Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

What other sort of water feature would you expect to find at a tea plantation?  This tea pot "fountain" is one of the courtyard attractions at the Longjing tea plantation, in Hangzhou, China.  And while most gardens might boast of  a few gnomes or classical statues, here, there is a statue of  a renowned Tang Dynasry tea scholar Yu Lu and of course a few more tea pots leading into the tea tasting rooms.

tea plant , Hangzhou  Last week, I visited the Xihu Lake ( West Lake) area near Hangzhou, Zhejaing Province in China. Besides being a very scenic place, it has the reputation of producing the best green tea in China -  Xihu Longjing tea, or Dragon Well tea. first growth  March picking ( Swallow's tongue)  pre Qing-Ming picking - first Spring  tea shoots  early April  later picking - lower grade 'Dragon Well After the Rain' tea tea picking baskets and tea picker's hat  I tasted the three grades of Dragon Well tea and learnt some important tips about preparing the tea , for example, the water should be 85 degrees C.  Like most other Chinese green tea, Longjing   tea leaves   are roasted   early in processing (after picking) to stop the natural oxidation process, which is a part of creating black and oolong teas. The actions of these enzymes is stopped by "firing" (heating in pans) before they complete...