Tea Sippers

I ran across a post on tea on what seems to be some type of geography blog. They have certainly been all over the world. At least some of the contributors have been able to journey to some interesting locations.

This particluar post was about a visit to a Long Jing tea plantation outside of Hangzhou in the Dragon Well region of China. It’s about 100 miles soutwest of Shanghai.

The post relates a legend about how the area got its name of Long Jing or Dragon Well. The author goes on to relate a little about emperor tea from the area and a visit to one of the working plantations as part of her tour.

They were shown how the freshly picked tea is “baked”, her words, in basins in a manner that has not changed for centuries, though the pots in the picture definitely show signs of modernization. They have been electrified. But there are a few lovely pictures of the plantation included in the post.

Perhaps the most interesting thing, beyond the pictures, was the tea ceremony education she relates that the visitors received and an unreal demonstration of the detoxifying properties of green tea. You really need to read that. It has to do with white rice in a cup with the cup representing our stomachs and the rice representing the food we eat. Iodine was added to represent the toxins and impurities we ingest daily. You really need to read this for yourself.

The tourists were afforded the opportunity to purchase the tea at the plantation as well as tea sets, local plum wine, and candies and snacks made from tea.

Source: Long Jing Tea Plantation in Hangzhou, China

Tags: tea health