Got up on that rickety bamboo ladder to bottle up some mountain spring water…. Just kidding. Maybe 10 years ago I would have. Or maybe once I have a successor I can do crazy things like that again. But folks, this is the best tasting mountain spring water in Anxi, and one of the richest in minerals I’ve tasted. Traveling back with a bottle to get the mineral content analysis so we can replicate this water for our Tieguanyin some day… sans climbing up a slippery cliff.
Life at Che Shi village. Lots of fog and mist, no harvesting again today. Have to wait two more weeks for the Golden Robe to come around.
Not at all glamorous. I am covered in welts of mosquito bites that burn with hardly a square inch left. Everyone has a theory on why I get so much business from the mosquito everywhere I go, 10 bites to everyone’s zero. Probably lack of substance abuse would be one. The blood of the guys in China are sludges of cigarette smoke, and 50 proof alcohol. I recall nostalgically to the roughest trip ever…
This is going to be one beautiful biodynamic oolong farm! Mr. Lin has big plans. I told him tourism would be fantastic, he should have farm tours. ‘Tourism is good’, mused Mr. Lin. ‘Or I can raise mountain chickens’. He didn’t get why I couldn’t stop laughing.
The future biodynamic farm. Mr. Lin plans to devote 30 years to make it happen. It is an enormous mountain after all- at 948 meters elevation, perfect conditions include the best water in the province and constant winds. I plan to support these ambitious endeavors to make the cleanest tea in the country!
Taciturn, with a dry sense of humor, straighter than an arrow, and previous village doctor, Mr. Lin found himself the new Mayor of Che Shi village, home of the original Tieguanyin. He was appointed by unanimous appointment by the villagers. He will probably end up being the only official in the country not going to bribed. But, he said, he did gain an advantage. Using his status as the mayor, he…