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World Meets Chinese Tea Culture | China, the home of tea

By Chang Sha, Xian Jiangnan, Peng Yukai, Du Mingming, Su Yingxiang
10:46, May 22, 2023 People's Daily Online

China, the home of tea, enjoys a time-honored tea culture.

For thousands of years, Chinese people have been planting, picking, making and drinking tea. Tea producers have developed six categories of tea: green, yellow, dark, white, oolong and black teas. Together with reprocessed teas, such as flower-scented teas, the number of tea products comes to over 2,000.

In China, every step of the process, from picking tea leaves to taking in the tea aroma, has its own tradition.

Brewing tea requires subtle control of water temperature, quality, volume and timing.

Savoring tea begins with taking a deep breath of the tea aroma. Then, you observe the tea color, take a sip of the tea, and finally examine the remaining tea leaves.

Today, giving tea to guests remains an essential part of Chinese etiquette.

In ancient times, Chinese tea travelled to different corners of the world through routes like the ancient Silk Road and the ancient Tea Horse Road. Today, it still serves as an important bond between China and the rest of the world, and between the past and the present.