Hangzhou Longjing Tea Plantation
On the second last day in China, we went to the Longjing Tea Plantation. Hangzhou is especially famous for the luxurious, ultimate green tea- the Longjing tea. We were invited into one of the many tea houses to sample the famous tea which is produced by hand. The Longjing tea is extremely beneficial to our health and can help prevent cancer, high cholesterol . It can even be used to remove eye bags! We also learnt the processes which the hand-picked tea leaves go through before they are used to brew tea. The tea leaves can be brew five times and can be even eaten! We were told that the tea leaves that were picked during March had the most nutrients in it and can be bought at a price of 300 Yuan (60 SGD). Many of our classmates and teachers bought the tea despite it being expensive.
There were many interesting things going on in the tea house. Firstly, the staff will pour three times into your glass cup. This means that they welcome you. Then, you will have to knock the table three times as a sign of saying thank you to them for welcoming you. Second these tea leaves are hand picked one by one by the women in the tea house. Thus, these tea leaves are very precious. Thirdly, when you pour hot water and mix it with the tea, we can cover half the mouth of the cup and put our eyes over the other half of the mouth of the cup. This helps our eyes relax and thus this is very good for our eyes especially those who looks at the computer or phone for a very long period of time. Fourthly, after drinking the tea, we can put the remaining tea leaves on our eyes for beauty purposes. This tea has a lot of vitamin B and C and is equivalent to eating three apples.
Tea is a divine herb