Tea Market

Today, we went to the Tea Market. It was a small building with different small tea shops inside. Thankfully, there was AC. We all followed our Program Leader to a tea shop where a tea ceremony was held. We tried different teas such as Black Oolong, Taiwan Milk Oolong, different types of Jasmine Tea, fruit tea, green tea, and more. We also ate biscuits with our tea and chatted for a bit. Trying the different teas was a very nice experience. We all had fun burning our tongues on the hot tea and trying our new favorite drinks. ;) We learned which teas cleansed our bodies and which teas helped our digestive systems. After trying the teas, we were allowed to shop around and buy tea. Since everyone in our group bought tea, we asked for a discount. Experiencing a tea ceremony and trying many different teas was certainly a lot of fun. The pictures show a few of the teas as well as our classmates. 

Kellie Ng 
"Right after a debrief about our upcoming trip to Hangzhou this weekend, we took the public bus to this place known as China’s Tea Market (in Chinese, 天山茶城 or “tian shan cha cheng”). As my class and I entered the tea shop we were assigned to, I could almost feel the dignified atmosphere surrounding the tea-set (茶具 or “cha ju”). As our server heated up water for the first time, we looked at a sheet that she gave us and began a discussion about our favorite teas. We spent at least 15 minutes smelling and drinking tea, as well as looking at the jars filled with mostly tea leaves.
  As I sat on my chair, I felt… refreshed. I was able to focus on my surroundings as well as my own breathing. I enjoyed the time that I spent with my friends, even though my tongue still feels burnt from all the hot tea that I drank… Sometimes I had to drink my samples quickly, as the server would be already pouring the next one to those sitting on my right. Personally, my favorite was the blueberry tea, which was the sweetest, compared to the others which tasted like water.
There are a lot of reasons why this tea ceremony is very dignified, besides the properties of tea itself; for example, the way our server quickly and cleanly poured boiling water into a tea cup with tea leaves, put a lid on the teacup and poured the cup through a filter into a small pitcher, from which she served us. I hope I’ll keep her service in mind...
In short, I think that overall, besides being an integral part of Chinese culture, this cultural activity helped me appreciate each and every moment that I spend with others, and to live my life with no regrets."
Jason Hyuh