If only such spectacular scenery (at Anxi mountains) could be viewed without such tremendous hardship…
The farmer’s name was Wei Yin. Not only did he have a name, he…
The farmer’s name was Wei Yin. Not only did he have a name, he lived in the time of the Yong Zheng Emperor, of the Qing Dynasty of the Manchurians. The villagers refer to him as the dreamer old guy. He had a dream he saw Guanyin who showed him where to find the tea bush that became Tieguanyin today. Since Tieguanyin started propagation around the 1730s, suspiciously this might be the real starting point story after all. Where’s the Guanyin temple he prayed to? No idea, none existed around there. The temple where the old bush lived is neither Taoist nor Buddhist, but a folk type religion. So did he pray to Guanyin, and she answered his prayers and showed up in a dream?
I believe so. Guanyin is a Bodhisattva who hears all the sounds of suffering. Though the old farmer might in reality have prayed to some weird dieties with firecrackers, still, she heard, she’s not discriminatory as to who you pray to or how many sticks of incense. A true Bodhisattva does not require conformity to a specific religion or ritual, is my view.
Anyway, it all worked out and today, we enjoy Tieguanyin, one of the most glorious teas known to mankind.
Besides, if one ever meets any of these farmers, you’ll see they are incapable of inventing any myths. Most teas are merely originally named ‘Big Leaf’, ‘Medium Leaf’, ‘Small Leaf’…..
So I was wrong. The legend of dreamer old farmer Wei was in fact, a fact.
Getting by China takes quite a bit of patience, willingness to…
Getting by China takes quite a bit of patience, willingness to waste time, not to ask too many questions, like why. Why are things so inefficient, why are there guaranteed delays on flights, why do people smoke two to three cigarettes at a time with one hand, why is duck neck a popular delicacy, why do people throw trash everywhere, why is it constantly necessary to be spitting.
I had my travel gin flask with me just in case these questions pop into my head, the flask courtesy of our neighbors, Mulholland Leather. Just small enough to board planes.
To avoid drinking the worst alcohol known to mankind called Bai Jiu白酒， I treated the local Party Secretary (V I Position) and some other government officials to my gin one night. They’ve never had gin, but thought it smelled like the oil of juniper trees. I said, precisely…. Tea people really have taste buds despite all the cigarettes. Such important local government officials are all close family members of Mr. Lin so needless to say, whatever he needs to get done, will get done. Why did he give up his medical practice, I asked? The village is not populous enough, everyone’s healthy, he had little business as a doctor, he said. All the tea drinking meant little work for a doctor? Incredible.
As tea buyer, I usually taste over hundreds of lots of each tea….
As tea buyer, I usually taste over hundreds of lots of each tea. I am here for the Tieguanyin, but also must procure Yellow Gold, approve various other customs teas, and evaluate new stuff, like Gold Guanyin made in the manner of Big Red Robe/ Da Hongpao. Except it was far superior, believe it or not. Not having a name yet, this was another one of Mr. Lin’s inventions. I told him let’s name it Golden Robe. It will be our latest greatest favorite this year that I will be proud to introduce,not only because of its quality, but because odd Mr. Lin, whom I have known for almost 10 years but have never tried his tea, turned out to be a prolific tea maker. He improved the Gold Guanyin by leaps and bounds. Then I found out he was actually a physician. Good thing. I’ve been sick as hell this whole trip such as never before.
The village mayor and his wife, a very nice woman who live in the…
The village mayor and his wife, a very nice woman who live in the palace next door. The mayor was informed by Mr. Lin that we are working on a project converting one of his high mountain farms into 生態 Shengtai, sort of like organic but better, that is, with sheep dung fertilizer, and not allowing even perimeter spraying on neighboring vegetable gardens. The mayor readily gave his blessings, heard that this tea will be exported to the US by me, looked me over, and then offered me a cigarette.
Old tea making equipment has been left here in the fortress….
Old tea making equipment has been left here in the fortress. Shown here are the wooden roller for shaping, the basket that they suspend in the air with the pole in the middle for rocking the leaves, and the charcoal pit where the wok is placed for firing the tea. Mr. Yan says in this village, the custom is that the tea master has to place an egg under each armpits when he tosses the leaves on the wok, which meant his arms must move fast, light, and in small circular motions. If the eggs fall off the armpits, that meant the motion was wrong and the leaves were charred. How I wish I could train our bartenders the same way at Teance! More seriously, how I wish I could see this in action.