China Tea Tour Orientation

Approximate locations of destinations in China

For today's post, I thought I'd provide a big-picture perspective of this tea tour.  I liken this experience to a master's class in tea, a month-long intensive.  The best part is that at the end I have memories and photos and treasures instead of an exam.  ;-)

This China Tea Tour is organized by Dan Robertson of World Tea Tours.  Mr. Wu, our Chinese National Guide, was also indispensable to our success. 

Approximate locations of destinations in Tibet and India

I participated in all three components of the tour:  Beijing Pre-tour, China Tour (including Tibet*) and Darjeeling, India Post-Tour.   The tour offers both breadth and depth of tea and cultural experience.  We saw (and drank and picked) many differing types of tea, and we learned in detail about several.

Some highlights of the trip include:

• Beijing cultural sights (Temple of Heaven park, Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, etc.)
• Eastern Qing tombs and Great Wall
• Beijing tea house and tea street
• Pick tea with Ling Di in Huangshan
• Tram up to and then climb Yellow Mountain
• Pick/make yellow tea in Huo Shan
• Xian - Terracotta Warriors
• Kunming tea market, Pu-Erh lecture and tasting
• Dali - Bai minority people, temples, Tea Horse Road beginning, ancient tea tree, Pu-Erh factory
• Celebrating the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival in China
• Lhasa, Tibet - Potala Palace,  Drepung monastery, Namtso lake, tea with nomad family
• India - Glenburn Tea Estate in Darjeeling, Lochan tea in Siliguri
• And much more that I hope to share over the next weeks (months?)

* As it stands today, Tibet is part of the country of China.  I don't pretend to grasp the subtleties in the conflict surrounding, as the Tibetans would say, the Chinese occupation.  For the purpose of this blog, I will refer to Tibet as an independent entity.  My experience is that the culture, terrain and people in Tibet are unique.