2016 Yiwu Tea Competition in Pictures

I originally posted this to reddit, but figured I’d share here as well: http://imgur.com/a/EWcXE

These are a couple of pictures from day 2 (the most interesting/happening day) of a 3 day tea festival that happens every year in Yiwu. We were lucky enough to get VIP passes and get up close for pictures. This day featured the tea competition, or as my wife likes to call it, “tea battles”. Teams from various local villages compete by bringing their own tea and processing it, after which it’s judged and a “winner” is declared. It’s worth mentioning that this is largely a tool for promoting not just Yiwu teas, but specific villages or regions in order to make the recognizable and consequently drive up the price of their tea. In my opinion, there are already enough villages nearby with exceedingly high prices, but that’s another discussion…

The competition consists of the basic rough processing – wilting, frying/killing the green, rolling/bruising, and drying, with each step and the final mao cha being evaluated. It was about 34 C out that day, so probably not the best for standing over a hot wok.

In addition to the competition there were lots of families/vendors in stalls sampling and selling tea, which provided for an excellent way to spend the afternoon drinking free tea. The big name villages never seemed to have a free seat, but the powers of being an “exotic” foreigner seem to always clear up a seat or 2. Outside the main square there were also street vendors and local minorities (both authentic and not-so-authentic) selling grilled chicken and other deliciousness, but that didn’t really have anything to do with tea.

Anyway, the pictures don’t really do justice in terms of bringing the tea mountains to the outside world, but it’s something. Also, sorry about the watermarks, but I’m not a fan of people stealing pictures.