July, 20, 2012
We got a taste of tea culture from Professor Ma. She introduced us to a poem by to
Tong Lu that described the different emotional stages experienced with each cup of tea. "The first cup moistens my lips and throat, the second cup breaks my loneliness?" Tea is powerful stuff. Tea bricks were described and it was suggested that ancient money had holes in their middles, mimicking the holes in the bricks. I enjoyed imagining the foam making contests during the Sung dynasty whip contests.
My favorite part of the talk was the legend that showed the medicinal properties of Emperor Qianlong's sleeve:
During one of his trips to the area, Emperor Qianlong was watching the locals picking the tea at the foot of Shi Feng Mountain and joined in. While picking the tea he received word that his mother was ill and requested him to return to Beijing. He put the tea leaves he picked into his sleeve and quickly went back to Beijing to visit his mother. When visiting his mother, she noticed the smell of the leaves emanating from his sleeves. He remembered the tea and brewed the leaves for her. They liked the tea so much that it became a tribute tea to the imperial court. It is rumored that the flat shape of the tea is created to resemble the flattened leaves found in Emperor Qianlong’s sleeves.
I would have liked to hear about the tea culture of the peasants. It seems like the tea customs were all Emperor driven.
In the afternoon we went to the National Tea museum. We were able to see some of the tea related things that we just heard about: tea bricks, tea sets, and other tools for making tea.
We had a delightful tea tasting where we sipped Longjing tea, a Hangzhou specialty , Olong and some others.
Afterwards we walked around the tea plantation where workers were spraying with pesticides. It seems ironic that the tea is supposed to promote health yet it is sprayed with pesticides.
This was a beautiful place to end our study tour.
Study Tour
