All the Tea in China......

I've just returned from Yunnan, China, a stop on the way home from Australia. What a fantastic place! Naturally I wanted to have a tea experience there after all the tea I'd consumed in Sydney.

Tea is taken very seriously in this part of the world and I was fortunate enough to visit tea houses that featured dozens of kinds as well as tea shops where sampling tea is an integral part of the entire experience. Here a friend of our son Nick treated us to a wonderful 15 year old tea grown on her family's plantation which we drank in tiny glass bowls that were filled with freshly brewed tea numerous times:



Teas are general sold in large, solid cakes that are gently broken apart when the tea is prepared:


So I didn't collect any tea bags for my work, but I wasn't disappointed. The tea we drank was rich and delicious and certainly will inspire more tea pieces as I clean the cobwebs and dead ladybugs out of my studio and get back to work.