Tea Adventures

Wild mountain herbs such as Xiagu Chao 夏骨草，Guanyin tree(reddish), and of course, one of the most medicinal of all, wild old tea bushes are plentiful and have been completely abandoned now in the modern era of industrialized China. Agricultural communities like this one, despite its treasure trove of wild and cultivated plants, are left to fend for itself, the plants growing tall and wild without human contact. Forget fertilizers, pesticides, and other concerns over modern tea farming. Mr. Dai’s lucky if he can get enough people to hunt around this big wild mountain and harvest the teas for him. Yellow teabushes, as it turns out, are 70% from ancient trees, and only a few ‘young’ bushes remain.

#medicinal herbs #yellow tea

At 5:30, I was up with Mr. Dai to visit around and see the village in action. Fewer than 100 people and around 17 of them are seniors over 70 years old, pretty much most of the rest are kids staying behind to go to school. Almost all of the adults have left to work in cities. Few of them stayed with the tea profession such as Mr. Dai has done. Without a doubt, this is one of the most improvished villages in China. In the middle of absolutely nowhere, Mr. Dai says they are so remote they even survived the Japanese invasion/slaughter, as the village was too hard to get to. In this wild, abandoned mountain, a few abandoned households of folks remain, with their ancient tea bushes, mulberry and ginkgo trees, wild cherry trees, and the most glorious groves of bamboo. Medicinal herbs are plentiful. I helped myself all along the way with wild berries that no one touches.

#anhui # yellow tea

Cooking at their wood fired wok, where the temperature alone is high enough to cook very fast, sealing the flavors. Here at these rural farms, food taste like food, an opposite extreme to what we were served on United Air just a day ago…

#anhui #green tea #yellow tea

Mr. Dai’s family of 4 brothers, his mom, various kids and wives gather to cook dinner at the family hearth. Green garlic from their hillside, water from the mountain stream, vegetables from their neighbor… It’s a far cry from the scary food stories coming out in the Chinese news everyday. Living in such a remote farm is rough, I haven’t been to a hole in the ground outhouse for a while. But the air is fresh and clean, too chilly and high up for mosquitoes, the food and the tea will be wood fired…..all is good.

#green tea #china village