and maybe did not learn as much about tea as I had hoped – my early efforts at learning how to find and buy good tea in China were foiled by a well-meaning high school student who said “you probably should just go to a supermarket.” This is probably true, but I wanted the whole experience – it did make me not go to the overpriced tea shops (where they run after you on the street with little sample cups). I finally found a shop where I wasn’t too intimidated – after much trying, I settled on two big bags of crysanthemum (my love of the four week expedition) and a small container of red tea, and one of black pu’er tea. The pu’er tea is, in fact, supposed to remedy everything. I like it because it’s rather stronger than the crysanthemum and, importantly, rather more caffeinated.
Next month I’m going to England, so that will be an entirely new tea drinking experience.
