Great Green Tea: Half from West Lake, Half from Thousand Island Lake

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 When people think of China’s finest green tea, they picture West Lake in Hangzhou—the villages of Longjing and Meijiawu, Emperor Qianlong’s legendary “Eighteen Imperial Tea Bushes,” and a cup of flat, jade-green leaves releasing delicate chestnut notes. And they’re not wrong. West Lake Longjing is indeed one of China’s most iconic teas. But few know that 150 kilometers southwest of Hangzhou, amid the emerald waters of Thousand Island Lake, lies another chapter of tea history—one far older, equally profound, and unjustly overlooked. Here, during the Tang Dynasty (618–907 CE), tribute tea known as Jiukeng Maojian was sent to the imperial court. Lu Yu, the Sage of Tea, recorded its origin in his Classic of Tea (Cha Jing). Centuries later, seeds from this very land would travel to Japan, Kenya, and beyond, shaping green tea across continents. Today, protected as a Class-I national water source, this region bans chemical pesticides entirely—yielding tea of unmatched purity and freshnes...

Making a living with tea, accompanying tea throughout life

 

Picture description:Tea, besides tea, it's still tea, with tea planted in front and behind the house!

In China, there is a group of people who make a living with tea and spend their lives with tea. They are tea farmers, the main force in the planting, picking, processing, and selling of tea. Their lives are closely related to tea, and their emotions are closely linked to tea.

When the first sunshine in the morning shines on the tea garden, the tea farmers start their day’s work. They need to pick fresh tea leaves in the tea garden and process and handle them. In the processing process, the tea farmers need to spend a lot of time and energy to ensure the quality and taste of the tea. They usually use traditional manual processing methods to ensure the quality and uniqueness of the tea.

The tea farmers have a deep emotion for tea. They may have been growing tea in the tea garden for generations, and they have a unique understanding and awareness of the quality and taste of tea. When processing and selling tea, they also pay attention to the quality and taste of the tea to ensure that consumers can taste the best tea.

Picture description:For the people in the mountains, tea is their livelihood, their life, and everything.


Tea has a long history and culture in China. The tea farmers usually also inherit and carry forward this culture, for example, through tea art performances, tea exhibitions, etc., to show people the history and culture of tea. In the tea art performance, the tea farmers will use skillful techniques to brew the tea into cups full of aroma and delicious taste, allowing people to feel the charm and cultural connotation of tea.

With the development of society and the progress of science and technology, the way of life and work of tea farmers is constantly changing. For example, some tea farmers start to use modern planting and processing technologies to improve the quality and output of tea. At the same time, some tea farmers also start to explore new sales channels and methods to increase the sales volume and popularity of tea.

However, no matter how life and work change, the tea farmers’ emotion and love for tea never change. They make a living with tea and spend their lives with tea, using their hard work and wisdom to make important contributions to the development and inheritance of tea.

Picture description: Tea is not only a source of hope, but also a beautiful scenery. When you come back home after a long day of work outside, looking out at the tea trees outside the window, you silently think to yourself: actually, being a tea farmer is really happy.
 


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