Saturday TeaDay 9/05/09 Chinese tea discussion, really?

[Chip]

Greetings everyone and welcome to TeaDay. Please drop in throughout the day and share what is in your cup.

Yesterday we discussed China's 10 Famous Teas. You can still vote and discuss yesterday's topic.

Today's TeaPoll and discussion topic. Still on China, have you ever "bumped into" someone from China (non tea industry), and the Tea discussion really clicked? Please share.

I am looking forward to sharing this TeaDay with everyone. Bottoms up.

[Salsero]

Not really. The Chinese people I have met have not been very interested in tea.

Thanks, Olivierco, (wherever you have been lately!) for the lovely sample. I brewed this tea from Marriage Frères in a gaiwan gong fu style and was very impressed with the citrus flower aroma and bold, spicy fruit taste.

[olivierco]

I haven't met many Chinese people and they were not particularly interested in tea.

Organic kabusecha this morning.

Olivierco, (wherever you have been lately!)

I have been quite busy with the beginning of the school year but I am still here!

[Maitre_Tea]

yes, but usually with the "older crowd." I remember I was meeting a friend's dad while I was studying abroad in China, and we had a deep and intimate discussion about tea, gong fu cha, history and culture, etc.

I know that vendors are not included, but at least with some of the vendors I came across in China, the conversation was more friendly than business. I remember at a shop I frequented I didn't even buy much, but the vendor kept wanting me to come back for the conversation.

Enjoying some Taiwan Wuyi '09 courtesy of Floating Leaves

[Riene]

The very few Chinese, Koreans, and Japanese I have met were all younger and none were interested in discussing tea, or even culture for that matter. Most (but not all) English I have met were the same way. I felt that they were vaguely scornful and amused that I, an American, was interested in tea.

Yunnan Noir in the pot this morning, good stuff.

[chamekke]

I've known quite a few first-generation Chinese immigrants. Only one of them was really interested in tea - but she was thrilled at my enthusiasm for teas from her country!

As Maitre_Tea says, perhaps it's a generational thing. The lady above was old enough to remember the Cultural Revolution; most of the others are much younger, in their twenties or thirties.

Off to tea ceremony class now. Matcha on the menu!

[Mrs. Chip]

Off to tea ceremony class now. Matcha on the menu!

I'm jealous, matcha is definitely one of my faves! I enjoy your posts about the tea ceremony classes you attend.
And right now I have a very hard time deciding which chawan to use.

Currently in my cup ...water!

[Cinnamon Kitty]

Though I have met some wonderful Chinese individuals, I never had a chance to discuss tea with them. We did discuss the proper way to make a Chinese dumpling, which was fascinating, but not tea.

Homemade chai this morning. Didn't put sugar in it, but used vanilla coconut milk to give it just enough sweetness.

[Intuit]

It's like saying, gee you're American, care to talk...cars?

Sure, a great many Chinese people drink tea. For most of them, it's neither an obsession nor an obvious choice of topic for discussion with strangers. Unless you sell tea. Previous comment on Chinese tea shop owners is true - they're typically very pleasant and chatty.

Of the hundreds of Asian/East Asia graduate students, post-docs and professors I've known, none of them were 'into' tea. However, their everyday affable conversation afforded insight into their culture, ethnic and economic backgrounds, hobbies and cuisines.

Did you know? Quite a few Chinese and Taiwanese online and storefront tea vendors know of TC.
They think we're daft .

Keep an eye out for tea blog comments on how your typical Chinese tea drinker makes their tea. Ultra casual. Dump tea into cheap teapot for themselves and guests: Dump in boiling water. Pour off. Done! Or look at Grampa tea! Reaaallly causual, almost an afterthought. Surprisingly good, too.

Edit: Riene's comment struck home: first gen family from the UK could care less about handing down family heirloom teaware/china/linens - was dispersed to friends, distant relatives or thrift shops!
(Mildly amused tone) "We didn't know you cared about this stuff".

In my cup? Whole-leaf Estate Assam. Delicately malty.

[brad4419]

Nope, never. The very few Chinese people I have talked with were in my high school as exchange students and I sadly wasn't into tea at all.

blueberry black today, not the best, not the worst.

[Maitre_Tea]

Kinda related to what Intuit was saying about Taiwanese vendors thinking we here at TC are "daft"...

A local native at the Chinese university I was studying abroad at introduced to me to tea, by brewing some TGY. I just recently talked to her again, and when the conversation turned to tea I inundated her with my theories regarding yixing dedication criteria, varietal differences, how to tell quality leaf from crappy leaf...and she just gave me the biggest blank stare ever, as if I were raving mad

I think this was definitely one of those instances where the person who is introduced to something is more "hardcore" about the thing than the person who did the introducing...

[Chip]

It's like saying, gee you're American, care to talk...cars?

Hmmm, not a fair comment. Not in the spirit of what I was refering to anyway. I generally do not walk up to Chinese people and ask, "Do you like tea?" Is this to imply that I am stereotyping Chinese by simply offering a simple question to discuss?

DW and I go to a Japanese/Chinese Hibachi/sushi bar. By the fact that it is Japanese/Chinese, that should tell you it is operated by Chinese since Japanese would likely not offer Chinese food. But Chinese would gladly offer both. Now that may be stereotyping, but it is more often true than not.

Anyway, we ask for a waiter named Yao since he is a most likable, very young Chinese man and he makes sure the experience is most enjoyable. We usually talk a bit each time, never about tea before, though he always brings us a fresh tetsubin full of Genmeicha when he sees us.

This week, the subject of tea came up. He is from Fujian Provence and has journeyed to Wuyi which is 5 hours from his home town. This comment got my attention. He happened to ask if we ever had heard of "a most rare tea," but was having trouble translating it to English. "Red Tea" as his eyes rolled into his head in thought. My eyes lit up and I proclaimed "Oh, Da Hong Pao, Big Red Robe!"

And we discussed how Da Hong Pao is blended for export and how the best Chinese teas virtually never leave China, etc. It was just a nice casual discussion that just happened. But it actually provided the inspiration for a series of Chinese tea topics.

[Dreamer]

Hi All,

Great discussion here today. I have never had the occasion to talk to anyone Chinese about tea...like others here I've spent time with some and learned something of the culture but at the time I wasn't into tea (and neither were they!).

The discussion has reminded me of something I noticed when I was in England once. Several on the trip (all Americans) took a double-decker bus tour thru London on a Saturday. Many of the other passengers on the bus were from England, but outside London, and many were from other parts of Europe. As we would pass by, for example, a 1200 year-old pub, all us Americans would oooh and ahhh over a place that was so old and yet still being "used". The Europeans on the bus only oooh'd and ahhh'd about the shiny glass and steel skyscraper under construction. The "old buildings" were just so "everyday" to them that they weren't even worth noticing. To us Americans with such a "short" history, those "old buildings" were really something special. I'm guessing it is the same with tea for Chinese...it is just so "normal" that it is barely worth notice.

This morning Kenilworth Ceylon and the Assam that I'm still trying to like mixed. It was ok; nothing special.

It is rainy and cool here today and this afternoon I'll be trying a new oolong (bought two from the Floating Leaves sale and she sent a sample of another). Seems like a good way to spend a rainy afternoon!

Happy sipping, All,
Dreamer

[Chip]

Oh, began the TD with Magokoro from Yuuki-Cha which was quite good.

Thinking Matcha in a bit?

[Victoria]

I do not think so. Most of the Chinese I have met, as others have answered, are not interested in tea.

Started my morning with Japanese Black.