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Rosemary's Adventures
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Rosemary's Adventures
In the past several years I've had the privilege to travel all over the word to see first hand just how the tea we enjoy is grown, picked, produced and sold. I've had some amazing experiences and learned more than I ever could have by simply reading about it in a book. I'd like to use this blog to let you in on some of those experiences. It wasn't always pretty or perfect, but it was always an adventure. Won't you join me?
*Disclaimer: I will not use names to protect the guilty as well as the innocent. I will often talk about our tea "group" I travel with other people who love tea. Every group is different. The "group" can be old or new friends, tea professionals or anyone who loves tea.
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Entry 1: A Tea Factory in China
In the last few years, I have traveled to several countries that grow tea. In these countries you will see all types of factories. Some are very clean and some are, well, not so clean. I was in China in 2009 and our group had been to a factory or two that were just plain nasty. The bus pulled up to a plain concrete building that looked like most of the buildings in China. We met two ladies who owned and operated the business. They greeted us warmly and seemed very happy for the group to see their factory. As soon as we entered the building, you could tell that this factory was clean, clean, clean! After our tea group toured the factory and asked questions that only tea people would ask I told the ladies, via our tour guide, that their factory was one of the cleanest we had seen. The Chinese ladies smiled from ear to ear. I then told the ladies that I was sure it was clean because women ran this factory. After our tour guide translated the message the woman factory owners laughed and laughed and even clapped their hands. I guess some things are the same anywhere in the world.
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Entry 2: What Not to do in Japan
April is a wonderful time to visit Japan. I traveled there with my tea group in 2010. The people were very anxious to meet our needs and were very polite. Japan is a beautiful country and I learned a lot about green tea. However, I also learned what not to do.
Our group went to a teahouse in Kyoto that specialized in a thick matcha tea. (I had never cared for matcha tea until I came to Japan and learned the secret to drinking this bright green tea. You put a sweet* in your mouth and then drink the matcha.) But, back to the teahouse--the tea group was served a bowl of matcha tea that was like a loose pudding. The tea was delicious. After finishing most of the tea I had a small amount left in my bowl and part of a sweet. I dipped my sweet into the remaining thick tea and ate it. Before I could swallow the sweet,
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a lady came over and started yelling at me. I don't know exactly what she said, but it wasn't good. Another lady then came to my table and took my bowl away. Lesson learned: Do not dip your sweet into your matcha tea or there will be hell to pay.
* Sweets in Japan are what we call candy in the US. However, they are often softer and usually fruit flavored. They are also much more beautiful. Some are like works of art. The street where we had our thick matcha had numerous sweet shops.
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Entry 3: Teatime on a Game Reserve
I love to travel in the East. The people generally want to meet any need and are wonderful entrepreneurs. On my last trip to India and Sri Lanka we planned to stop at a game reserve. Someone came up with the idea of having tea on the game reserve. We expressed our wish to our Sri Lankan tour guide and all was arranged.
The tour bus stopped in a town on the
way and a china tea set and local food materialized. Of course we had delicious Ceylon tea from a local tea estate already on the bus. Somehow, boiling water in two thermoses was also acquired.
The tour of the game reserve was a once in a lifetime experience. We saw all types of animals, especially elephants. We soon learned that when an elephant comes toward you stop and become very still. We were in an open jeep, with very little protection. It was very hard to sit still with a big male elephant running straight at you. (Which is exactly what we had to do!)
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After our elephant situation, the jeeps stopped at a clearing around a small lake. A fantastic tea of local Ceylon tea and food was spread out before us. We used rocks for our tables and chairs. For a tea person, life doesn't get much better than this.
Too soon we had to continue our journey. One of our group members spotted a heard of elephants. It was almost all mothers and their babies. One mother felt we were too close and started charging our jeeps. It was all I could do to stay still and not run this time. The other mother elephants decided to help and we had several elephants coming our way. However, at the last minute she turned and passed us. We got the message and left as soon as possible. We were almost back to the bus when we spotted an eagle flying right over us. As soon as the eagle passed over there was a crash of thunder and rain poured from the sky. The entire group got wet, but who cared?! We had an experience that would last for a lifetime.
