Mao Feng Green Tea in Wuyi, Zhejiang

Rows of Tea Bushes

Wuyi, Zhejiang © 2010 Tranquil Tuesdays

Wuyi, Zhejiang © 2010 Tranquil Tuesdays

Andrew and Me in the tea fields

Wuyi, Zhejiang © 2010 Tranquil Tuesdays

Wuyi, Zhejiang © 2010 Tranquil Tuesdays

Wuyi, Zhejiang © 2010 Tranquil Tuesdays

Close Up on Some Tea Plants

Wuyi, Zhejiang © 2010 Tranquil Tuesdays

Wuyi, Zhejiang © 2010 Tranquil Tuesdays

Wuyi, Zhejiang © 2010 Tranquil Tuesdays

Tea Fields Caretaker

Wuyi, Zhejiang © 2010 Tranquil Tuesdays

Wuyi, Zhejiang © 2010 Tranquil Tuesdays

Processing Equipment Resting in the Off Season

We went in the fall which is not peak season (this is a spring tea) so it was quiet in the processing facility.
Wuyi, Zhejiang © 2010 Tranquil Tuesdays

Still Some Hand Sorting

Wuyi, Zhejiang © 2010 Tranquil Tuesdays

Bamboo Tumbler

compare this one to the ones used at the smaller family operations in other photo collections.

Wuyi, Zhejiang © 2010 Tranquil Tuesdays

Some Freshly Picked Tea Leaves

Wuyi, Zhejiang © 2010 Tranquil Tuesdays

Huge Shipment Destined to a Popular American Company

So telling that they were getting the late summer early fall harvest (which is cheaper than the peak harvest Chinese people prize in the spring.)

Wuyi, Zhejiang © 2010 Tranquil Tuesdays

Facility Manager Showing Us Around the Empty Rooms

like I said it was early fall so the frenzy of the spring tea harvest peak production cycle was not roaring.

Wuyi, Zhejiang © 2010 Tranquil Tuesdays

Rolling Machines Standing at Attention

like I said it was early fall (off-season) so the frenzy of the spring tea harvest peak production cycle was not roaring.

Wuyi, Zhejiang © 2010 Tranquil Tuesdays

Empty Drying Room

It was early fall so the frenzy of the spring tea harvest peak production cycle was not roaring—a reminder that tea is a seasonal crop.

Wuyi, Zhejiang © 2010 Tranquil Tuesdays

Empty Production Line

It was early fall so the frenzy of the spring tea harvest peak production cycle was not roaring—a reminder that tea is a seasonal crop.

Wuyi, Zhejiang © 2010 Tranquil Tuesdays

Evaluating Grades of Tea

Wuyi, Zhejiang © 2010 Tranquil Tuesdays

Good Old Fashioned Country Road Traffic Jam

sigh.

Wuyi, Zhejiang © 2010 Tranquil Tuesdays

Let's End Here Instead

Wuyi, Zhejiang © 2010 Tranquil Tuesdays

I went with my friend Andrew who was researching organic tea production in China on a Fulbright Fellowship to visit one of the earliest organic tea producing facilities in China.

We went in the off-season (Fall) so that it wouldn’t be too bothersome for our hosts (imagine visiting a friend’s Christmas Tree business during December vs. May) so that’s why there are no tea pickers in the fields and why the production factory is like a ghost town. Tea is a seasonal crop!