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Tea: A laowai perspective
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THERE is a saying in China: “Drink tea, make friends,” and this has certainly been my experience. One of the great things about living in Shanghai is the opportunity for wonderful tea experiences appreciating and learning with friends and colleagues.
I confess to having spent many, many hours at the Tianshan Tea Market. My bargaining skills are not great, but I have still found beautiful old teacups, plates and other bits and pieces along Dongtai Road and similar places for not much money.
And within easy reach, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces are all home to some of the most wonderful green teas, not to mention Yixing in Jiangsu. That’s the home of the world’s most famous teapots, zisha or purple (and other colored) clay teapots.
But there are many aspects of traditional Chinese culture that would warrant a lifetime’s devotion, so why tea? I mean, it’s tasty but it’s just a beverage, right?
For me, it certainly started off like that. I was about 12 years old and my dad took us kids to the only Chinese restaurant in our hometown in New Zealand. It was upstairs in a dilapidated, old 2-story wooden building and I sat enraptured by the exotic flavors, the mysterious music, and the golden dragon with glowing red eyes staring from the wall. Part of that magic was, of course, a pot of perfumed jasmine tea.
Many years later, my own tea journey began. I was strolling around Tokyo one frigid winter morning and an elderly lady selling green tea at a small streetside stall must have taken pity on me. She gave me a steaming cup and it was wonderful!
The next day I went back and bought many packets from her. On returning home, I found that I did not have a clue how to make it, and had bought about three years’ supply of something best consumed within six months. My first lesson: start slowly.
Tea is both universal and quotidian. No matter how simple or grand the location, tea is the worldwide welcome. It quenches our thirst, and is a medicine that revives and nurtures us. Considering the hard work that goes into its production, tea is still relatively cheap and available to us all.
I began to hear about the many amazing types of tea from all over China and started buying all sorts of Oolong and Pu’er, green teas and red. I still made pretty awful tea most of the time, but now I also had a new teapot. It was a large and ornate piece with dragons coiled around it that turned out to be utterly useless for making tea. Lesson two: take your time.
There were many beautiful and informative books available on tea, and many webpages full of information. It is fun to get to know tea a bit and it helps when buying tea to understand a little about the main categories: why is green tea green, and Oolong tea so varied? Why is this Pu’er tea so bitter and yet this one smooth and black like chocolate?
At the same time, though, like wine appreciation, you don’t need to get too wrapped up in all the information. It can detract from the tea.
I found a better way was to slowly get to know a couple of merchants I could trust and then explore tea with them.
There are questions you need to ask yourself first, though. Does your tea seller really love tea, or is it just another product? Do they want to spend some time with you or have you merely interrupted her time on Weibo or delayed his next cigarette? Does he or she treat their tea respectfully? Do they know anything about organically and sustainably grown tea?
This exchange with tea sellers is a very tangible benefit your purchase can bring to China’s environment and your own health.
There are some teachers about, too, if you want to learn more. I was lucky enough to meet the brilliant teacher and writer Aaron Fischer (Chinese name ÎÞΪº£ or Wude). Have a look at his Global Tea Hut on the Internet if you are interested. Sharing a pot of tea with a Chinese tea master is a wonderful experience in itself.
Discussion of tea inevitably leads from its taste, to the art of preparation, to health, and finally to spiritual matters, and it’s here that most of us grow a little bored. I mean, why the spiritual attention? Surely it’s all a bit much for a few leaves and some hot water?
From the earliest days of human existence, shamans wandered the forests of Yunnan seeking ancient tea trees, some with their own names, whose leaves would heal them and connect them to the natural world.
Taoist mendicants would carry on this tradition, and then Buddhist monks would transport tea around the country and to Japan and Korea.
I am certainly no expert, but one aspect is the calm connection, or mindfulness, a tea session can bring. Sitting quietly alone or with a friend, particularly in a natural setting, drinking tea and listening attentively to the world around can bring a true appreciation of the here and now.
Another aspect is a little harder for us to understand, and yet we have probably all experienced it ourselves. Tea is so sensitive that the brewer inevitably puts something of himself or herself into the tea and this is directly taken in by the person drinking. How often do we find that simple food cooked by family members tastes better than restaurant food, or that tea made by a friend just feels better than when it was tried amongst a jumble of others at a market?
We might not be transmitting great truths through our tea like the Zen masters of old, but at least we can try to create an appropriate setting and make our tea with care and love.
Tea is rich and rewarding in itself. It is integrally linked to every other aspect of Chinese culture: poetry, calligraphy, art, kung fu, hospitality and food, to name just a few. For me it is one of the most wonderful things about living in China. I very much look forward to bumping into you at a tea market or sharing a pot somewhere.
(Brian Hewson is Deputy Consul General of New Zealand in Shanghai and a devoted fan of Chinese tea culture.)
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