[We are now in Ulanbaatar, capital of Mongolia which is known as the 'Land of the Blue Sky' from which the largest empire the world has ever known hailed from under the great Chinggis Khaan. We are uploading blog posts typed in Word during our first leg in China. We are using China as our base country and will be making multiple entries in and out of China over the next few months. Unfortunately, blogspot is one of many blocked sites in China at present (Welcome to lesson 1 in culture shock - communism!) and we therefore have to get out of the country before we can blog at this site each time! We are still pondering as to whether we should move our blog to another site but until then, thanks for your patience and apologies for the delayed news!]
Written on 15 May 2009 in Guangzhou, China - birthplace of 'yum cha'!
Being a coffee connoisseur in China is an expensive habit. A mere cafe latte at Starbucks costs 25 yuan (which is AUD$5). This is retail robbery when you can get a delicious bowl of noodles plus a drink for 10 yuan next door. However, this doesn't prevent those that uphold the Chinese culture of 'saving face' and embracing all things Western to project an image of wealth and abundance. A local Chinese friend of ours says it is not uncommon for young people to have up to 3 Starbucks coffees a day, setting them back 75 yuan or more each day on coffee alone!
I have taken the courageous step of resolving to have my latte indulgences only ONCE a month while travelling. This is a massive feat for me but I have found some comfort in instant 3-in-1 Nescafe coffee sachets (something I would never drink when its relatively affordable to be a coffee snob in Melbourne).
Another means of coping has been to appreciate tea more. China is a fantastic place to learn about and savour tea. One of the highlights of our trip to Guangzhou was a visit to the tea market with myriads of teas on display for tastings and for sale. This is the tea mecca of the world! We spent some time at Iong Na's tea shop which is a family business. The family tried very hard to communicate with us and thankfully, due to their multilingual abilities Mandarin, Cantonese and Minnan Hua (Hokkien to Malaysians) we managed to string together some semblance of a conversation by interchanging between the 3 languages depending on which words we knew in which language! While sitting down to some tea tastings, we talked about tea, the business, our lives and the intricacies of language!
Here's a summary about tea varieties for you tea lovers and budding tea connoisseurs out there:
Green tea – Green tea is the tea in Asia. Tea leaves are not oxidised, but rather steamed and dried. Leaves maintain more of their natural colour and bear a delicate refreshing flavour. Hangzhou's Longjing (Dragon Well) Tea is a national favourite.
Oolong tea – Among the finest and most difficult teas to produce, oolong falls somewhere between the green and black varieties in that it is only partially oxidised. Tea connoisseurs savour oolong's often flowery or fruity flavour without milk, sugar or other blends.
Black tea – Abundant in the Western world, black tea us called red tea in Chinese. Leaves are completely oxidised before drying, giving black tea its dark colour, full flavour and extra caffeine.
Pu'er tea – The blackest of all teas, pu'er deserves its own category. Leaves undergo double oxidation followed by a period of maturation, resulting in a strong earthy flavour that can be an acquired taste. Often sold as solid cakes or bricks, it is renowned for medicinal effects on the digestive system.
White tea – The rarest ad least-processed variety, white tea is identifiable by silvery hairs that cover the tea buds. Buds (and occasionally leaves) are dried naturally and are not oxidised, yielding a subtle flavour. It is a speciality of Fujian province (where our ancestors hail from!).
