While we were in Beijing last year, Michelle and I visited a tea shop and experienced the common tea practices utilized all over China.
Some Of The Teas We Tried In China:
- Oolong Tea
- Ginseng Tea
- Jasmine Tea
- Lychee Black Tea With Dried Roses
- Pure Black Tea
- Fruit Tea
- Green Tea
Several teas actually come from the same plant (Camellia sinensis). The processing makes the difference. Black tea is fully fermented, green tea is unfermented and oolong tea is partially fermented. My favorite tea was the oolong tea. I purchased a tin and brought it back with me. I am currently drinking it while I write this post. 😀
The Main Differences Between Chinese And Japanese Tea Culture
Before we visited China, Michelle and I traveled across Japan. While we were in Takeo, Japan (right outside of Nagasaki) we visited the Yoko Museum and Garden teahouse for an authentic matcha tea ceremony. You can read about it in this Steemit post, Learning How To Make Matcha & Touring A Japanese Garden - Highlights Of Traveling Japan.
In Japan, tea ceremonies are a formal and sacred activity. There are rules to be adhered. The ceremony and especially the making of the matcha tea is traditionally carried out in silence. The Japanese way of tea is rigidly structured and you can see the relation to Zen Buddhism. A Japanese tea ceremony is not unlike meditation.
In China the tea ceremony is less of a ceremony and more of a habitual / daily activity that you can do by yourself or with your friends. Tea is served at celebrations and you can be loud and social. The Chinese also love tea for its health benefits such as weight loss, warding off diseases, and getting over hangovers.
There is really no wrong way to enjoy tea and people drink tea in many different ways across Asia. These are general descriptions of tea culture from my observations in China and Japan.
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Michelle and I took a month to travel across Japan and China last May (2017). It was epic! Follow me, @slickwilly and Michelle, @curiouser for posts about our travel adventures!
Hi there, I’m Will. First and foremost I am an entrepreneur and voluntaryist. I aspire to help build a more free world, one that we all want to live in. Some of my biggest passions include cryptocurrencies, marketing, finance, cannabis, traveling, bodybuilding, snowboarding, motorcycles, and Subarus. All pictures are my own unless otherwise stated. I release everything under CC0.
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