One of things I struggle with is finding time to find balance. It really is a tea paradox because once you make time for tea you realize how much more time you have. When visiting China I am reminded of how expansive this world really is and there is no time to waste on unmindful lethargy. Ok, so we need to chill out some times but chilling out with intention is different than spacing out from overload. Once ones mental bucket is full then it is challenging to empty it. And with media and technology overload it is easy to become well, overloaded. Ideally we can find an hour a day of reconnecting and making the day great however that is not always possible.

So, 10 minutes we can do on a break at home or at work. A great teacher once told me you have to know what you know. Meaning once you know something stick with it don’t trick yourself into not knowing. With tea, knowing how to make great tea starts by finding the right water, using the right storage, selecting the best tea possible and taking a few minutes to prepare your select tea. In only ten minutes a day this time can be spent as a recharge moment to improve the rest of your day.

Start with ten minutes without your phone or computer or any distractions and build from there. Stick with this rhythm and you’ll be surprised at what only ten minutes can do.

Its a challenge to find the tea shrubs in this photo. They are there. The garden isnt as picturesce as most tea plantations that you would see commercially grown but they are there. Its a simple trek for the farmers. A few minute incline to these organic fair trade tea fields and back to processing before the withering takes place.

I hope I don’t offend anyone here with this post. According to my resources deep in the Wuyi Mountains there are plenty of wild tea trees but  no Monkeys that pick tea or for that matter have ever picked tea here.

Oddly enough however there appear to be several species of non human primates in this region which are known to open/pop the top off a bottle of beer. Granted there are pictures and old paintings of the tea partnership between Monks and Monkeys trading food for wild tea leaves that could not be reached by humans, however these primates have no interest in the leaf. They prefer another brew.

So why have the name  Monkey in a tea such as our white monkey picked or golden monkey? Monkey Picked Tea refers to a top tier tea. Typically wild thicker leaves are used for this or rarer more precious leaves and buds.

This checkpoint is to prevent tourists, foreigners and uninvited guests away from the protective reserve. The habitat hosts a variety of  rare herbs and botanicals, rock teas, about 1000 residents and a host of wildlife. Tourists are only allowed in the Summer time and this visit was early harvest season so no tourists are allowed in order to protect the reserve’s natural habitat. Since I was traveling with the estate manager the guard let us through without question. Once through the gate the forest opened up to be a pure magical place. With China having many contrasts of population and other environmental concerns this place was surrounded by mountains peaks far away from city culture. These mountain peaks would shoot up at a 90 degree angle at the sky with waterfalls flowing down the side  wild monkeys, tea shrubs, pine and bamboo forests. This is where our famous organic white tea and some of our organic hand crafted oolongs are produced… You can smell and taste the freshness of this area in the tea.

Special thanks to Mr. Zhan. He has been my driver for first 5 days of the journey through Fujian and has successfully honked at every bicycle, tricycle carrier, pedestrian, car, ox, dog, water buffalo, tuk tuk, corner, bridge, village entrance, alleyway, motorcycle, motorcycle truckish hybrid (not thinking eco here just no other frame of reference) car, stone, rolling ball, bus, truck, mountain bend, river bed and fallen bamboo…keeping us safe from harm and ensuring we get to our destinations safe and on time.

Because the crop yield is so low this year many of the farmers that would harvest their commercially grown fields are now looking elsewhere. In other words they are diving deeper into wild beyond the regularly planted crops and going back to find tea plants that were once harvested regularly but the tea plants were left once they stopped producing good leaves. This time allowed the tea plants to rest and develop the natural soil again which created a new focus for farmers this year. Many farmers in Southern Mountains in China are picking just what nature has provided are seeing tremendous results with the taste and monetary value.

This reminds me of the true the sense that we may do our best to plan, to organize and to overstock but nature has a wonderful and sometimes mystical way of showing that the what we need is really out there. In some cases more than we know we just have to look for it. Unfortunately the time for lucking is sparked in our lives by running out of options and making the most of what we got. If this lesson of what is provided in nature is true then let the taste and experience of the wild tea plant such as Wild Honey Sprout and White Monkey Picked be the reminder of our own natural potential.

So the 4 hour trip to the Private Reserve in Wuyishan Mountain Fujian China turned to an 8 hour car ride. Side Note: Its amazing how many dialects their are along the way. About 6 hours into the trip Mr. Zhan, our driver for the majority of the trip, drops us off at a random point and we meet with another driver that looks like he is about 28. I find out later that he is one of the tea managers of the organic estate we work with and will be visiting. A very humble man and a real salt of the earth person which we will discuss in another post. We began making our way through Wuyi Mountain range and was blown away by the landscape. Later we switched cars again to a 4×4 to handle the terrain and  to reach a checkpoint.