As we entered the plantation complex, the first image to greet us was the golden statue you see below, nestled in the center of a beautifully landscaped courtyard.
(Below) An ornate and massive teapot. One can only imagine where this may have been used to serve tea at one time or another...or perhaps simply for decoration. Either way, it was interesting and I photographed it.
(Below) The nice ladies at the tea plantation show us an amazing technique for packing a very large amount of tea into a much smaller canister. After a brief tea ceremony in which we learned not only some history and cultural details surrounding this magnificent beverage, but also proper serving and flavouring ot the tea itself using added natural ingredients such as dried hawthorn berries and orange peels. One for sweet, one for slightly bitter and aromatic in this case. We indulged of course and several people picked up 1 or more canisters of the finest grade Dragon Well Green Tea we could buy. After all, and here's the bad news folks; they do not export the first flush grade-A tea, for any except the emperor (at the time) and for political dignitaries and such. Even within China, supplies of the tea are in limited quantity. Henceforth, we stocked up. ;)
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