Tea Time

Today was a long and busy day. It was our last day of school before break, I received two Christmas packages, and then I went with my Chinese friend to a place called 一商茶中心 (yi1 shang1 cha2 zhong1 xin1) which directly translates to “one trade tea center”. Basically, it is a giant tea mall. Imagine a mall but with more stores, and they all sell tea or all things related to tea, like tea pots, tea cups, tea tables, tea tins, etc. The atmosphere is very calm and quiet, which is different from other mall-type locations throughout China. The people are all incredibly calm, polite, and friendly. For someone like me, who, with her roommates, had an entire cabinet devoted to tea in college, and who is an introvert by nature, it was basically a dream come true.

One of several entrances to the tea center.  It extended very far down to the left of the picture.  We didn't even see it all.

(This next section is quite detailed, as I wanted to describe as much of the tea making process as I could. Proceed at your own risk. )


After walking through a few different stores, we came to a flower tea shop that my friend had previously bought tea from. We asked about the rose teas (the main reason I wanted to go tea shopping), of which there were two varieties, a wild rose, and a farm raised rose (what's the actual word for that? I cannot think of it). Since I had not had rose tea before, and wasn't sure which kind to buy, the woman who owned the tea shop had us sit down and prepared tea for us from each variety so we could try and decide which we preferred. I wish I had remembered to take pictures there, but I was too engrossed in the process and in drinking tea. I'm so glad I was there with my friend because while my Chinese listening skills are okay, I couldn't catch everything the woman was describing about the table, and the process of making and drinking the tea. It was a very peaceful experience.


Here's my basic understanding of the traditional way to prepare and drink tea:
When tea is prepared, it is first “washed” with a little of the boiled water which is then discarded. Then it is steeped for less than a minute, strained into a small tea pot, and poured in the small washed cups. (Each cup has enough space for a few sips of tea). When you drink the tea, you first smell it to enjoy its fragrance, then take a small sip and let the flavor rest in your mouth for a few seconds before swallowing. It is best for the tea to be warm, not too hot, when you drink it as the flavor will be improved. Swallowing slowly is also advised. We repeated this process with every cup of tea. And since we had two different varieties of tea, this meant we drank probably around 15 or more cups of rose tea. After drinking tea for about 30 minutes, I decided I preferred the wild rose tea. The shopkeeper weighed out my rose tea, and also weighed me out a bag of chrysanthemum tea upon request. I paid, and after thank yous and goodbyes, we left to walk a little, and check out other shops.

My friend and I in the first tea shop, drinking our rose tea.

After walking for a while, and visiting a shop that sells beautiful tea sets, we ended up in a small tea shop where my friend asked about the kinds of tea they sold. When we walked in, we could see a man picking through the newest crop of 铁观音 (tie2 guan1 yin1), which is a type of oolong tea that many Chinese people enjoy drinking. The woman who helped run the shop brought us to the back of the shop to sample her tea. We first tried a white tea, which was very good. But I also wanted to get some tea as a gift for someone, so we asked about packaging of teas. My friend wasn't satisfied with the tins they had there for tea, so the woman brought us to two different tea tin shops until we found one I liked. 

The tea tin

Once I had selected my tin, we returned to her shop to try her 铁观音. In her shop, (and I'm assuming all tea shops), she sold multiple varieties of this same type of tea that differed in quality, reflected in price per half kilogram. We sampled four different quality levels: 150 kuai/half kilo, 260 kuai, 350 kuai, and 600 kuai. There were still other quality levels both cheaper and more expensive.

Two different quality levels of the tea.  The one on the left is not as high quality as the one on the right.  Basically impossible to tell from a distance, but up close, you can see the differences in the color and size of the leaves.

The tea table and various pots

Straining the tea

Pouring the tea into the cups

We must have tried the teas for at least an hour, but it was like time moved at a different pace. It was such a peaceful experience to watch her prepare and pour the tea, and to drink the tea, and to listen to her and my friend's conversation about the tea in Chinese. I found myself noticing and appreciating subtle differences in fragrance, and taste. We had the 150 kuai tea last, after sampling the 600 kuai tea, and man could I tell the difference.

Pouring boiled water over the tea leaves.  The leaves fill that whole bowl.

Straining the tea, again.  This is after the second steeping of the same leaves.  Before we drink, she gives us the pot and the lid to inhale the fragrance of the leaves.

Pouring another round

It felt so good to just slow down and enjoy the taste of tea, and to learn about tea. During our last round of tea tasting I couldn't help but think that something like this could never happen in America. The closest thing I could compare it to was a wine tasting, but even that doesn't really come close. At a wine tasting you have a small glass of several different types of wine. The wines are different from each other, and you can discuss and compare the subtle notes of flavor, sure. But this was cup after cup of the same type of tea, at different levels of quality, steeped multiple times, and it was a mental and sensual journey that I have never experienced before. It was both refreshing, and exhausting at the same time. It definitely made me appreciate tea more, and I'm very glad I was able to have a small experience of this part of Chinese culture.

A shot of the store and another shop across the hall

Another section of the tea shop

Beautiful bags

My haul. :)

I highly recommend the experience to anyone who is in China. And go with your Chinese friend so they can explain things to you if you don't know what's going on.

And if you made it to the bottom of this post, congratulations, you get some wisdom from my favorite fictional tea lover, Uncle Iroh (Avatar the Last Airbender).