Wow, it's so pretty here!
Here is the Jiuhua Mountains.
The Jiuhua Mountains.
The other side of this mountain is the Huangshan Mountains.
Now we are heading up to Bianfu Dong
- These are the freshly plucked tea leaves, aren't they?
- Yes.
- Good morning! Thanks for the hard work!
- What are you doing here?
- to have fun.
- How much have you plucked? 1 kilo?
- Just about.
- Not even.
- That's pretty good!
- We've already empty the basket for several times.
- What? Several times already?!
- Yeah, some have finished the day.
- Wow, so impressive!
- You guys are amazing!
This is the most desired grown area of Lu An Gua Pian. It's called Bianfu Dong.
Heading up a little bit more, we'll arrive at Bianfu Dong.
The best terroir of Lu An Gua Pian is here on Qitou Mountain.
There are more gardens in the Bianfu Dong area.
There are tea gardens from here all the way up to the top.
- How long have your family been here?
- Since the grandpa's childhood.
This is the most desired grown area of Lu An Gua Pian, Bianfu Dong.
We can see this is an old tea farm.
This is an old bush of heirloom cultivar.
- Only pluck one leaf.
- Yes, only these ones.
- These leaves are very light. (It means it needs more work, plucking more leaves, per kilo.)
- Yes.
- So would you pluck the tip of the shoots eventually?
- Yes.
- Wow, you pluck very fast!
- How much can you pluck a day?
- Not much.
- These leaves are too young.
- Maybe 1.5 kilo per day?
- Yes, when the leaves are ready I can reach that amount.
- This maturity of leaves doesn't weigh much at all.
This is like life, ups, and downs. Still fun.
I'm panting.
This is the most desired grown area of Lu An Gua Pian, Bianfu Dong located on Qitou Mountain.
- Are you going to the lower altitude to keep plucking?
- Yes.
- Are you done the plucking for the day?
- We are done with the gardens over there. There is still tea to pluck here.
The tea pluckers are switching gardens to keep plucking.
- Are you guys also switching spots?
- No, we are done and heading home.
- Xianming Tea. You guys work for Xianming Tea?
- Yes.
They all have badges on them.
We are all heading down too.
(locals chitchat)
- Mine (the second closest wok) is shu guo, hers (the closest wok) is sheng guo.
- two people forms a team.
So aromatic!
- Are the brooms the same?
- Is there any difference between the brooms of sheng guo and shu guo?
- Yes.
- One is wider than the other?
- Not really.
- The broom for sheng guo is stiffer.
- Got you. The broom for sheng guo is stiffer while the one for shu guo is softer.
- Teacher Wu?
- Can you give us some advice?
- Oh, I'm still learning too.
- You don't understand our dialect?
- No, I'm from Jiangsu Province.
- We have many people who work in Jiangsu Province.
Start prepping.
La da huo.
Now it's time for the tea leaves to cool down.
This is the Lu An Gua Pian after la lao huo.
(Smells so good!)