The Serious Ceremony of Tea Tasting

Hello Kindred Spirits,

I thought it was time I shared with you some more stories about my wonderful trip to China earlier in the year.

After minor issues with my domestic flight the next morning, including confusion over airports, ending up at the wrong one and missing my flight (all done with great composure I might add!); I finally landed at Whenzou, east of Shanghai and near the border of Fujian province.

I was here to meet Frank and Mr Gung, the owner of one of the two white tea estates we buy from, and to start our 2000 km adventure.

Mr Gung has been growing white tea for 30 years. He also has a small tea shop in the nearest town, where he sells his own brand, curiously named ‘Old Tea Cardiff'.We started with a visit to his shop where I was introduced to the world of Chinese tea tasting.

In China, top quality tea is sold for very special occasions and as gifts. The tea can cost several hundred dollars per kilogram and rarely finds its way to export markets. Many Chinese towns have their own tea shops or tea markets - whole arcades of tea shops frequented only by local Chinese people.

When visiting a tea market, the first step is to discuss the teas that they specialise in; which village they are from, the quality and the price. It's then time to sit and taste the teas before making a final selection. To do this, there is an elaborate process to follow that revolves around a purpose built carved wooden table, with built in kettle, steriliser and drainage slats. The tools of the tasting include several tiny glass bowls, a tiny glass tea pot, a brush (think large blusher brush) and a pair of long tweezers.

At the Old Tea Cardiff's shop, the three of us, plus Mr Gung's teenage son, took a seat at the table where a lovely young woman presided. She boiled the water, selected tea leaves with her chopstick-like tweezers and added them to her tiny pot. Next she rinsed each of the tiny bowls with the boiling water in quick, deft motions; waiting for the water to cool to the correct temperature of around 65 degrees for this special quality Silver Needles tea we were about to enjoy.

After a minute or so of spectacularly quick and accurate pouring from great heights, she used her tweezers again to empty our bowls and poured the first infusion into the leaf, discarding it as a first rinsing and preparation of the tea leaves.

Preparation complete, she poured more water into the pot, waited just a moment, and poured the tea into the tiny bowls, passing them to us. We tasted; enjoying the light clean, slightly sweet and fragrant spring buds and in three little sips our bowls are empty and refilled. This process continued until she had refilled the pot several times.

The tea tasting process at ‘Old Tea Cardiff'

The miniscule scale of the tea-ware and ceremony involved gave me a feeling of this being very precious and special. I reflected on how different it is to the teabag experience we are all so used to in Australia.

The re-infusing (refilling of the pot with water several times) is designed to demonstrate the quality of tea leaf - allowing us to experience the full flavours of the tea, from the lightest initial cup, to the fuller middle and finally checking that the tea has enough body to offer a pleasurable cup after several infusions.

Fortified for our journey and keen to get a look at where this delicious brew grows, we headed for the mountains, at around 600 metres above sea level, to Fuding County, China's most famous white tea growing area.