It’s been a very interesting, exciting and exhausting couple of months, but I’ve finally made it back to the UK. Our trip this Spring included several weeks in Yunnan, visiting some tea mountains and sourcing our new season’s puerh teas, a trip to Wuyishan to drink tea and learn more from Master Huang and his family, a couple of weeks in Malaysia, attending a Liu Bao tea expo & launch of a new book on Liu Bao tea (in Chinese only unfortunately) and finishing with a few days in Yixing for the wedding of Master Zhou and Chen Ju Fang’s daughter.
It was my first Chinese wedding, and I’ve a feeling that it wasn’t so traditional. It was a fairly lavish affair and was full of potters and their interconnected families. I lost count quite quickly of how many grandmasters I was introduced to and I was honoured to be seated at one of the top tables, with close family members. The highlight of the trip was really the following days, spending time in more quiet surroundings with Master Zhou and his family. Much to my surprise, at the end of the trip, they produced 20 teapots that Chen Ju Fang had made for us before the wedding & had thought I could carry back with me to the UK. I was already exceeding my baggage allowance, but it didn’t take long to decide to post my clothes back on the slow boat and to refill my suitcase with her new teapots! I’m taking a break for a couple of days, now that I’m home, but will post these online in the next few days.
Our new puerh tea cakes are on their way back (a little later than we’d hoped for) and should be ready to post online around this time next month.
