Hand pulled noodles for lunch. Incredibly delicious noodles made on the spot to order in the dingiest of dives, ran by a couple of young guys whose handicraft with the noodles was expert, unassuming, and definitely family tradition. The knife cut noodles tasted even better than the hand pulled version. All for about 7 yuan each bowl, about $1 USD. I can eat 5 of these bowls at a time.
Fuding by express rail
Not quite as fast a bullet train but the trip from Xiamen to Fuding only took a total of 2 hours by the new express rail. It’s like going from L.A. to SF in that amount of time. If only the U.S. had spent money on the train system…
Fuding is the home of white tea. Here is where people may stop me and argue that white tea is a process of airdrying some leaf buds and therefore, can be made anywhere….
Back in HK
Balmy and rainy, with a little breeze and some drizzle, the perfect weather for Hong Kong. Arriving into customs at the HK airport, where the customs officials greet you impersonally but also with the most relaxed, casual manner, like how your teenage nephew might greet you. One never feels any threat or sense of authority imposing some unseen watchful eye on your every move. You could not answer…
What to drink?
Being in Guangxi, China, is interesting. I rarely travel to non-tea related areas, though there are teas grown here, it is not with any particular significance. Contrarily, this is the province known for jasmine flowers, and indeed most of the jasmine teas were scented with flowers grown in this region. I have been invited back to come in the summer when the jasmine flowers are being harvested and…
24 hours without tea
In my haste to leave on a flight to China, in the middle of fretting over whether security would confiscate my thermos of tea I usually carry around and whether they will force me to chug a searing hot Phoenix oolong, I forgot to bring my usual travel size packs of tea. I boarded the plane with no tea in my possession.
By around 5 hours, I had requested no fewer than 6 cups of black tea from the…
What is an ethereal tea?
A good question from my editor (though this blog is unedited and uncensored), and worthy of pause. A word that means something that sort of, but doesn’t really, exist, carrying a wisp of its presence. But what a presence it is, to linger in your memory more real than the mundane realities. That just about describes most of those top-notch teas we are fortunate enough to enjoy from time to time….