In search of the perfect cup...China Day 2

Charity's Chinese Tea Tour

Day 2: April 1, 2009

After breakfast we met up with a friend who would our translator for the day. We were about to embark on trip to the Beijing Tea Market (Malian Dao)

Below is a review of the Malian Dao by NY Times:
NY Times Malian Dao

We went into the tea city. It was 4 floors dedicated to tea and tea ware. We first walked around and looked at everything, and figured out which stores to walk into. We settled on two. The first one we ended up purchasing some yixing teapots, Chinese style tea sets, tray, and serving set. After spending an hour deciding which items to purchase I began the process of bargaining for the right price. It was a fun, engaging experience. After that we went to the first floor and went into a tea shop that looked like they had some fabulous green teas. The only 2009 teas available on the market were green teas. We sat down at the tea table and they brought out samples, brewed some, and we began the process of tasting and sampling tea the Chinese way.

First part of the process was to bring out the leaves, examine them and smell them. Then they cleaned the brewing vessel and cups with hot water. Next they put a little bit of the leaves in the brewing vessel, poured hot water over it and used the lid to stir the tea in the water. After a few minutes they poured the tea into a small clear tea pot and poured it into our little cups and my mom, the translator, the clerks, and I started tasting. If we drank all of the tea in our cups, they poured more. The process then repeated itself with every different tea we tried. After having about 12 different cups of tea, I decided on purchasing and began bargaining for some Bi Lo Chun, Lychee tea, and Oolong tea with ginseng. I look forward to selling them in my shop.

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