Teacher of the Tea People

Monday, March 30, 2009

We have spent two days in the historic Yellow Mountain district as guests of seventy year old tea master Wang Fangsheng.

He has won 56 awards and many titles. The humble tea farmers christened him with the title, "Teacher of the Tea People".

We interviewed and drank his teas in his antique-filled tea shop in the historic shopping district of Huangshan City. It is a square mile of walking access only shops with the buildings ranging in age from 100 to 300 years old.

Later we trekked through a village that straddles a mountain stream and up a two mile mountain trail of slate stones to visit the closest tea garden in Mr. Wang's family and the tea factory.

Along the trail we passed a memorial to all of the Chinese soldiers and farmers lost in the Japanese occupation. Mr Wang pointed to an area of very old and large tea bushes that were often used by the farmers to hide from the invaders

His "ancestors" searched for the very best ridges to grow high mountain tea. The ridges need excellent soil and good sun exposure and a wide variety of plants and crops nearby. I think they had an eye for scenery, too.

The farmers lunch was a variety of fresh vegetables, eggs and tea all of it grown within 100 yards of the rustic table we dined on. The rice was grown in the valley below and carried up by tea pickers.

Mr. Wang has invented many styles of tea. One of his teas is the youngest tribute tea given to foreign governments. The other tribute teas are hundreds of years old
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Mr. Wang prominently displays a picture of Vladimir Putin receiving the four tribute teas from the previous Chinese chairman. That gorgeous set is now on display in a Russian museum. The sister set was brought out of Mr. Wang's vault and shown to us.

Mr. Wang is best known outside of tea circles for his invention of display teas in 1986.

He has fashioned close to three hundred beautiful, creative and very drinkable display teas. Hundreds of industry people have studied his techniques. The Chinese, Japanese and Koreans pre-order and buy almost all of his creations. The Japanese call him "The Father of Display Tea".

He asks that we all call him, "friend".

He also asks that all of the readers of this blog come and visit with him

He is sincere in his invitation.


Mr. Wang is a fifth generation tea maker and perhaps the most highly decorated tea maker we have met.