As soon as I stepped foot in Tokyo in 2008, I knew I had caught the travelling bug. I decided I didn't just want to travel I wanted to experience the world! The different cultures, the people, the sites and most importantly (to me) the food!

Recently I have started to develop an interest in photography and hope to improve my skills while doing what I love most.

Welcome to my journey........

Wednesday 23 May 2012

WINK - Part 5 - Green tea making experience.

Bohyang Tea fields
After Boseong we boarded the bus. We drove about 15 minuted to a different green tea plantation. It wasn't as breath taking as Boseong but it was nice. This is where the most expensive green tea in the world is grown. They infuse gold into the leaves somehow. He did tell us, but I was too tired to listen.

We were greeted by the cutest dog ever! William told us the dog had been on TV with his owners a few times. The dog was also on the sign at the entrance!

We had to form teams of 5-6. I was a team leader mwhahahaha!! My Chinese zodiac sign is a tiger so I was living up to the name ;). We had to pick tea leaves first. They told us to pick the first three leaves only and the smaller the better. A lot of people got annoyed at the winners of this task had rubbish big leaves so it looked like they picked a lot haha. Yes, I am bitter about this but have you spent half a hour trying to find the tiniest leaves? You end up going cross eyed!! ><


Picking leaves!

After picking leaves we went to the tea house where we drank some other expensive tea. Not the gold stuff but some other expensive tea. We learnt how to drink it correctly. The teas were delicious ^^. I drank a few cups. I am British, so I do love my tea haha.

 

We then moved to the cooking room. We had to wear two sets of gloves as the cooker was over 200'c. The cooker was like a giant wok with no handle. It was so hot, two people could only turn the tea leaves for 2 minutes before changing. Our sweat was pouring. After a VERY VERY long time, we put the leaves on a mat to cool down. We then had to roll the juice out of them for 20minutes. By this point we were all hurting and sweating. It felt like hours. The woman told us she would normally cook then roll then cook, the same leaves around 4 -12 times depending on the weather and the leaves. That must take all day!! No wonder it is so expensive!! We all had a new appreciation for tea leaves after this.

Our leaves!




They then had to decided the main winners of the day. She smelt my teams leaves and another team....... She asked another man and he said the other leaves smelt burnt so we won!!! Yes!!!!! Winners :p We got some green team power as a prize, so I can make green tea rice at home haha :D






Green tea fields.
 
Expensive tea

How to drink tea

Cooker

Tea leaves before

Rolling

Winners!!! ^^

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