Friday, January 19, 2007

The best place to brew tea in Taiwan

No. It's not the Wisteria tea house, even though that's where I recently invited Adam Teatime and Sergey on two different occasions.

The place I like most is outdoors, in the (tea) mountains. Last Friday afternoon, for instance, I drove to Pinglin and drove among the Baozhong plantations. First stop to get some natural spring water at a pipe along the small mountain road:
Then I found a nice spot not far away a buddhist temple. It has a big stone that we used as a table:You can see the temple in the background. And on both sides of this high point, there are Wenshan tea fields.
The tea cloth my mother made was a perfect match for the color of the stone! The tetsubin also blends very well in the setting. And the red of the zhuni Xishi creates a focal point on this grey day. The gas burner is safely placed on the ground and provides the fire to heat the water (in case you were wondering).

All set, we were now ready to brew a few grams of ... (to be continued next week).

6 comments:

Philippe said...

Ca me rappelle quelques expériences similaires sur le Mur Païen (Mont Saint Odile, Alsace) sur lequel j'avais l'habitude de préparer un Gong Fu Cha avec mon camarade de thé Nikosan !!

Moments inoubliables car un Pu Er dégusté en pleine forêt, c'est quelque chose de sublime surtout dans ce lieu féerique où se mèlent dolmens, menhirs et autres légendes celtiques...

Petite remarque pour les bretons : les celtes étaient d'abord en Alsace avant de conquérir la Bretagne !!

Axel said...

À en juger par la théière dans la photo et le thé dans la petite assiette, s'agirait-il d'un pu-erh cru?

TeaMasters said...

Il est fort Axel! Bien vu. C'est bien ma théière dédiée au puerh cru et dans l'assiette il y a bien du puerh cru. Mais on n'a pas bu ces feuilles ce jour-là. C'était pour la photo. Les feuilles qu'on a bu étaient dans un sachet en plastique peu photogénique et j'en ai vite sorti d'autres pour ces clichés.

Anonymous said...

Greetings from Virginia, USA! I was wondering what the electric kettle market is like where you are. I do the website for Russell-Hobbs.com and I'm trying to get a feel for how people commonly heat their tea water around the world. I like how you use the gas stove for outdoor tea.

I also love the pictures on your blog.

Best regards,

-Doug

Anonymous said...

Nice...very nice.

Amadeus

Mistina said...

Love this site, especially the recent entries on your outdoor tea party and the role of passion and desire in appreciating the art of tea.

I can't wait to receive my bamboo basket/box/tray so I can practice Gung Fu Cha in Central Park.

As an American, I find that the tea ritual offers a way to connect with an earlier, more civilized time and place. We need more of that today, especially here in New York.

Et quelle bonne chance d'avoir trouvé un blog écrit en francais et aussi en anglais. Je fais des fautes, mais je suis heureuse d'avoir l'occasion de pratiquer le français. Je vous remercie pour tout!