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China Travel Blog
November 19, 2011
Greetings Tea lovers. This is Steve Behncke sending an update from my trip to China where I am trekking thru the country looking for heirloom Tea seeds.
Ahhh China, this is where it all began, where according to tradition, the legendary Emperor Shennong first discovered tea almost five thousand years ago when, in 2737BC the wind blew some leaves from a nearby tree into a bowl of boiling water he was drinking, causing it to change color. The monarch took a sip and was pleasantly surprised by the flavor and restorative nature of the brew, thus discovering what would become the worlds most consumed beverage.
China is an amazing place. Its clean and friendly and the people are hardworking. There is no crime that I can see, you never see police, and when you do they have no guns. I have only heard one siren since I have been here and I feel more safe here than I have anywhere in the world, including my own country. And little wonder. I read in the Hong Kong paper the other day that a woman was sentenced to death for stealing what would amount to a fraction of what Madoff stole, and gun possession results in years of hard labor. I will write more of my experiences in the days to come but for now I want to update you on my travels.
Shanghai
As of this writing I have only been hear a little over a week. I arrived to Shanhgai November 8th. What an incredible city (if you like cities) , futuristic sky scrapers casting shadows over beautiful parks where the ancient ones gather to fly kites, visit with each other and perform Ti Chi. The Chinese have a voracious appetite for construction and the buildings are constructed with built-in light arrays creating incredible, synchronized light shows that illuminate the sky, and dazzle the eyes. I have been to New York and stood in Time Square and believe me, Shanghai makes that look little like a porch light. I arrived at night and after an hour on the subway I got lost in the city looking for my hotel. There I was wandering the streets ,dragging my little roller luggage, guitar slung over one soldier, looking like the off spring of That Girl and Forest Gump.
But I couldn’t wait to get out of town and begin my search for the seeds of Chinas 10 most famous teas. I subwayed to the train station to buy a ticket for Hangzhou, where the legendary Long Jin tea grows, AKA: Dragon Well tea. Note: do not attempt this during morning rush. I was at one point swept up by a current of people, thousands of them, no possible way to resist. Really hilarious, wish I had it on film.
Anyway, I’m blazing new trails here folks. No one is doing this, buying seeds in Chinas, believe me, I have done my research. I have imported tea from Korea, India and Nepal. I have traveled personally to the latter two as well as other countries and considered myself somewhat savvy as a traveler. But I am a babe all over again now that I have hit China. The language barrier is huge. I cant even order a meal. I sit there until I see someone order something that looks good and then point and say “I want one of those” I searched the net, Craigs list, Alibaba.com, I could not find any information of who, how, or where to buy tea seeds. Tea yes! By the metric ton, tea goes out of China, all manner of tea and all manner of varieties. But why would someone want tea seed , people ask, do they grow tea in the USA? The answer is yes, I do, and so do the many people who write me each week asking how they too can grow their own tea.
I have tried for many years to get some enterprising individual from China to send me seed. But I have had no success. Poor me huh? I just had to come here myself and get some!. So that is the reason for this trip, to get as many varieties of tea seed as I can, and while we can, because who knows what the future holds?
Now there’s as many varieties of tea as there are wines and the task of where and what to buy has been a bit overwhelming. I decided to begin with the 10 most famous, just as a starting point in my Chinese adventure, but to be honest just about any good tea variety would please me really, as I know as much about varieties of tea as I do about wine, sorry to disappoint , but it’s true. I know what I like, and I’m no snob, I’m the same way with wine. I like what I like. And most of tea drinking is more about how tea is processed than what and where it’s grown. But I am on a mission to become an expert grower of tea and then later I will get good at processing tea right? So admittedly I am on a learning curve when it comes to my search for seed in China. So far in my growing career (we began in 2006) I have focused on just getting as many seeds I can from the two basic groups of tea; the Assam varieties: Camellia sinesnis assamica, and the other is Green Tea; Camellia sinensis sinensis, or Chinese variety. In short, black teas and the green ones. Of course the Chinese teas are broken down into even more classes by which we can our red teas and Oolongs. But essentially there is the two types. I have been very happy with the Chinese variety that comes from Korea and Nepal and so far I have only been able to source one variety of Assam from India. But my India source does not always come thru and I have had to disappoint my customers occasionally over the years when I received bad seed or like in the case of the frost that hit Korea this year that is threatening my only green tea variety and might leave me barren of Green tea. So I decided to hit the road, travel a little, make a few connections and have some back up sources. So China?... Here I come.
Typical boat on West Lake
So back to Hangzhou, The home of Dragon Well tea or Long Jin. Hangzhout sits on West Lake , the Place Marco Polo visited and he said it was the closest to heaven of anywhere on earth. I saw some pics, and it looked intriguing. But, well, hmmmm, what can I can I say. I’ve not seen heaven, and West Lake is nice, but I am sure Marc would not like West Lake now. Basically West Lake is the party spot for the most wealthy Chinese. The streets are lined with high-end restaurants, Starbucks, and car dealerships,( not Ford and Chevy.)We’re talking Maserati, Rolls Royce, Lamborghini, and so on, in posh show rooms next door to jazz clubs , KFC (there’s 3 being built every day in China, they love it) Pizza hut and DQ, tour buses, taxis and hordes of people. Did I mention smog? I was lucky to get a room, and it hurt my budget bad.
But that’s downtown and the next day I headed to the hills on the local buses and soon I was walking in in rows of glorious Green Tea. Armed with small pieces of paper, with questions written on them in Chinese (with the help of hotel staff) that I would hand to the farmers when I met them in the way to inquire about teas seeds. Now the farmers would read my little notes “ do you have seeds I can buy”etc and look at me like “this guy must mean Tea leaf,” but soon I got to know the words for Tea seed and actually say it, and then they would act like they never heard of anyone asking for such a thing, stare at me like I was crazy, point to me while conversing with friends about this crazy "megua" (American) with a beard (remind me to tell you how people are constantly coming up to me and asking to take their picture with me. I should charge them) shake their head and say “BAO!” Not happening! Not too encouraging. I figured this should have been a slam dunk.
It wasn’t long that I came to understand, that for the most part, they don’t save seed. Here’s why. For one, Dragon well is a very sought after tea that sells really well, every bit of it , and the farmers are poised and ready to pinch every bud they can, whenever and wherever the next flush is ready to harvest. And now that we are going into the fall ,the last flush has come and gone. This fact along with that very sad logistical reality is the more you pinch the buds the less likely there is going to be any of the normal fruiting stage to take place, hello??? you know, the flower followed by the seed? I was pretty discouraged. (As well as feeling kind stupid.) Not only was my mental image of Hop sing replaced by Jonny Depp, wannabee- KFC consumers, but my very first try at locating seed was looking to be a bust as well. How do they propagate tea plants, you might ask? Easy, by rooted cuttings. In fact one farmer told me that he would do just that for me if I wanted to (this was all communicated thru acting and miming) They simply cut a semi woody branch with one or two leaves and root it in a light soil. Problem is the USDA does not go for that, that is, you can’t bring in the plants with soil into America. It’s not all lost however. I did notice that flowers still grew on the lower sides of the tea plants, down low where the tea is not harvested (ahh nature finds a way doesn’t she?) and I asked the farmer, ‘is it not possible to still get me some seed from down low in the plant?” The answer was yes, it’s just no one asked before. But he would need some time and I will have to return in March to get my seed! Allll righty then. No seed in hand but not a complete waste of time either. I can’t mark anything as done on my list of the ten famous teas but at least I am on the right track. Maybe my first journey will be about a little educating. But the Great Wall wasn’t built in a day after all. And maybe I need to lighten up on the 10 most famous teas too. Open the tea-field of possibilities a little.
I really got along well with the hotel staff and was helping them with their English and they, my Chinese. Before I knew it I was in the kitchen preparing them their first all American meal. I wanted it to be Mexican food, (my forte but is it American? What is American food after all?)But after walking thru the market place which had everything from chicken feet to eels to frogs I settled for mom’s menu of Fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy and candied carrots. It was a huge hit. People who I hadn’t even met later would stop me in the hallway and say they had some of the mashed potatoes and gravy, one lady presented me with some fruit as a thank you. Man, was it funny watching them eat gravy with chopsticks.
In the evenings I played my songs to the staff and guests in the courtyard and one young man (staff) was particularly enamored with my playing. So on the day I left I gave him my guitar to keep until I returned, he was greatly pleased.
So where to next? My budget extremely damaged by this tourist town I decided to make my travel dollars really count. I would go where most of the tea is grown in China, the place where it all began, YUNNAN. Craving Chinese culture as much as I am teas seeds, I have heard by my fellow travelers that the province of Yunnan was the place to go.
I booked a train, a sleeper, two nights travel from Hangzhou. Sharing my quarters were two men who had a fireworks business, classic. I was sleeping when the Porter let them in. His big face got really close to mine and he said, with a toothy smile (in English) “Hewoe, how la u? Wayah yoo fum?” They were great. We really got into some deep stuff over the next two days and I learned that Chinese people are not the big red commy menace they are made out to be but just folks like us who want to work, love and live .It’s the governments that want to rule the world.
I arrived to what is known as Spring city or Kunming. This is a major hub and jump off points to the north to Tibet and
south, to Vietnam. Yunnan also boarders Laos, and Myanmar (formerly Burma). I plan to see some serious culture, and from the hundreds I saw entering third class on the train, I expect to be in contact with a lot of really colorful indigenous people. I have already made a few contacts in Kunming. There is Hollis, who has a translation service in town. He invited me to tea at his 11th floor office building overlooking the city. He has his roots in the red clay hills to the west and we chatted over Pu-er tea, dark and red that will gave us up to 15 infusions from one batch, can you believe it?(little cups, thimble size) He is making some calls to family and friends to see if he can’t get me a guide into the hills to get some of the thick leaf variety that is used to make this famous tea. In the meantime I have just booked a sleeper train to go north tomorrow to Chengdu and from there I will catch a ride to Ya ‘an , which sits at the foot hills of the Himalayas . Ya’an is the gateway to the Tea Horse trail. After the silk worms were smuggled out of China in the 5th century to Istanbul, the monopoly of China silk and the importance of the famous Silk Road trade that made China rich came to a rapid decline. But in the 7th century a new product took the place of silk, Chinese tea. And along with horses ( which were important for military strength), the Tea Horse trail, a maze of tracks, paths and passages, that passed through immensely difficult terrain to connect the regions of western Sichuan, Yunnan, Tibet and Qinghai became the new Silk road and Tea, the new currency. Both difficult and diverse, the Tea Horse Trail passed over some of the highest, coldest and most inhospitable regions of Asia.
Tea was carried by mule caravans and by human portage (known as ‘coolies’, a term derived from the Chinese kuli or ‘bitter labour’) a distance of 112 miles each way on narrow mountain tracks. A porter could carry 10 to 12 packs of tea weighing an average of 7 kilos each, along with carrying his own grain to eat (another 9 kilos) and it is said they would go thru as many as 6 pairs of sandals on the journey. Pu-er tea , which comes from the area known as Pu’er (south of Kunming) is a tea that was pressed into blocks to make it easier to carry, and so the deeply crushed, oxidized and
aged tea became a favorite throughout the region.
In Tibet they would mix Pu-er tea with salt and Yak butter to make Tibetan Butter tea, a nutritious staple in the area
So yes, Ya’an, the gateway to Tibet is where I am heading next to find seeds. As a side note Ya-an is also the home of the Panda (bear- cat in Chinese) and the Panda reserve. Pray for me that my jouney will be successful. If you have not pre-ordered your seeds, plants and liners, there is still time. You don’t want to miss out on this opportunity.
Until next time…..live well
Steve Behncke
From Kunming China November 19th, 2011
Kunming to Chengdu November 19th to December 10th, 2011
I caught the sleeper train from Kunming to Chengdu, in the Sichuan province. The soft sleepers are nice; four beds to a room and you can close the door. But somehow the ventilation system in the train pumps air from the other cars and it’s like a direct channel to pure cigarette smoke, sick! Chinese are serious smokers. In fact they do not shake hands but most likely will greet you with an offer of a cigarette. No PC here, restuarants, buses, trains, anywhere, they just light up,deal with it. I kept jumping up from my bunk to look at outside and give a glare at who might be smoking near the door, but there would be no one in the aisle.
I am an early riser and I went to the dining car to read and wait for the sunrise. Postcards of real life flashing by the window as we passed mountain, river and valley, everywhere people working in the fields on tapestries of raised beds made of stone and rock pulled from the ground over generations . A Chinese family can work a small plot and grow enough rice to last 2 years. Chinese people do not go hungry, no matter how poor they are. There is no welfare check and culture of homelessness here, just a piece of ground, a hoe and a handful of seeds. I have crossed the US a dozen times and I have never seen anything close to the work ethic demonstrated by these quiet farmers who spend the day in the fields.
In Chengdu I found the Hostel called Mix, owned by Jerry Mix, a Chinese man and experienced traveler. Mix hostel is a great place and everything I heard it was .Mix hostel has a international vibe, cool art work, incense burning everywhere , a real lay-back atmosphere, pictures of Jerry’s travels throughout Tibet and Mongolia, great hang-out rooms with big fat couches and pillows to lounge on and surf the net. There is a kitchen putting out great Sichuan food and a really friendly and helpful staff. Chengdu would be my base of operations for searching out tea seeds found in this province. I met a guy from Australia and he asked to tag along on my tea seed adventure, having just finished two months of volunteer teaching in Xian (the home of the terracotta warriors) he was looking for adventure.
River flowig thru Ya'an
The Bus ride to Ya’an was an hour and a half. Ya’an was an old town off the tourist trail. Chinese are very polite as a rule and normally will only risk a sideways glance at you as we walked by, but the sight of this bearded guy walking the streets was too much for this small town and people everywhere were checking us out. We strolled the markets and ate some unknown meat in a small local café.
The tea seed propagation farm called Ya’an Techan was huge and geared to major tea plant sales. They deal in seeds and plants from the Sichuan region and they propagate seeds of a green tea used primarily for producing Oolongs teas. I had some resistance to buying seeds from such a big place, having in my mind to support smaller, local famers, but since I was worried that I might not get any seed at all, I thought it best to make a purchase of at least 10 kilos of Oolong tea seeds.
They laughed at such a small order as they deal in the thousands of seeds and plants. They were not interested in helping me export in any way, telling me that it was not possible to get seeds out of China. “ Men from Europe, come with suitcases and get seeds out that way”, they told me, which, though not to comforting, might be my only option.
Back at mix hostel I saw some of the city, famous for the world’s first use of paper currency among other significant historical data including being the city where all intellectuals fled during the Japanese occupation in WWII and an earthquake in 2008 that killed 80000 in the surrounding areas, though the city itself was so well built it suffered almost no damage. Mix himself took a number of us on a bike ride for about three hours thru town visiting the old district, the Tibet quarter, and a cool noodle place where were all stopped to eat. I can’t connect with Youtube (its blocked from China, as well as Facebook) but be sure to check back for some cool movies I made of my bike ride in Chengdu.
Fellow travelers and I swap stories at Mix Hostel Chengdu
I was happy to at last get some tea seeds but still frustrated at not really connecting with the China of my mind, you know the romantic image one has. The cities I have seen only show the appetite the Chinese have for progress and development and nothing of the history and the culture I was hoping to touch. So far the farms I passed on the train and the market places filled with vegetables and goods were the only real things I have come in contact with. Looking up at the huge buildings the Chinese are building gave me a sort of reverse vertigo, like they were going to suck me up into the sky. It is really something to behold, the size and the number of buildings being built. Have you seen the episodes of Star trek that featured the Borg? It’s like that, huge, monolithic rectangles that seem to land from the heavens right before you and a voice that says “surrender, resistance is futile”. Its like China was being captured and destroyed before I could have a chance to see her. They only escape I found was at a little tea house on corner in the old district where old men hung out sipping jasmine tea and smoking. I spent quite a few early mornings there watching the sun come up and the parade of life on its way to work, really special. I found an old guitar in the back patio of the Mix and lamented leaving my back in Hangzhou. I also was feeling the first pangs of homesickness. I did some laundry and hung it out on the roof of the hostel and made plans for heading south along the Tea- horse Trail. My goal now 1) to find the highest elevation where tea was growing and buy seeds and 2) find the real China. Travelers came and went from Mix and the international vibe created by people packing for adventure really is intoxicating, I love it. I am not much of a social guy, in fact I have no friends to speak of, except one or two out of state maintained by emails and the occasional phone call. But here , on the road, and in the hostel, I find people of my stripe, adventurers who have quit school, or jobs or relationships, and go into the world to find meaning in traveling to new places and touching other cultures. I know that feeling , that need, to see cultures other than my own. The US does have a culture, its does impart one to the world, I mean the Chinese crave it, but its hard for me to see driving the streets of my own town or walking the aisles of Walmart. To experience other cultures for me is an addiction I acquired ever since I ran away from home at 17 to cross the US and chase a girlfriend stolen away from me by her father. But one thing about the travelers I meet is that most are on a tight schedule and trying to put as many “many events” as they could into their journey; boat trip up the Yangtze, horse ride into Tibet, hiking trip down the Tigers leaping gorge. I felt lucky really to not have more of agenda than to experience chinese culture, seeds and sit on a corner watching people.
Clothes finally dry I packed to go back to the trip to Yunnan where I would pick up the Tea horse trail in a small town of Shaxsi. I have never owned a tour guide book but someone lent me a copy of the Lonely planet. Skimming thru I found a description of Shaxi that was almost word for word what I had just shared with a fellow traveler about what I was looking for; finding and unspoiled place in china free of tourists and of people who want to become like Americans.
The soft sleepers out of town were booked and so I decided to go for what they called a hard sleeper, which are train cars filled with bunks, in groups of 6, divided by simple walls. I am glad I did. Again, I was the only foreigner on the train and this time I found myself with a large group of older Chinese. Did I mention how beautiful Chinese old people are? I could just take pictures of old people and fill a book. As the train made the final run into Panzhua in the twilight of the next morning, I laid in my bunk and watch the silhouettes of these simple folk making tea and rubbing their joints as they chatted joyfully. We exchanged languages in a playful way as we sipped tea and awaited our arrival, it was great fun.
MARKET IN LIJANG
LIJANG
MARKET LIJANG
Mama Naxi's big feeds in Lijang; prepare to eat. Fins, Asussies, Isrealies
In Panxhua, I jumped on a small bus that took me to the town of Lijang where I got a taxi to Mama Naxi’s guesthouse. The Naxi are the indigenous people of this area of Yunnan, a beautiful, colorful people that reminded me in so many ways of the Tsozil Indians of Southern Mexico. In fact, many of the indigenous peoples remind me of Mexican Indians ( I know “Indians “ is not PC) The Tibetans in the shops also strike an amazing similarity as well; their clothes, weavings, jewelry of turquoise and coral, round tanned faces with Asian eyes, all of it lending to the idea of the migration across the bearing straight 13000 years ago. I enjoyed Lijang, whose history goes back past the 12th century. The city reminds me of a real- life hobbit village with streets and bridges made of marble polished smoothe buy thousands of feet over hundreds of years. Its has water running from the mountains thru canals right thru the town and in this way it much resembles Venice. It was easy to get lost, and I did many times, being drawn into alleys and paths that split into endless little side adventures. But there are hordes of chinese tourist here too and I eventually followed a Naxi woman with an empty basket who led me to the escape of the market place. I love the market, especially in the bustle of the early morning. The meat section was filled with the sounds of animals ready to be slaughtered, graphic, brutal, blood flowing and steam rising from their bodies in the morning air like spirits . Geese, ducks, chickens, pigs, and yes, even dogs all awaited their fate as patrons pointed their fingers at the next sacrifice and butchers, priest of the meat eating cults, slit the throats of the next sacrifice. There were fish and frogs and eels and such an assortment of fruits and veggies that I suddenly realize why the old people were so beautiful, their diets being full of the fruits of the earth. I spent quite a few days in the market place, only going back to Mama’s place to sleep, partake in her family feeds and check my emails. But there would be no seed in Lijang. It sits at the foot of Jade Mountain and the valleys that surround it were filled with Mango and Bananas but no tea.
Tea Horse Inn; Shaxi
Old woman asks for a light: Shaxi
Village Square Shaxi just out side the Tea Horse Inn
Temple: Shaxi
Quiet Streets: Shaxi
View of Lijang from balcony
I caught a bus to Shaxsi and arrived, much to my delight on Friday, market day. Wow! Tribes from the hills come into town to sell their fruits, veggies and animals along with their jewelry and handicrafts. I bunked at Tea Horse Inn , a converted stable from the “Tea Horse Trail” days. How appropriate! In fact Shaxi itself came into being for being a place where the caravans would rest on their long journeys from Tibet to China; horses downstairs and rooms upstairs. The area also had famous silver and salt mines, both were traded for horses from the north and yes, tea from the south. I visited some temples and found what they call a syncretic, or mixed religion of the many faiths born in the hearts of the many different kinds of people who have trodden these paths for over a thousand years. Shirley, was the owner, an educated Chinese women who spoke fluent English that she learned from missionaries. We had many frank conversations, some hushed, over life in China. She and her husband treated me to Kung fu tea, an old drinking tea tradition of drinking tea from small cups in a casual and time-lengthly way of sipping and conversing.
After a few days of eating in local cafes and watching life, I decided to head south to Dali. I had finally touched China , and was so thankful that Shaxi still lacked the 5 star hotels that lure the tour buses and to be able to know this quaint village, frozen in time, before the Borg landed and assimilated her.
Dali
Passing thru the many towns and villages over the next 4 hours on my trip to Dali was awesome. China is a mix of third world and energetic change. I seek imperfection when it comes to travel. Its the potholes and gravel roads that separate the monotony of modernization from the colorful intrigue of the small bustling town. I arrived in shagwon, the new-city part of Dali and my directions, written by a friend, were to take bus 8 to the old district. Here we are surrounded by high mountains all around topped with perpetual cotton candy clouds and a light dusting of snowy, powdered sugar. My destination was the Jade Emu, owned by a Australian called Dave and his Chinese wife Song. Dave and Song run a really great hostel ; reasonably priced, clean, 24 hour hot showers, great food , cheap beer and a pool table. Nice. I told Dave of my Tea seed quest and he immediately suggested I talk to his taxi driver who lived in the mountains because there were tea plantations right here in Dali. Fantastic!
Steve at the Jade Emu getting ready for a cold one after a day of hiking in the mountains of Dali
The very next day the taxi driver and his wife took me into the mountains to an 50 year old tea plantation where we picked 10 kilos of fresh seeds. Dali sits at 2000 meters and after the drive i suspect we were up another 2 to 300 meters or so when we finally reached the plantation. This is a great find to discover tea growing at such cool climates. What this means is now we have seeds for such areas in the US requiring cold tolerant varieties. The name of this tea is High Mountain Green Tea and it is used to make green tea and a special kind of caked tea, similar to Puer tea except that the cakes are made into a sort of bowl with a fist punched into it and then aged. I am so happy! Getting seeds out the country is still yet another thing, so those of you waiting for your seeds, be patient! They are coming!
Tea plant heaven. 50 year plantation
My new friends and tea seed providers from Dali seen here with
me and two bags of fresh Green Tea Seeds.
Next stop…to the south of Yunnan and the famous Pu’er teas!
Be well
Steve Behncke
Update January 14, 2012
Greetings from Jinghong, China in the southern part of the province of Yunnan in the area known as Xisuangbana, the home of Puer tea, known as the "little Thailand of China"
(from Travel guide China) "Jinghong was named as Jingyong, where a total of 13 nationalities live together such as Dai, Hani, Jinuo, Bulang, Hui and Yao. The population of the ethnic minorities takes up 66.7% of the total population. In 1180, Payazhen, the leader of Dai people, established Jinglong Kingdom. In 1269 of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), Jinghong Kingdom was changed into Cheli Army and People General Government which was re-changed into Cheli Xuanwei Shisi (pacification office) in 1384 of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). In 1570, the commissioner of Cheli Xuanwei Shisi divided its territory into 12 Banna (12 parts). In 1927, Cheli Xuanwei Shisi was made as Cheli County, and then was renamed as Jinghong County in 1958. Finally, it was upgraded as Jinghong City in 1993."
Its been a while since I have done an update so please forgive me. Henry David Thereau once said, “those of us who write would much rather live life than write about it.” Its so true! I have had so many great adventures and met so many wonderful people that I put off writing about it and then I go into paralysis as to where to begin to get you all caught up.
Jinghong is the tropical home of Puer Tea, just south of the town of Puer. There are many minority people here inhabiting the lush mountains where they grow this amazing tea along with other valuable crops uncluding massive amounts of Bananas and Rubber trees.
Below Hani Village we visited and women in traditional dress
About a month ago I met a man called Deng (pronounced Dung, unfortunate name and I have been trying to come up with an English name for him since) who befriended me in a hostel in Kunming a hard days travel to the north. His English was not so good but he mananged to tell me that his girlfriend was an English teacher in Jinghong, at the university here and he volunteered her services to be my guide in my search for Puer tea seeds. There are 7 mountains famous for tea in Xishuangbana and we chose one about an hour from here in an area called Nano mountain. It is the home of the Hani people who first moved here from the Southeast Asia about a 1000 years ago, driving out as it were, some other tribes who were responsible for the first planting of tea in this region. The trees are quite old here. I am not sure the trees are 1000 years old (which they claim) or even 500, but they run large and so do the tea leaves which are wide and meaty. This is what the Puer tea is known for, wide, fat leaves.
I have still to develop a real taste for Green tea, I have to admit. I like it but not enough to drink it all the time, that’s just me, I am in to strong flavors; coffee, chilis, stong pipe tobacco, you get the idea and so the Puer teas fit the bill for me. The teas are picked and compressed and aged so when they hit your cup they have a rich flavor, dark color and with a whole new set of natural chemical changes due to the extreme oxidation they undergo.
Leaving the tropical lowlands of Jinghong we took the local buses up into Nano mountain where the fog and mist cling to the hills and get you to grab your jacket as soon as you step off the bus, that is if you brought one, whoops! I was freezing but we borrowed one from a local vendor of smoked pigmy pig who in addition to lending me a jacket also gave me jerky to eat and a ride into the hills where we began our hike into the villiages of the Hani people.
Wok frying the green tea we picked the very day we visited the village. This was no tour, the real thing. Great fun, right down to the smoke in my eyes.
(Multiple generations inhabit homes made of wood hewn from the hills which provide all their food and money)
The Hani family we met were the kindest most generous people I have met in my stay in China. We picked tea, and they showed me the entire process from leaf to tea in the cup which included drying in the sun, drying in a sort of smoker, and pan wok frying. After that there are other optional processes one of which is where you take the wok fried tea and stuff it in to fresh bamboo and steam it over the fire. This tea fetches about $125 per kilo in the market place.
( Before we ate the woman of the house tied this string around my wrist and said that I was family now and to not take off the threads until I returned to them )
After picking tea leaves and seeds they treated me and my guides to a fantastic meal of fried fish from the local stream, heart of banana salad, two kinds of steamed wild greens gathered from the local forests, a rice and chicken porrage, pork in vegetables, and various kinds of sauces and what I would call pickled “chutneys” of various sorts of which I cant rememeber the Hani name for. For desert there was fried rice bread rolled in sugar and of course the family tea. The wife and mother then came out with gifts; one was tea that has been aged for over 10 years, very expensive along with other teas aged as well . She then gave me a hand stiched, (needlepoint) bag typical of the handicrafts of the Hani people. The younger son had a guitar in the house and I played some music for them and then she came to me and tied some thread around my wrist and gave me a blessing telling me that I was a part of her their family and the threads would bring me back to them,really touching.
The Hani are about 4000 people in 26 villages in these mountains. Their homes are made from timber cut from the forests, and they grow all their own food; rice terraces stair step the hillsides, and ponds cuture fish. There are pigs, and chickens and corn, tomatoes, and well, the list goes on. i could live there, it was so beauitiful. In fact I would like to take a group of travelers there my next trip to China. I grow food at home and I would like to bring some good seeds with me next year and see if we could introduce some unique foods to their diet and commerce, I am sure they would be into it. Interested? Write me at Uniqueplants@aol.com and in the subject line put "Hani village Project"
(Greentea to the left that we picked and roasted then steeped. On right, 10 year old fermented Puer tea which was brought out and sipped as a very special honor to our visit)
(shapes like these are made from aged tea which is steamed and formed into these odd shapes that to me, don't look all that appetizing, if you know what I mean. Another tea is pressed into bamboo and steam then cut into rounds, also check out the hand stitched bag she gave me! the generosity of the people was overwhelming)
(learning how to roll the roasted tea that begins the oxidation that makes for the strong Puer taste)
Seeds are coming
On the business side of things I am happy to say that my first batch of Chinese tea seeds did make it to the USA, Whew! I was worried. It was touch and go with the government; It was Yes and then No and then Yes again, and finally I was able to get the paperwork and send them but the promised 14 days turned into a month and still no seeds arrived, I was sweating it bad. I put a trace on the box and they could not find it, but then my wife wrote and said the seeds had come, hooooray! That was my High Mountain Green tea seed that came from the 2000 meter elevation in the mountains of Dali. Encouraged I sent the second box, this time spending hundreds extra for a private postal company and that box should be arriving in a week with Oolong seeds from Ya’an in the Szechuan province.
The Puer seeds I have just gathered will either be sent in the mail when I get my quota or I might be bringing them on the plane. As of this writing I am not sure if I am coming back to the USA for a while as I might extend my trip for more tea research as well as take part in an interesting opportunity to be in a Chinese movie as a small part actor, something that just sort of fell into my path. Those of you who bought one variety of seed received yours already from the very fresh batch of Indian Assam that arrived recently and the other seed orders will be filled as soon as the second box arrives. The rest of the seeds are being planted, even as I write and so all of you who ordered plants with our pre-season specials will be first on the list to get plants when they are ready in the Spring, cool huh?
Above: the wood fired tea drying closet
Own a piece of Chinese History
I came across a tree whose plaque reads 800 years old! I arranged with the owner and caretaker of the tree to save me seeds from the tree in the fall. My thought is to make a fundraiser to help the Hani people by selling these seeds and plants from this heirloom tree. If you would like to be put on the list of potential buyers for this amazing seed please write me at uniqueplants@aol.com and put in the subject line “fundraiser” and I will let you know when they would be available.
Thank you for supporting my
trip with your purchases. It took faith on your part and mine to spend
money and come to China not knowing if we would be successful or not and
it paid off. Not only will there be 3 varieties of tea from China I
have established a pipeline of tea seed that will be coming in the
future, along with other varieties, so congratulations to all of us!
Blessings in the new year.
From Jinhong,
Steve Behncke
Below: " not coming to a theater near you any time soon" I get a chance to be in a Chinese movie as an extra. I ate great food, got paid and they like my beard so much they offered me a part as an American General in a war scene on the Burmese border in February. Should I do it?
