Glad you found me! You can call me Darasii, pleasure to make your acquaintance. Let me be your guide in the world of Chinese tea.
In 2010, when I left Europe more permanently, I could have never imagined by accident falling through the rabbit hole into the curious wonderland of Chinese tea.
I knew practically nothing about Fujian province, our reasons for choosing a destination having to do with completely different elements than culinary. Having been trained and worked for years as a chef in high-end fine dine restaurants, it went without saying I was on a search for new flavours and experiences via food. Boy, was I in for a surprise!
As my command of Mandarin Chinese grew, so grew my understanding of my surroundings; I am standing at the edge of a wealth of information! Tea wisdom! Tea talk! What is this wonderful place where even the dirtiest of lay workers will stop their work in the afternoon, turn a bucket upside down and start brewing gongfu tea with their tea set complete with the miniature cups, using tea leaves they have brought from their respective home towns – maybe even picked themselves! Bring it on!
So now, I am doing my best to drink my way through all the locally grown teas in Fujian province and dabble in some outer province ones. Like many of the locals, I too spend my days wondering will the autumn harvest be good this year in Anxi, where can I get my hands on more of 2013 Fuding white tea (good year!) or whether or not the Rougui from Wuyi-mountains is worth the hype… I owe a lot to my circle of beloved local friends, who patiently teach me regardless of my lack of language and sometimes lack of finesse when it comes to this age-old aspect of culture.
Maybe this is worth a shot – maybe someone else can enjoy this information too. There is plenty of technical stuff out there – as I have only later come to realise – on what tea is, how it is grown, something even on the vagueness of classification of Chinese tea, etc. There is not much need to add to that. As for me, I will continue what I do daily; stand on the foundation of technical stuff and enjoy my tea. And if along the way something piques my interest – you will hear of it.
With my modest pen chant and other virtues, I would like to present to you not only the tea, but the mundane beauty of everything involved, as it unfolds before my eyes and understanding… plenty to do! Hope you enjoy my more hands-on approach!
To get started: here’s the first post.
Yours Truly,
Darasii