I visited my first tea field in Hunan province, an organic field of
about 100 acres in the mountains about 3000 feet up, took five hours
drive to get there but was well worth the bumpy ride. The pickers were
going flat out at it . I was given some tea to taste on arrival which
was out of this world, very lush sweet young tatsing leaf straight
out of the factory. I had a nice tour of the factory which was
incredibly clean and modern. There were people working from the age of
20 to 83 years old. I must have had about 15 glasses of tea before
they sat me down for a traditional chinese lunch whith all organic
veggies. Unfortunately the wine they kept feeding me killed my ability
to tatse the tea after wards but to make up for this they gave me a
nice bag of tea to take with . If any one wants pictures on how tea is
picked steamed rolled processed just let me know and I will email them
to you ,I will be in Fujian in a few days time.
Maurice

On Apr 15, 9:01 am, "magicleaf" > wrote:
> I visited my first tea field in Hunan province, an organic field of
> about 100 acres in the mountains about 3000 feet up, took five hours
> drive to get there but was well worth the bumpy ride. The pickers were
> going flat out at it . I was given some tea to taste on arrival which
> was out of this world, very lush sweet young tatsing leaf straight
> out of the factory. I had a nice tour of the factory which was
> incredibly clean and modern. There were people working from the age of
> 20 to 83 years old. I must have had about 15 glasses of tea before
> they sat me down for a traditional chinese lunch whith all organic
> veggies. Unfortunately the wine they kept feeding me killed my ability
> to tatse the tea after wards but to make up for this they gave me a
> nice bag of tea to take with . If any one wants pictures on how tea is
> picked steamed rolled processed just let me know and I will email them
> to you ,I will be in Fujian in a few days time.
> Maurice

The things they let you see, I'm sure are great; it's what you don't
see that will get you everytime. Nearly everything from the Hunan
province that is imported to Guangdong is tainted with one chemical or
another. The most recent scare was "fake eggs".

The locals here don't even dare to drink teas from Fujian anymore.

I can imagine that this is a serious issue. I am on my way to fujian
ti Xiamen, any suggestions on where to see some good scenery I am
interested in taking some hi quality photos for my web site, I noticed
the organic field has a tonne of spiders crawling over the leaves cob
webs were everywhere.

On Apr 15, 11:10 pm, "magicleaf" > wrote:
> I can imagine that this is a serious issue. I am on my way to fujian
> ti Xiamen, any suggestions on where to see some good scenery I am
> interested in taking some hi quality photos for my web site, I noticed
> the organic field has a tonne of spiders crawling over the leaves cob
> webs were everywhere.

hello!

for organic gardens and organic teas in china contact this guy below -
he really makes some of the finest teas.

Yaobin Hong

Wulongshan Organic Food Co.,Ltd
No.66 Wengong South Road Ziyang Town Wuyuan County Jiangxi China.
http://www.organic-tea.cn
Tel:+86-793-7346638 Fax:+86-793-7348503

regards
ankit

"magicleaf" wrote:
> ... I am on my way to fujian
> ti Xiamen, any suggestions on where to see some good scenery I am
> interested in taking some hi quality photos for my web site...

You can try:
http://amoymagic.mts.cn/mtour.htm

You guys are great
Many thanks will check it it out. Actually meeting a member of this
group who contatcted me from Xiamen. Its all very exciting will let
you know how it all goes
Maurice

On Apr 16, 2:10 am, "magicleaf" > wrote:
> I can imagine that this is a serious issue. I am on my way to fujian
> ti Xiamen, any suggestions on where to see some good scenery I am
> interested in taking some hi quality photos for my web site, I noticed
> the organic field has a tonne of spiders crawling over the leaves cob
> webs were everywhere.

I don't want to sound demeaning at all when I ask this, but can you
speak any Chinese? Are you going on tour with a translator or a group
or something. Regardless the case, since you are a foreigner, they
will be sure to show you the best possible conditions and try to prove
to you that they are doing a bang-up job in hopes you will buy tea
from them. Like me, I walk into a tea plantation talking to the guys
letting them know I am only on a research mission and I don't intend
to drop cash on their doorstep, and the treatment is 100 percent
different. They will then let their guard down, and they don't care
what you see.

I had an incident similar to your experiences in Sichuan, where they
do have alot of 100 percent organic teas. After a night of drinking
with one of the owners of a plantation near Ya'an somewhere, the guy
flat out admitted to me that he only produces a very, very small
amount of truly organic tea and the rest is doctored up during the
processing. To be honest, tea that has not been colored is not so
pretty to look at.

Anyway, I am glad you folks actually believe in the inherent goodness
in China. After living here for 3 years and seeing the things that
I've seen, I am willing to believe my friend when he said, "There is
NO truly organic product IN CHINA; at all."

Good luck.