APRIL/MAY 2019 61
Far left: All varieties
of tea are for sale,
from pricey Pu’erh
to an affordable
jasmine tea, at
the Kunming tea
market, in Yunnan.
Pu’erh is sold in cake
or brick form; other
teas are sold loose
in open boxes.Left: At Sichuan’s
Mingshan market,
shoppers can
sample different
types of bamboo
green tea
(zhuyeqing).Tea drinking is infused throughout every
aspect of life in China. It’s a part of
every day and for every level of society.
at modest open-air shops, drinking tea from glass jars and
reading newspapers. Towns and cities across China have tea
shops for the everyday man and woman—with shelves lined
with rattan-covered thermoses, gaily colored tins filled with
different types of tea, and big pots over open flames for heating
water. Many customers still wear their old blue Mao suits or green
military jackets. In big, wealthy cities, there are tea emporiums
with interiors designed by Hermès and other internationally
known designers, where the clientele sips brews worth thousands
of dollars from elegant cups and poured by women wearing
traditional silk qipaos. In offices, so-called tea girls pour fresh
brews for file clerks and billionaire bosses. For the country’s elite,
tea is seen as a status symbol, an investment opportunity, and
the ideal gift to cement ties or broaden guanxi—connections.
Even a low-grade tea can be precious to the owner. Sharing it
means sharing a treasure of taste, welcoming, and friendship.
At home, when guests come to visit, the first question is always
“Ni chi le ma?”—Have you eaten yet?—which can be answered
with a yes or a no. The second question is “Ni he cha ma?”—Do
you drink tea?—which can be answered only with a yes.I
AM A LIFELONG tea drinker, but I’m hardly an expert,
which means that I need guidance on this trip. Many
travelers go on special tea tours or stay at hotels or guest-
houses that specialize in visits to the tea mountains.
Others journey by themselves, relying on luck to meet
tea farmers, processors, and dealers. I’m traveling with Linda
Louie, the owner of Bana Tea Company, a small online company
focused on Pu’erh; tea importer and seller Jeni Dodd, who does
tea presentations; and Buddha Tamang, the owner of Horizon
Bardu Valley Tea plantation and factory in Nepal. They are tea
professionals, while I’m just a writer. As low woman on the totem