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TEA FOR TWO
ROBERT TURNBULL EXPLORES HANGZHOU’S RESURGENCE IN THE ART OF CHINESE TEA
Tea plays a central role in this process. The city is the home of long jing (Dragon Well) tea, a fragrant and sweet variety which most Chinese believe is the best green tea in the country, producing 300kg of the stuff every year and contributing $120 million to the national economy. Rather than the shelves of Harrods or Bloomingdales, the best of the crop finds its way to the kitchens of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
Long jing tea got its name in the Song Dynasty (960-1279) and was originally grown in the Old Long Jing Temple in Hangzhou. Now the long jing tea-producing regions cover an area of some 20,000sq km.
So central and famed is this tea to the city’s revitalised traditions that UNESCO is even considering adding it to the World Heritage list.
For evidence of the resurgence of tea culture, one need only look to the 700 tea houses scattered across this lakeside city. While few are genuinely old, some have been given a distinct Qing dynasty makeover and house ancient tea-making implements, books or reproduction furniture. But from the studiousness of the pouring and preparation, one has the strong impression that people here take their tea very seriously.
PAST TO PRESENT
Traditionally, a focal point of tea-drinking was the tea ceremony. While the Japanese variety is more famous today, the Chinese is the original. It still remains the focus of Chinese weddings. Dating back to the 7th century, it emerged from two different schools, both related to Buddhist and Taoist practices as well as feng shui and Chinese geomancy. Buddhist monks from Korea and Japan would come to Hangzhou to learn and practise the art of ancient tea ceremony.
Today, finding the elaborate religious tea ceremonies practised in ancient times is a bit like seeking the Holy Grail. Modern China seems generally to have dispensed with the idea of tea as a philosophical and moral force.
However, there are those in Hangzhou who want to revive these ceremonies, and simplified “tea performances†are available at a number of tea houses around the West Lake. Many involve dynastic rituals including music, entertainment, meditation or mental concentration, and what could be described as tea acrobatics using antique instruments with long spouts.
The business of actually making the refreshment is pretty universal. Boiling water to the right temperature and stirring an exact amount of tea may sound like familiar routines in any tea-making culture, but in Hangzhou, they are carried out to perfection by elegantly-clad women with charm and considerable sleight of hand.
They say the trick of pouring is all in the wrist. Thereafter, the tea should not be imbibed until all the leaves have floated down to the bottom of the glass.
In the case of black oolong, the pots and cups are saturated with boiling water at least three times. Using the thumb and the middle finger for the small cup, the tea must be kept in the mouth for several seconds before being swallowed.
TEA TRAILS
To truly understand Hangzhou’s tea culture requires a trip to the colourful National China Tea Museum, situated at Double Peak Village on the edge of the city. Surrounded by rolling hills that smell of sweet, fragrant tea, one learns about the know-how in all its manifestations.
The first person who started investigating and documenting this culture was the “tea sage†Lu Yu, whose classic Art of Tea reports that tea was drunk as part of Buddhist scripture readings and this was what led to the various traditions of preparation.
Apart from the myriad of colourful tea pots, implements and samples, the museum boasts a particularly good collection of old tea cakes, some of them weighing several kilos. This was the traditional manner of keeping and transporting tea before loose leaves emerged as the currency. One can also see performances by trained tea masters or attend events – from the Old People’s Tea Carnival to the International Self-Enjoyment Tea Seminar.
The chance to explore the Mei Jia Wu or the Dragon Well Tea Culture Villages nestled amongst the surrounding hills should not be missed. Here, in heavily restored farmers’ houses, one can watch the various stages of tea preparation.
At harvest time in March, the hills are dotted with pickers in colourful jumpers. Thereafter, drying, greening, dehydrating, rolling, shaping, scenting, roasting and refining are elaborate processes still little interfered with by modern technology.
Families remain at the heart of the effort, but it is a time-consuming business and the patience required has eluded the younger generations of Hangzhou people.
Ren Hai Quan, 63, whose family has been in the business since the 17th century, has two moos of land (around 1,300sq m), which ideally produces about 50kg of long jing tea annually.
His children, however, are involved in more lucrative businesses in the city, forcing him to join many other producers in hiring local labour.
It takes five years just to learn how to fry tea, a tedious process of turning it over in heating metal urns with one’s bare hands. This labour intensiveness makes long jing tea expensive: $50 for 100g.
Lovely scenery and the cool mountain air are all part of the area’s attractiveness. One can meander by foot or bike through Hangzhou’s tea farms and stop off for bed and board, where families will feed you with local delicacies such as Beggars’ Chicken and Dongoo Pork. They will not speak any English, but with a good interpreter, you can learn a great deal about the industry.
TIME FOR TEA
Hangzhou Mansion Shopping Centre: the store’s tea department overflows with all types of tea and attractive utensils. 1 Wulin Square, tel +85 (0)571 153-911 Hu Qing Yu Tang Traditional Chinese Medicine Store: watch traditional medicines, many including the use of tea, being handmade in an old merchant’s house. 78-10 Hanghai Road, tel +86 (0)571 8699-2277, www.huqingyutang.com Mei Jia Wu Tea Culture Village: a small but ancient mountain village south of the Yangtze that produces the best Dragon Well (long jing) tea; accessible by buses Y4 and 324 National China Tea Museum: displays a wide variety of tea artefacts, and has six restaurants and pavilions in which tea is served. Double Peak Village, Long Jing Road, tel +86 (0)571 8796-4112, www.chinamuseums.com/china_tea.htm, accessible by buses 27 or Y3TOP TEA HOUSES
Guo’s Villa: this museum, a former silk merchant’s house built in 1907, is situated by the most perfect lakeside setting. 28 Yang Causeway, tel +86 (0)571 8798-6206 Hupanju: presided over by a jolly reclining Buddha, this lakeside pavilion has earned a reputation for great pastries and cakes. Book in advance for tea performance and storytelling, tel +86 (0)571 8702-0701 Long Jing Temple: a restful former temple courtyard, now a restaurant and art gallery just outside the Dragon Well Village with the original well, tel +86 (0)571 8796-1002 (bus 27 or Y3)
Peerless: a large and bustling tea house offering a wide buffet selection and large variety of teas, including “flower teaâ€, oolong, “cloud and mist†from the mountains around Taizhou and Huiming, a yellow-green tea that became the focus of one of the original tea ceremonies over 1,000 years ago. 43 Baochu Road, tel +86 (0)571 8511-8886 Shuguang Road Tea House Street: there are more than 10 tea houses on this characteristic street, among them, Wild Lotus and the exquisite garden set Men’er. Tai Ji: a characteristic tea house on a lively street of reproduction Qing dynasty shophouses. Exclusive traditional tea ceremonies on offer. 184 Hefang Road, tel +85 (0)571 8780-1791 West Lake International Tea and People Village: specialises in tea performances, but requires 24 hours’ notice. A light-filled wood and glass pavilion with astounding views of the lake. 87 Nanshan Lu, tel +86
(0)571 8708-0943
REVITALISED TRADITIONS
Tea has long been feted for both its spiritual and healing powers; however, at the root of tea-drinking is leisure.
In the past, tea houses attracted all sorts – from bored loafers and affluent merchants to emperors (who went incognito but still insisted on discreetly appropriate etiquette). The Cultural Revolution put an end to all that. Tea houses were shut down, and the population was put to work.
Today, the middle-classes are back with large appetites. The majority of Hangzhou’s tea houses are bustling and have become elaborately decorated buffet-restaurants (the drink is never served without food). Tourists tend to prefer the quieter pavilions and former villas with sculpted gardens, dotted around the lake.
Most popular perhaps is Tai Ji, situated in a row of reproduction Qing dynasty shophouses, where friendly staff sporting long robes and pre-revolutionary pigtails carry brass water-pourers. When they say they serve “kung fu†tea, they are not referring to Bruce Lee or any martial arts, but the special qualities and techniques involved in their specific tea-making.
Here, the tea teacher, Zhang Chun Hui from the China International Tea Cultural Institute and whose ancestors were all tea farmers, talks of the tea revival in Hangzhou with unbridled enthusiasm.
“Monks still come to Hangzhou from all over the world to learn about tea,†he says. But can tea culture ever resume its former key role in China’s modern society?
Monks, he admits, are outnumbered by the hoards of mostly Chinese tourists. However, their increasing numbers ensure at least that this fascinating ancient tradition remains part of the city’s heritage for future generations to sample. I’ll raise a cup to that!
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