A Last Stop in Tea City, Then Farewell for Now to China

I returned to Beijing's wholesale tea area, Ma Lian Dao, to take one last look before the flight home tomorrow morning. I dropped by the stores where I made friends to have a few cups of tea, leave more business cards, and ask them to send me samples of tea they think it is excellent. You never know!

I also got up the courage to walk into the store that exclusively sells Indian tea: Darjeeling, Assam, Ceylon, you name it! I asked to sample a few Darjeelings, but when the server didn't even know what estate or flush, I lost interest and walked off. I also found that work from China's famed porcelain capital, Jing De Zhen, has improved dramatically. Even the displayed items at wholesale vendors' windows are sometimes pretty good. Jing De Zhen is calling...


Hand-painted Qing Hua gaiwan set


Indian tea on display...in Beijing!