On Sunday, our program took us into Beijing to visit a four story mall filled with tea.  As you stepped through the glass doors, a wave of fresh aromas greeted you.  We walked through the hundreds of stalls to find a nice salesperson to let us taste some tea.

This woman was very kind and presented us with dozens of types of tea.  We gathered around this small table and watched as she skillfully created the perfect cup of tea. 

We tried oolong, red, green, and chrysanthemum tea.  Then we tried many varieties of tea that I’ve never heard of!  After the taste testing, I bought some lovely tea to bring back to the U.S.  They weighed it skillfully, then vacuum sealed the bag to ensure it stays fresh.  

As we walked around the hundreds of tea sets, I started to feel jittery.  Some other people felt extremely silly for no reason.  Our program director, Kitty, mentioned that after you drink a lot of tea you can get “tea drunk.”  I have no idea how or why this happens but I started to feel all the caffeine.  With all this extra energy, we had to be careful with all the fragility around us but thankfully we tasted and bought tea without breaking anything!