Studying Puerh in Yunnan?

[Acupuncturist]

I'm curious if anyone has any experience studying tea in Yunnan? I'll be in China for a month this Feb/March and would love to spend a couple weeks learning about tea if I can somehow get connected with a teacher.

[bannacha]

I'm curious if anyone has any experience studying tea in Yunnan? I'll be in China for a month this Feb/March and would love to spend a couple weeks learning about tea if I can somehow get connected with a teacher.

The best tea teacher you can find is tea itself. Since you have the opportunity to go to Yunnan, I suggest you visit some tea mountains, see how tea is processed and grown. You can try a wide range of teas in the tea markets. It's good to trust your palate and keep your mind opened.

It's easy to get information about tea, but hard to process it into something valuable. It takes a lot of time to have a global vision of tea, but it's possible, and it's actually the most passionating endeavour I've taken in my life.

I wouldn't recommend you find one unique teacher and learn from him. It will give you too narrow a vision. Try to combine and cross-check the sources, talk to farmers, experts, vendors, observe and stay curious.

[theredbaron]

I wouldn't recommend you find one unique teacher and learn from him. It will give you too narrow a vision. Try to combine and cross-check the sources, talk to farmers, experts, vendors, observe and stay curious.

I would quite strongly disagree with that.
A good tea teacher or master will set one on the right path, and will teach practically the finer points of tea appreciation, and will help a student to avoid mistakes. A good teacher will not give a student a narrow vision, on the opposite, any good teacher is a lifelong tea student him/herself.
The difficulty however is to find a good teacher - many pseudo teachers are more involved in the tea business than in teaching about tea, and that has to be avoided.

[onjinone]

To add to what theredbaron said, as you learn more and more about tea, you'll come to find that every experienced tea teacher/master/professional, etc. has their own values and perspectives for tea.

There's rampant misinformation within the tea industry on top of that. Whether it's due to ignorance, inaccurate info, whatever - it exists.

A teacher can help you navigate these obstacles easier than if you were to do it yourself but the key is consistency. It's useful to learn and be exposed to many people, farmers, and vendors but at the end of the day you'll still need to form your own conclusions. One teacher will help with that, having multiple people may confuse you.

It's difficult to just follow a teacher randomly because if you think from their position, why would they want to teach a stranger so much?

If you're serious about it I suggest you get out there and meet as many people as possible, form the right connections, and be clear about what you're looking for. You might be able to network your way to someone who can teach you lots.

[jayinhk]

Reads just like a discussion on one martial art for life or learning from many!