April 4th marks the Qing Ming Festival, a holiday of remembrance and celebration dating back centuries.
So what exactly is the “Qing Ming” Festival? Often referred to as Tomb Sweeping, the festival is when families set aside time to…
Day 3 at the fair has tea ceremonies throughout the day. We start our day with front row seats to the Anxi Iron Buddha Ceremony, a Ti Kuan Yin tea is brewed in a traditional ceremony.
It's a beautiful, artful ceremony. I have some pictures below…
UpdateUninterrupted sleep was not in the cards for me. While I feel the jet lag I am anticipating the day ahead and the combination does not equal sleep for me.
While Amy sleeps I head down to the lobby hoping to find something to eat, that's not…
Love is obviously in the air, or at least across e-mail at Teas Etc! I am happy to share with the tea community that Amy Zhang, who has managed our China office for the past 3 years, is getting married this August 1st.
While I am extremely…
2008 was a whirlwind and such an incredible year for me personally and professionally! Starting with my trip to China in March/April. Traveling in the mountains, choosing exceptional teas and having the opportunity to cup with masters throughout…
Traveling in China may not be as difficult as you imagine, even if you don't speak Mandarin Chinese. Modern day China is much more welcoming to foreign guests and many Chinese are especially considerate and accommodating to western visitors.…
Returning to Shanghai after a few very long days I am catching up on some much needed rest and look forward to a couple of days of unpacking only once! I will be heading back home soon and I have to say that I am tired of packing.
I took time to…
I am backing up a bit but wanted to share some photos from the beautiful city and gardens of Suzhou. We visited this rapidly growing area and stayed at the lovely Sofitel Hotel, which I highly recommend.
The first garden we visited was the Lions…
The weather is cold and dreary in Nanjing and I have spent the entire short visit in the hotel enjoying the very nice accomadations, writing and catching up with stuff in the US. Excited about the teas I have purchased in Fuding, I have a lot to…
The drive from Fuding to Wenzhou is really lovely, quaint countryside. When we arrive in Wenzhou it is obvious that this is a wealthy area, very well maintained roads and parks and lots of fancy cars, one that we avoid because it is driving very…
Photos from Fuding Mountain and the Organic Gardens
Narrow pass on the drive up
New garden at the base of the "tea" mountain
The pride of a job well done Amy and the gang on our way up
The six organic gardens
Organic teas in spring …
After a wonderful day with Mr. Li we load all of our belongings into a car and head to our next destination, Fuding white tea country. After the 1 1/2 hour trip through the mountains we arrive to a very busy downtown area. We check into our hotel…
After a delicious lunch we make the trip up into the mountains for a rare opportunity to visit the Tea Research Institute Fujian Academy of Agriculture Sciences! Not open to the public Mr.Li's partner knows someone at the institute so we get an…
Mr. Li picks us up first thing in the morning and we are off to the factory where we are able to meet the rest of the staff, see their current facility expansion and see how these exceptional works of art are produced.
The process for making these…
We arrive in Fuzhou and are met by our driver, sent by Mr Li whose company sells us the beautiful flowering teas. The flight to Fuzhou was uneventful and I am looking forward to the 2 hour drive to Fuan. Driving like this is always a great…
All settled in at the fabulous Hyatt Hangzhou after a very hectic day traveling by train we are really excited about the day ahead at West Lake.
Hangzhou's West Lake area is consider to be one of the most beautiful places to visit in China and…
After visiting East Mountain we were invited to join our hosts along with the Chairman of the Shanghai Tea Council, Mr. Chen (yes another Mr. Chen) for lunch at the renowned, historic Suzhou restaurant, De Yue Lou. Dating back to the Qing Dynasty…
Black
Puerh
Oolong
Green
Herbal
Rooibos