Tea Farm in Hangzhou, China

Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves — slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future. ~Thich Nat Hahn

Gentle Reader,

Our group visited a tea farm while in Hangzhou. The green tea they specialize in was a welcome warmth in our hands on this cold, rainy day.

Compared to another tea farm and tea ceremonies Scott and I have attended, this was mostly a quick pour and sell operation. Not much in the way of process, only letting us know they specialized in green tea -- some of which was affordable after a particular date, some of which was very expensive prior to that date. We were able to try a sampling of each. Truthfully, Scott and I liked the flavor of the less expensive tea more.

The facilitators at the tea farm demonstrated how the tea was placed in canisters...not by weight but by volume, packed entirely by hand. Sort of a shake down method.

We didn't purchase any tea here, as we still have so much tea from our prior trips to China. We treasure the smoky flavor of the tea from Guizhou Province, which many of our students gave to us as gifts.

One noteworthy observation all of us on this trip made: it was very difficult for us to get a cup of tea at any of our meals. Often, there were two beverages served: a Nescafe powdered coffee concoction as well as something like Tang orange drink. At dinner, a bottle of full-sugared Coca-Cola and Sprite was usually served. Sometimes there was beer (pigot), but the alcohol content was quite low. When tea was served, it was usually from Lipton tea bags manufactured in the States. We never really could figure this out, as most of us craved tea with our meals in China. The closest we could come to an explanation is that perhaps our hosts at the various restaurants assumed Americans drank very little tea. Or... good tea is expensive in China, so it wasn't served as part of our meal plan. Either way, we were perplexed at how difficult it was to secure a steaming cup of Chinese tea.

As a side note... Scott brought along a French press with him, as well as some coffee to use in it. One night before concert number 5, I was desperate for a cup of strong coffee. So, Scott brewed up espresso in his press. I drank it absolutely unadulterated, without any cream or sugar. First time ever. Bitterest brew ever, but a wide-eyed Marianne emerged and remained throughout the evening.

The first bowl washed the cobwebs from my mind —
The whole world seemed to sparkle.
A second cleansed my spirit
Like purifying showers of rain,
A third and I was one of the Immortals —
What need now for austerities
To purge our human sorrows?
Worldly people, by going in for wine,
Sadly deceive themselves.
For now I know the Way of Tea is real.
~Chio Jen

The first cup moistens my lips and throat. The second cup breaks my loneliness. The third cup searches my barren entrails but to find therein some thousand volumes of odd ideographs. The fourth cup raises a slight perspiration — all the wrongs of life pass out through my pores. At the fifth cup I am purified. The sixth cup calls me to the realms of the immortals. The seventh cup — Ah! but I could take no more! I only feel the breath of the cool wind that raises in my sleeves. Where is Elysium? Let me ride on this sweet breeze and waft away thither. ~Lo T'ung