We've been working with a 'local expert', Kang (pronounced Kung), for a little over two weeks. We are slowly getting to know each other through his very limited English, and our 10 word Mandarin vocabulary knowledge. Needless to say there has been many conversations that have ended up with all parties laughing as we attempt to find words that help us communicate. Over the course of a week we've learned that he has a 10 year old son, lives about an hour away from our hotel, likes Beijing (Peking) duck, and loves his tea! Once he found out that we too liked tea, he couldn't wait for the weekend so he could take us to his favorite tea shop. About 40 minutes away, we ended up in a very local area where there were rows and rows of small shops. We tried to ask Kang why he liked the tea at the shop he was taking us too, but with the language barrier, the most we understood was that it was 'good tea'. That was a good enough reason for us!
Kang had asked us what kind of teas we liked. We mentioned that we liked white tea and were also interested in pu-erh tea. He took us to a one of the many small tea shops where we sat down at a table and had a visual lesson on teas while Kang helped to translate. The owner of this shop pulled out what is supposed to be a good Shanghai white tea costing 2000 RMB (approx. $328 USD) for 500g. She then showed us how much water to pour, how long to let the leaves steep, and most importantly that the leaves were only good for two pours. After two pours, the leaves were no longer to be used.
White Tea Leaves
Next, we learned about pu-erh tea which is a dark tea. This tea is a lot more common and easier to find, so we were told it would cost 600 RMB (approx. $98 USD) for 500g. The most important thing we learned about this tea was that you have to rinse the leaves one to two times, with the third and fourth pour being the best tasting, but the leaves can be used up to 10 pours before the leaves should be thrown out.
Kang attempting to serve us tea as the owner had to run out for a minute. Although the tea rinsing and pouring process looked easy, Kang was definitely struggling. We are clearly going to have to practice.
Pu-erh Tea Leaves
We decided to purchase 50g of each type of tea. We asked Kang if we were getting a good price, or the tourist price...for some reason, he just laughed. Hmmm...
Later that evening we went to dinner with some friends who are from Shanghai. We asked them if we were supposed to bargain for the tea, or just pay what was asked. They told us that it never hurts to bargain. When we told them what we paid, they told us it "wasn't too bad" and laughed...
Our Tea!
~ Trisha and Nate