Tea buying & production in An Xi, China.

Up bright and early. Already have farmers with their latest teas waiting for us to test them.
Interesting to note that just 18 hours after our arrival that the teas are already showing a considerable improvement in the flavour. Flavour now has much more depth and complexity; increasingly the teas have an additional sweetness and the bitterness of yesterday has mellowed so it is not the dominating taste. There is also a degree of the 'Guan Yin' taste & smell becoming noticeable. The teas on the whole improve throughout the day. All of these changes are down to the weather. The first day we arrived there had been rain the previous 2-3 days. Importantly for the farmers the prices also increased by 70-80% on the previous day.

Once the afternoon sun had subdued, around 15:30 Wan Ling and I took a walk to another of the hills. The lower hills were much more mature and with mixed crops including veg tables, bamboo and of course tea. The higher elevations had mostly been developed i.e. traditional forestation had been stripped, in the last 1-3 years. Although this created a somewhat imposing landscape of white clay and new tea trees the surround views were spectacular. We spend several hours on one of the peaks just laying on a giant rock talking and admiring the view. Wonderful. Just the sort of time I wanted and needed to spend after nearly 10 years working with sometime in human technology, in large cities．

Getting back to the house, surprisingly(!), it was time for dinner. We had the excellent bamboo shoots that we had at lunch and lots of great, local, fresh food. Yummy - although my belly is expanding at a horrendous rate. Also ate/drank for the first time ji mi jiu 鸡米酒.

Took time to visit some of the other farmers to compare their production techniques. Although each have their similarities with in the village there are numerous points that vary. The biggest challenge to recording a production schedule is the ambiguity in timings, for example: sun wilting can be done for anywhere between 0-8 hours depending on the weather, the quality of the leaf and the famers personal preference. This obviously is great for us the tea drinker as every 'batch' will have its own unique flavour and characteristics.