Dragon Well Tea: Hangzhou and World Expo in Shanghai

March 26， 2010 was a red carpet day for villagers around Dragon Well in Hangzhou as well as people concerned with tea on a much different level. On this day， the opening ceremony for the West Lake International Tea Culture Expo and the West Lake Dragon Well Tea Festival started. A plaque presentation ceremony took place at the same venue for China’s Top-Ten Teas for World Expo. The ceremonies took place at China Tea Museum.

Villagers from nine villages around Dragon Well gathered. Some of them prayed the noisy percussion show would usher in good harvest this year despite the cold spell that had lasted for an unusually long time. Nine electric woks were set up on the red stage and each village selected its best tea processing master to manually and officially make this year’s first batch of Dragon Well Tea.

The tea season this year was delayed by the unusually cold winter and cold spring. By March 26， only an exceedingly small quantity of Dragon Well Tea had been harvested. Most tea bushes had not yet prepared their first spring buds. None of the recent past years had seen such a late start of the tea season. That was how the prices for the little quantity before Qingming Festival were so exorbitant. The retail price in downtown Hangzhou for this year’s new crop was about 6，000 yuan half a kilo. If you’d like to buy tea directly from tea farmers in these nine villages， you would have to pay 100% more than last year. The organizers had taken great trouble to put their hands on a small quantity of tea for the opening ceremony.

Hangzhou is China’s capital of tea and the local people have strong feelings toward the Dragon Well Tea. The tea expo this year focuses on folk culture and the ties between local residents and tea.

A highlight of the expo is 2010 Shanghai World Expo. The UN pavilion will provide a venue for Chinese tea performances. During the World Expo， the participating tea businesses are authorized to use UN in their marketing.

Buddhism and Tea

Buddhism promotes tea and many Buddhist temples have close ties with well known tea brands. Some prominent temples in history in southern China appointed monks to take care of tea cultivation around their sanctuaries. They planted tea bushes and they processed tea for consumption at temples. Tea made by Buddhist monks is often referred to as Zen tea. Zen tea used to be the best buy for local bigwigs in Hangzhou. Today， young people love it. A trade business director says he buys Zen tea every year through some friends.

Today， about a 3-hectare (50 mu) plantation is still devoted to Zen tea in Hangzhou. It is located near the Lingyin Temple (Temple of Soul’s Retreat) and is part of Dragon Well.

On the morning of March 25， 20 plus monks in yellow gowns came to pick the first tea leaves this year. The tea bushes in this small plantation seemingly look unattractive: they are shorter and their twigs are long and short. Tea bushes do not look as healthy and flourishing as those cultivated by farmers. However， the Zen tea produced here inspires confidence in monks and those who love it， for it is free of fertilizers and insecticides.

Master Guangquan， deputy president of China International Tea Culture Research Institute and director of Zen Tea Institute， says that Zen tea is more than greener. He noted that tea farmers in Hangzhou have long since adopted a new Dragon Well tea species for their commercial plantations， but Fajing Temple in charge of the 3-hectare plantation has stuck to the original Dragon Well species. Today， the old bushes are highly treasured and the decision not to change to new species is regarded as wise.

Zen tea this year is about 4，000 yuan half a kilo， slightly more expensive than last year. Most Zen tea is sold， but Fajing temple retains a small quantity to entertain visitors who come to seek the taste of Zen， for “Zen and tea are of one taste” is a very ancient observation. Those who wish to find out about Zen tea or the tie between Zen and tea can visit Fajing Temple and have a sip. □