Two noobs in China: 茶 Tea!

Tea, tea, tea!

Hangzhou has the only museum in China that is solely dedicated to tea. Of course, Paul really wanted to go, so I caved in and said yes. (ok, that gives real meaning to 'lol')

So first we jumped in a cab. The cab driver was really cool and wanted to chat, all in mandarin again, so I was chatting and translating for Paul the whole way. He said he'd take us to the tea museum (just out of town), but the tea there just isn't very good. He said he could take us to a place to get the best, the very best - he said - tea in China. Of course we agreed...he was driving! So he took us off the beaten track - literally, we had to walk up muddy little roads to get to a lady's house in the hills - and he made us tea.

Pauly and the cab driver on the way back to the cab.

As I was thinking how amazing it was sitting in this lady's house, drinking tea with the driver and looking out over the hills of tea plantations, with her chicken's scratching around outside.....
Paul was thinking about how we are getting poisoned by the not-properly-boiled-water in the tea and how we may get murdered and no-one would know coz we're in the middle of nowhere and how we shouldn't be near chickens coz of the bird flu.....

This is the view from the lady's house. That's the hill that the tea came from. She picked it herself.

We survived though, and the tea was good! We decided to buy some (the whole idea of taking us there, obviously) and paid an embarassing sum. I will not repeat it, the same way I will not repeat how much our tailored suits cost in Thailand. Hey, they are both good stories....even though the lonely planet guide warns us about it.

Anyway, the Longjing (Dragon well) tea is one of the most sought after in China and Hangzhou is the place to get it. The cab driver said that the tea picked from the specific hill was the best out of all the longjing tea, so we really got the best. Really.

After that adventure, it was decided that we would continue to the tea museum. The driver had other ideas. He stopped, without explaining, for lunch. So we sat in the car waiting for his lunch to be cooked and then he brought the bowl back in the car to eat later. He did wind the windows down for us though...

Finally arrived at the tea museum. I loved it. It was all about the history of tea and it's export etc. Then heaps on the best way to make the tea and why and the ceremonies that go with each type of tea. Those of you who know me...know that this was a dream!! I have a box at megan and jim's in Aus packed with 3 types of green tea, a couple of herbal teas, 4 types of black tea......