common practice to wrap precious objects in newspaper, especially glass jars. It was only natural, then, that we present our jams alongside archival material from old Taiwanese newspapers, collected and designed by O.OO.
As for the jam, each is made with peak-season fruit from Taiwanese farmers. The fruit is macerated and cooked down with sugar and lemon juice only. The result is juicy but not-too-sweet, with a delicate texture and the mouthfeel of fresh fruit. Use them anywhere you'd use a regular jam (hello, PBJ). We've mixed them with matcha, added them to smoothies, and spooned them over buttery scones, to great effect.
Taiwan Wei Gift Box
This year’s Ga Ji Dai gift set showcases gu zao wei 古早味, or old-style Taiwanese flavor.
Taiwanese heritage is reflected in each item through traditional artisanship—in soy paste and black vinegar—and local terroir—in passionfruit pumpkin jam, dried green mango, and dried plum powder. We’ve included an Ai Yu Jelly Kit made with endemic Taiwanese figs and a mini ceramic stool—a miniaturized version of the iconic plastic furniture dotting Taiwan’s urban landscape. Everything comes wrapped in a sturdy, collectible box inspired by the vibrant Ga Ji Dai totes that brighten Taiwan's traditional markets.
Our Forthcoming Cooking Show
Yes, you read that right. Details are to come, but look out for a Yun Hai mini cooking series this fall; produced and directed by our friends at Night Shift. If you want to be the first to know when it drops, sign up here.
You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel here.
Upcoming Events
From outdoor barbecues to community collaborations, hosting events where we can meet you all face-to-face is one of the most rewarding aspects of running this business.
From time to time, we put items that are overstocked or nearing their best before date on sale. This date isn't an expiration date, but represents the recommended time period to consume the item at peak freshness. The items are safe to consume beyond that date and may stay at their best for a while longer.
To prevent waste, we offer these products as part of our Quick Sale collection at a discount to you. The sale page will indicate why they are on sale and what their best before dates are. It’s a great way to get your favorites for less and reduce food waste at the same time.
Stay tuned for when things go on quick sale.
That’s all for now. Thanks for being a subscriber!
This is Yun Hai Taiwan Stories, a newsletter about Taiwanese food and culture by Lisa Cheng Smith 鄭衍莉, founder of Yun Hai.
Please check out all our other installments here. If you like it, share it with friends and subscribe if you haven’t already. I email once a month, sometimes more, sometimes less. For more Taiwanese food, head to yunhai.shop, follow us on instagram and twitter, or view the newsletter archives.
I am in the long-read camp, but lovely to see an update from you.
I also wanted to share that I saw Yun Hai on the front page of English Wikipedia recently. Yun Hai was featured in the "Did You Know" section, and an archived version is available here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Main_Page_history/2024_February_11 . Kudos to you :)