Mr. Lin was up early to dig these fresh bamboos out of the mountain for breakfast for me, so how can one say no? Fresh bamboo shoots are what I look forward to every year but it’s not like I can order it from the menu. Somehow they always remember. Hospitality in Chinese villages are shown in these small ways.
Apparently, Tung Ting stock grown in Anxi by a Taiwanese merchant who will sell these back to Taiwan, or elsewhere, as authentic Tung Ting. The mountain is huge here and lots of space is available. The culture and people are basically the same, so why not- right?!
Life in the village, the busy and the leisurely….Anxi mountain, Xiping, Che Shi Village, original home of Tieguanyin.
A beautiful chilly morning in Anxi. A newly paved road goes to Da Bao Shan, Treasure Mountain, the highest point here. Some of the wild teas are being harvested now, can’t wait to try wild Tieguanyin! But boy, my body is not moving this morning. The late night crazy drive in the fog and numerous tastings of teas and some home made rice wine (part of the customary ritual of this culture here) is the midnight Shao Ye( burning the night away) meal. Last night it was chicken feet and some other kinds of fatty meats. So my default polite thing to do was to drink the rice wine. Now, I defy anyone else to top my sacrifices on behalf of tea! For Chinese alcohol, especially the homemade ones, in my most humble opinion, is in direct polar opposite in excellence to their tea…..I think I have alcohol poisoning already from just a tiny shot glass amount.
Wow! An excellent year for the Red Guanyin. Mr. Lin, ex-physician and village doctor, made this one batch of Red Guanyin all by hand through a 15 hour oxidation. I am a sucker for the handmade stuff especially when it’s this good. Beautiful almost ruby color, lots of sweets and a bit of citrus, and a spicey top note like candied tangerine. Sold! He had very little left anyway. Each day it was made someone would come buy it all.
Anxi, a typical rural small city that serves the great Anxi mountain range, home of many Oolongs, particularly, the legendary Tieguanyin. Arrived into a misty, very cold night. This year, as it happens every 30 years or so, is the phenomenon of the winter spring. Some winter days roared back into the middle of the spring, killing quite a few tea sprouts. This was reported so far in Fuding, Phoenix,Hangzhou, here in Anxi, and also in Yunnan. Well, it also happened in the Bay Area so it must have been global.
Arrived into a night of blinding white fog. Let’s see if I make it up the steep, blind turns up the tea mountain.
If I do, will be up all night tonight tasting through hundreds of teas since flight delays set me back almost a half day.