We visited the Chaozhou Tea Museum, stayed at the Phoenix Mountains’ first organic tea estate, and played with clay in a teapot studio – but some of the most prominent examples of tea culture were in the street.

There are many reasons to travel and one is that to really understand something, you need to experience the context it comes from. It’s that way with tea. Terroir and the tree’s biome play a big role in the flavour of the raw leaf, and the harvesting and production methods practised in a region can further enhance the final product. But it’s the local way of drinking that reflects tea culture.

On a recent tour to Chaozhou, in China’s Guangdong province, our group headed to the Phoenix Mountains (Fenghuangshan) to do a deep dive into dancong oolongs. Along the way we learnt about the 10 main flavour profiles of dancong, made tea by hand at an organic tea estate, and attempted to fashion a clay vessel at the Yu De Tang gallery studio, where five generations of artisans have made their mark in the world of teapots.

Ironically, then, it was on a free morning that I witnessed the true nature of Chaozhou tea culture. Our accommodation was in the ancient town, where car-less lanes were lined with traditional houses. We wandered around, poking our heads into ajar gates and happened upon the compound of the Chaozhou Opera. Rehearsals weren’t scheduled for that day, but a handful of singers were hanging out in the front room drinking tea Chaozhou style, dancong oolong steeped wetly in small cups over a deep ceramic tray.

One of our group had trained in opera and sang Puccini’s O Mio Babbino Caro in the courtyard, which then prompted immediate invitations to tea. Leaf was drawn in handfuls from a large foil sack, as they switched on the sound system to better showcase both the home and visitor’s talents. We were then treated to a Chaozhou opera song as we sipped the complex oolong, brewed strong as the locals preferred.

It was a form of hospitality to be repeated in just about every compound we found occupied; it took our group of eight more than two hours to arrive at our lunchtime destination, less than one kilometre from where we started. A tea crawl through town? If only all travel was as tea-filled as Chaozhou.

The Chaozhou Tea Tour was arranged and led by Cathy Zhang of Ms.Cattea.

This article originally appeared in AUSTCS enews 11 December 2024.