The mountains 12km north of YangShuo are covered in row after row of tea bushes and the odd Osmanthus tree. The scenery of the plantation is stunning against the hazy backdrop of other mountains in the distance.
It is just after 1pm and we are donned in our straw hats, out in the baking sun, acting like plantation workers and picking our tea.
Our tour guide is Tien, a sweet girl whose English is perfect and her knowledge of tea is thorough.
She taught us that the best tea comes from baby leaves and that they have 7 people roaming the bushes, picking the perfect leaves to make either green or black tea.
We didn't get to see the processing part of the tea e.g. production of black tea, as that part of the plantation was closed. But we did get to taste the result of our pickings in the usual Chinese tradition, overlooked by the bull frog.
The tea was different to what we have tasted in the past; a lot greener and fresher. But it tasted better simply because we had picked it.
This tea tasting was like having a cuppa with friends. The girls were very hospitable, even when it came to sorting out our grumpy taxi driver who was trying to wangle more money out of us.
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