July 27th. some stuff to bring home

A quiet spot, overcast skies, a remnant of a recent typhoon.

Outside,  all things green love the high humidity: ……. Inside….

Inside,  I have; Tea and a few “Bits and bobs” to bring home: …….

Part 4, the Staff and Tea Pots

On the 2nd floor, a training session is in progress:…..

In this session one of the 34 staff serves tea and receives feedback from his peers and staff supervisors (the two girls in light shirts)

Li wraps the six cups I just purchased.  A perfect match to a tea pot I bought some 4 years back.

Li and No. 39 prepare to serve tea. Always with the “crazy fingers” :) :)

A small selection of the teapots along the  back wall.    All pots are labeled and priced.

Six natural bamboo form cups at 40 RMB each are a good buy.

An extremely well organized collection of pots for sale

Part III, The Tables

One of two large Slab tables,  a single slab of wood, approx 12’ x 3 1/2’ x 7” thick. Both sides of this table show the inner bark layer.

This  one is a my favorite of the two, 11’ x 4’ x 8” thick …. just a thing of beauty

I’d build a special room if I could only get this bad boy home: ……

The third of the large tables on the ground floor is a true stunner … exotic in every sense. Made from a single tree base. the outer bark removed and the natural surface polished.  Each of the 5 stools are made from the same tree and retain much of their natural form.

We later enjoyed tea sampling around this work of art: …….

Part B: Pu-Erh packaging

The vast variety and diversity of the packaging of Pu-Erh tea is mind boggling. Everything custom:  from the inner ticket and wrapper to the outer box and carrier.  As I peruse just one of the section, this small sampling is available at reasonable prices .. but just to difficult to carry back, and if I did, I’d have to extend my tea room 10 fold just to display tea packaging……………………………………

The collection of: 5 small cakes and one large cake sells for: 672 RMB:…….

This “Elabration is Collected” package sells for 359 RMB, not sure of the tea weigh.

I like this Box Set set of two cakes: ……………………………

Another Box Set of two cakes. This Box opens up to reveal a small dramatic stage setting, as seen in Chinese Operas.  A pair of 400g cakes sells for 252 RMB

A box set of Left and Right hand cakes, a pair of 400g cake sells for: 329 RMB

Here we have a 250g block for just 31.5 RMB:………………………

Part I the Store, July 25th, Sunday afternoon in Dongguan.

Last week I visited Li Hong at her new place of business.  Still located in the Dong Cheng area of Dongguan city.  Near the intersection of: XueYuan Road and Dong Cheng Zhong Road.   As ref: the Pink #2 is the location of Mrs. Yang's store.

Map source:  heredg.com.

As a collection of 40+ “sections/shops” under one roof,  a unique set-up for this area.  The consortium of 7 owners are rightly proud of this immaculate set of shops. The staff are enthusiastic, and are here to learn about the tea trade as a business. 
I plan on 4 separate postings to cover this visit.  In all we spent about 1 1/2 hrs here, after spending 2+ hrs at Mr’s Yangs “Getting drunk on tea” to quote Palao. Part 1 The Sore, Part B  Pu-Erh detail, Part III:  The Tables, Part 4: The staff and Tea Pots
At the entrance, you are greeted by a host, who will escort and help you navigate through sensory input overload.  I would need to shop here for about a month to imprint what is on offer and get to know the place.  Fortunately Li Hong  has known Palao and myself for about 6 years, so in that regard we have a friend to help us.
Ground / Street level entrance .. Pu-Erh by the: pallet (栈板 zhàn​bǎn)​ load.

On the lower level we see pallet sized storage, all Pu-erh

Paolo eyes some new cakes of Pu-Erh:…………………

On to the upper level, we see a mixture of: Tea and Accessories.

Everywhere is clean and free of clutter .. amazingly very “Un-Chinese”

Every thing in these stores has a marked price .. clearly defined in Chinese with sell prices in both Chinese and “Western” numbers.  Prices are, in my experience very fair.   A small amount of bargaining is possible depending on the size of purchase made.

One of the girls is writing up a recent sale .. you take your sales receipt to a central pay station.

One of the large “Plank” tables, the girls give a sense of scale. 

Friday, July 23rd. .. WuXi – SuZhou

Matt, JiuLou and James enjoy Fujian Oolong tea as we Tele-Conf. with collogues in Taiwan and the US.

Later in the day I went to SuZhou.  This is a familiar sight to family and friends:  Mr. Yen brought in his engineering director to assist in trouble-shooting a problem I need to resolve by Monday …………………………..

Eight of us enjoy the evening;  lobster tails and giant shrimp make an appearance amid a gastronomic event.

WuXi, (July 21st.) Wednesday evening .. tea with friends

A family rendezvous:  Recently married,  Da Sha  and her husband, joined her: younger sister, younger brother and his girlfriend, Matt, Robin and myself, at one of their tea shops.  The family now has two shops, one in WuXi and their new shop in Chang Zhou, about 60 min drive from WuXi. 

The newlyweds:………………………………………….

Chang Zhou, NW of WuXi:……………………………………

My old Lake friend sits forgotten.

I watched as this once young work boat moved into: Song Shan Hu, with its strange assortment of pumps and derricks.   It toiled to;  dredge,  drill and generally help shape the lakes new features.

Now she sits all but forgotten in a quickly overgrowing inlet,  accessed only by a disappearing and seldom traveled trail.

An eerie place as dusk approaches:……………………..

Saturday, (July 17th.) Tea Time

First stop: see Mrs. Yang and her crew (down one; Li Hong) more on that later.  A “crazy fingers”  Hi to Da Sha in WuXi, recently married.

A quiet moment as the shop empties … a lot of regular customers stop by on Saturday afternoon.

Stocks of Pu Erh old and new line the shelves: ………………….

A couple of new items that I’m not too crazy about.  Modern 2010 year of the Tiger packaging .. to each their own

This one is probably an extension of the “Tea Bag”  the “Tea in a Cup”  Su Pao Cha.  

A filter at the bottom holds a charge of Su Pao Tea (Pu Erh)  I joke with some “Apple” friends and dub this the: “ iCup”

Here is our friend Li Hong, she now works at a large tea consortium of 7 partners that have an: extremely uncharacteristic spotless tea emporium, only 10 min from Mrs. Yang shop. ……………………………………..  

This table is extraordinary, a single of Slab, of beautiful wood, from HuNan

More on this next weekend when I’ll return with more than just a cell phone camera.