We visited a tea plantation near the lake. We crossed over by boat. It was quite a relaxed way to travel and we had a chance to get to know the other tour group members a little bit better.
Instead of wine tasting, we had tea tasting in China. I must say that there was definitely less kick from this brew. I have learned something new on this trip. After pouring all the tea from the pot, you do not throw away the leaves. You add hot water to it two more times, during the day. Drink that and then you throw all the leaves away. Use new tea leaves for making a fresh pot, the next morning. Imagine me throwing away all those good tea leaves all these years!
The plantation is medium size, producing mostly green tea. They are supposed to have great medicinal value if taken regularly. Traditional Chinese, do not drink much coffee. This morning for breakfast, our coffee at the hotel was simply just terrible. Luckily, one tour member gave me a packet of Old Town 3 in 1 which she has brought from Malaysia.
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Young green tea leaves, 龍井茶.
The number of tourists buses here shows that visits to tea plantations are very popular for tourists in China. We were taken to numerous tea tasting locations for our rest stops. Some tea drinkers in our group bought a lot of green tea for giving as gifts to relatives in KL. I did not buy any because I am a coffee drinker. I actually grind my coffee beans with a special grinder, just before brewing with a plunger type coffee maker back
home in Hamilton. I can buy roasted whole beans from the super markets in NZ. The whole beans seal in the flavour and they definitely taste much better than the coffee powder of the same brand. My favourite brand is Robert Harris which cost 6NZD for a 200 grams bag.
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