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Visits to tea gardens, tea picking, tea frying, the China Tea Museum, folk tea houses, various tea ceremonies, brand-name tea tasting, and purchase of the Dragon Well green tea of
Hangzhou.
Tea is a popular drink in many countries of the world and it was first found and used in China, with Hangzhou of Zhejiang Province as a key production area of China's tea. Represented by the West Lake Dragon Well green tea of Hangzhou, the Zhejiang green tea has a nice shape, pretty color, and sweet taste with a faint scent, making it a top-quality tea. Having been greatly favored by tea drinkers at all times all over the world, it was once used as a tribute to the emperors.
Zhejiang is the birthplace of green tea. Lu Yu, the Tea Master during the years of 733 to 804, lived in Jing Hill and Huzhou for many years and wrote the Tea Classics, the first book on tea in China, over his cups of "Jing Hill Maofeng Tea". The Tea Ceremony of Japan was developed on the basis of Zhejiang's Jing Hill Tea Banquet.
Tea is a necessity of life for the Chinese people. Teahouses in Hangzhou have always been popular, providing venues for tasting tea, having a rest, doing business and having entertainment at the same time, and became one of the major cultural attractions in the city. The famous classic novel, Unofficial History of the Confucian Circle, gives a vivid description of teahouses in Hangzhou.
Because of the special position of Hangzhou in the history of tea culture, the state has built in the city the first tea museum, the China Tea Museum. Here visitors can learn about the evolvement of the Chinese tea culture and the planting, manufacturing and tasting of tea, along with other scientific knowledge. They can taste brand-name teas from various parts of China, and appreciated te customs and tea utensils from China, Japan, Taiwan, and other places in the world. They can also have a chance of doing tea picking and frying by themselves and buying various brand-name teas.
The Tour of Tea Culture will arrange you to visit the area where the West Lake Dragon Well green tea of Hangzhou are grown, the China Tea Museum, and tea houses in Hangzhou, Shaoxing and other places, and go sight-seeing in the famous Yuhang tea zone, the Jing Hill. The program can even arrange tea culture symposiums and exchange activities of tea ceremony.
