The Tea Plantation, cont'd...

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. ;)

Tea process, and some scenery

Remember when I said that the Longjing Dragon Well Green Tea was not roasted (as Wikipedia might have you believe)... well, here's the deal. After plucking the very tops of the branches to retrieve the finest tea, the leaves are spread out over these metal basins (which are heated from underneath) and gently dried (not freakin' roasted, lol). The man shown below actually turns the leaves over and over by hand until the perfect amount of dryness has been achieved. They are not, I repeat not cooked as that would destroy much if not all of the teas beneficial properties.

The rest of the plantation grounds were no less spectacular. Flowing fountains, iconic sculptures, wooden bridges, stone fences and carvings all intermingled in what can surely be referred to as one of the worlds most idyllic settings. I could live here, drinking green tea all day and practicing kung-fu /qi-gong until my Chi was flowing like the Yangtzhe river, deep and wide.

(Below) A stone bridge leads the way to the plantations inner sanctum where we were to have dinner/lunch with some of the locals and other people in the area. This is one of the few lucky shots where the composition was devoid of tourists.

The rolling hills of tea...

It's amazing the work that would've been  done to deforest the mountainsides and plant these crops. The air pressure, humidity, light and soil all play such a vital part in  the development of the plant itself. This specialized tea can only be grown here with the same significant results. The properties of the Longjing Dragon Well tea is well-known, famous actually. Promoting longevity, good health, internal cleansing...to name a few. The actual reported properties of thsi amazing plant go beyond the scope of this blog but the links below may provide additional insight.

Enjoying Tea (.com)    or Wikipedia's take on the subject here.

(Below) the Chiu Lau students gather at the small building complex where the tea is dried, packaged and sold. All sorts of goodies awaited us inside... Candies made with tea, exceptionally-crafted tea-pots and accessories, and of course, the Dragon Well green tea itself.

(Below)  Smaller hills and mountains were just as susceptible to cultivation as the flat fields of other crops seen elsewhere. A much different landscape than the flat and  monochromatic scenes of Alberta and Saskatchewan farms that I have grown accustomed to.

(Below) Tea trees, all lush and green. The real good tea (First Flush, A-Grade) comes from the top 6-inches of the branches where the new leaves form. The rest are separated into B-Grade, and so on representative of the effort of retrieval and rarity of the leaves in question.

Unfortunately for the rest of the world,  the plantation does not export A-Grade First-flush Dragon Well Green Tea (only for the Emperor or now, just to politcal dignitaries, Prime Minister and the like), but there are some excellent and high-quality alternatives, such as:

 

Journey to Hangzhou, Zhejiang

The bus departed to Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province where we were to be treated with the most famous green tea in the world; Dragon Well (Longjing) Green tea. More information here -> Longjing Tea . Although it should be noted that not all information presented in Wiki form is accurate, for example: Longjing Tea is not roasted. It is hand dried as you will see in the coming photos.

Anyhow, the scenery became more and more lush as we approached our destination and the air more fragrant. Everywhere a person could be seen, they would be holding a jar or other container full of green tea and even the  (seemingly) elderly folks of this region bore very little signs of aging. As if out of some supernatural tale, the effects of constantly imbibing this very special green tea were all too apparent. The local peoples skin seemed softer, more toned and you could almost feel the Chi in the air.

Closer to the actual plantation site the hills gave way to valleys of tea-trees that stretched into the horizon and in many cases, up the sides of mountains. The multi-tiered crops had already been harvested for the most part, and recently...so we figured we'd be in for the freshest Longjing tea going. Although many leaves remained on the thousands of bushes, there are careful practices that are adhered to to ensure that the crops continue year after year.

Don't what?!

Ok, can someone explain this one to me? L...o...l. Let's see....'Stairs Ahead'...check, 'No cycling'...check, 'No luggage containing explosives'....what? Hahaha, anyhow, believe it or not this wasn't the weirdest of signs (more to come)...but it certainly was worth taking a picture of.

And the winners are....not these two. =O

This husband and wife team defied the rule of the emperor or lord of the area in their time. They were punished here; bound and set into a spike-walled cage, passing people would spit or hurl debris and insults at the prisoners until the day the two died, possibly here or possibly by another means of final execution in another area. This place is definitely no fun for the troublemakers of ancient China. A couple people from our group almost petted the statues on the head when they were suddenly reminded of the 'spit' factor that may have well-continued into the present day. (Ewwww, lol)