Traditional Tea Ceremony

What You'll Experience

In the heart of the French Concession, behind a wooden gate that looks like every other wooden gate, there is a teahouse that has been in the same family for three generations. The matriarch, now 70, trained under a Taiwanese tea master in the 1980s when gongfu cha was considered a relic; today it is a practice she teaches to anyone willing to slow down long enough to learn it. The ritual begins with water: temperature, mineral content, vessel. Then leaf: shape, provenance, processing method, the story of the farmer who grew it. Six varieties, six infusions each — you taste how a Longjing opens up by the fourth steeping, how a Wuyi rock oolong develops a minerality that stays with you for half an hour after the last sip. Your companion translates the master's words into English without simplifying them — because the ideas themselves are worth grappling with.

Highlights

• Taste six varieties of Chinese tea from six different growing regions
• Learn gongfu cha technique — the multiple-infusion brewing method used in serious tea culture
• Understand how altitude, soil, and processing shape flavor in ways that parallel wine
• Experience the meditative quality of a slow, silent pour in a traditional setting
• Leave with a small curated tea selection and handwritten tasting notes

What's Included

• All tea varieties and traditional brewing equipment
• Third-generation tea master as host
• Companion for translation and cultural context
• Traditional tea snacks (osmanthus cake, lotus seed paste)
• Take-home tea sample and handwritten notes

Meeting Point & Area

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