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We bookended our time in China by doing tea things (of course). In Beijing, one of our tours was to visit a tea demonstrator (and store--like many of our tours) and she showed us a few kinds of teas and how to brew them.

Handing us the jar to smell.

One tip that I didn't know is one brews the loose tea directly in the pot, then dumps it out immediately into another pot to serve. You don't let your leaves continue to steep. This has proved to be a great way to reuse tea leaves, as then they don't completely leech out in the water as you sip.

She also talked about what's common in Beijing (though she said China--our guides in the other provinces weren't convinced about the number of tea drinkers in China, especially amongst the younger generation) and we sampled a few kinds of tea to get a broad spectrum.

Pur eh (pure) tea. 

Then, of course, we were led into the gift shop.

A wheel of pur eh tea.

When our guide in Guangzhou asked what we'd like to do during our free time, Chip mentioned he had seen a poster for a tea expo and that we'd perhaps enjoy that. Our guide was a little confused, and said we'd probably prefer heading down to the tea market instead. We did manage to clear up what the tea expo was and decided it would be expensive, so it was just a trip to the tea market instead.

Each garage door is a separate shop!

We strolled down the street and stopped at the last shop to sample tea. 

It was super relaxing and we enjoyed chatting with our guide (and the tea shop owner) and drinking cup after cup of tea. T did surprisingly well and didn't get too bored!

We only bought black tea, but now Chip and I do have things in mind we'd like to track down. I want a clay pot and Chip would like a tea pet, though that might be harder to find, as he fell in love with the shop owner's metal one. Most are clay...