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April 21, 2016

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Home » City specials » Hangzhou

The finest places for a soothing cup of Longjing

JUST like the Provence smells like lavender in fall, Hangzhou smells like tea in spring. The popular Longjing (dragon well) tea, one of the best Chinese green tea varieties, is picked and dried this season.

Put on your sneakers on a sunny day and chase the unique refreshing aroma in Meijiawu, Longjing, Maojiabu, and Santaishan, some of the main tea towns where workers roast the tea leaves in huge pans.

A bus or a taxi will take you there. Hop off once you see small yellow dots moving among lines of lush green bushes. If you look a little closer, you will see that the yellow dots are bamboo hats that the workers wear while they pluck the leaves.

In the towns, teahouses are waiting to welcome you with a glass of fresh-made Mingqian Longjing tea that usually costs around 100 yuan (US$15.47). Mingqian tea is made of buds picked before Qingming Festival (which fell on April 4 this year), considered the best Longjing.

After April 4 and before April 20, Longjing is called Yuqian, the second best kind, with a slightly stronger taste and a more affordable price at around 60 yuan per glass.

Most of the teahouses have a garden or a balcony facing the tea hills. Locals enjoy to hike in the morning and go to the teahouse by lunch for a meal. They relax here until the afternoon, when it’s time for some more chatter and a hot cup of tea with nuts while overlooking the scenery.

Hundreds of teahouses are scattered around the hills of Hangzhou. Locals already used to gather at teahouses almost 1,000 years ago, when the city was the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), and the tradition continues until today.

Much like a pub in the West or a coffee house, teahouses are places where people come to relax, talk about business, kill time, exchange information, or listen to operas or music performances.

Typically, you will find three types of teahouses: one that provides tea and buffet; one that provides tea and tea snacks; and one that provides tea and meals from an a la carte menu.

This week, Shanghai Daily introduces some of the best teahouses in these areas.

Expect some quintessential Chinese styles at Qingteng Teahouse, with paper lanterns, wooden chairs and tables and doors, blue-and-white porcelain tableware, Chinese instruments, and Chinese music playing in the background.

Qingteng was one of the first places in the area to offer tea and buffet.

On the east corner of the West Lake, it is considered a landmark of the city and one of the top 10 teahouses in Hangzhou.

Both locals and expats enjoy to come here, due to Qingteng’s high-quality buffet, tasteful traditional decoration, plus reasonable prices.

 

Address: 2/F, Yuanhua Department Store, 278 Nanshan Rd

Tel: (0571) 8702-2777

Cost: from 88 yuan per person

Address: 2/F, Whydham Regency, 583 Fengqi Rd

Tel: (0571) 8506-0909

Cost: from 158 yuan per person

He Cha Guan is situated in the picturesque Fayun Village near Lingyin Temple and the prestigious five-star resort Aman Fayun.

Owner Pang Yin, an antiques collector, originally opened the teahouse to be able to showcase her collections, but it soon became popular for its tea and sweets.

Pang fell in love with tea-drinking culture after she opened her first teahouse in the late 1990s. To perfect her knowledge of tea, she visited dozens of tea plantations in the country to learn about the nature of tea.

Today, she gives classes on tea at colleges and seminars, and designs tea sets and studies tea dessert menus.

On the menu at her teahouse, milk cake is suggested to go along with Longjing tea, while Hangzhou’s rich-flavored butter cakes complement the strong taste of Dahongpao, an oolong tea. Tea and snacks cost 98 yuan per person.

Meals are also served at He Cha Guan, according to what’s in season and available at the markets. A meal will set you back 188 yuan per person.

 

Address: No. 15, Fayun Lane, 42 Qiushi Rd

Tel: (0571) 8797-9556

With a long-spouted teapot around their body, waiters pour tea from a distance into cups while they assume tai chi style poses, circling the vessel around their head and balancing the long spout on their shoulders — it’s a must-see in Hangzhou that’s best enjoyed at the Tai Chi Teahouse on the quaint Hefang Street.

The waiters wear long blue gowns and black skullcaps, a typical costume from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), and the history of their impressive serving skills can be traced back to the 18th century when the tea acrobatics were invented by tea master Zheng Xiangdong.

The teahouse doesn’t serve meals, but snacks and fruits are available.

 

Address: 184 Hefang Street

Cost: 50 yuan on average




 

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