Market Friday: looking for a big bag of tea leafs at the mall.

7 months ago

I have run out of my favourite tea leafs several days ago. So, it’s time to get some new supply at the old tea shop which have become my regular supplier of tea leafs during the last ten years. I was glad I had the chance to meet the lady owner of this small tea shop years ago. She was a very brave young lady who came to Bangkok from Chiengrai on her own to sell tea leafs. She used to work in the farm on the mountains and used to pick tea leafs as a young girl. Through years of hard work she learned how to choose tea leafs and prepare tea leafs for packaging.

The first time I met her, she had just opened a tea shop on the fifth floor of this mall. The shop was quite spacious and located near the exit to the car park so it attracted lots of new customers. The older generations of Chinese descendants would naturally appreciate Chinese tea as they would drink tea in their households everyday. While Thai people would drink cool water, Chinese people would go for warm Chinese tea. I was lucky to grow up around my Chinese relatives who had a special set of tea pot and stove for making fresh tea throughout the day. Though I wasn’t allowed to drink these expensive grownups tea, I was very impressed by the intricate ceremony of tea making.

At home, we would always have a big porcelain tea pot with Chinese tea for the Chinese uncle and old Chinese staff in the house. We would be drinking cool water or ‘sun quick’ orange juice. It was trendy to have imported concentrated fruit juice from America in those days. My passion for tea returned to me while I was studying overseas. All my friends were tea drinkers so when we went out together we would have tea and cakes. But my Taiwanese friend opened a whole new world of Chinese tea to me.

He was a very interesting guy, he was partially handicapped as his left leg suffered from childhood polio. So he has to walk around with a home made bamboo crutch so he could swing his left leg along. I had seen similar invention anywhere else, it’s probably his parents’ invention to facilitate his movement. We always had to walk slowly to keep him among our group whenever we went out together. One evening he invited me to his apartment to have dinner.

I couldn’t remember much about his Korean food, but the tea ceremonies later was quite amazing. He told me that he’s a tea master in his country, a title which was quite difficult to achieve. He asked me if I wanted to have some good Chinese tea. I was very eager to try those tea leafs he had in his big suitcase. This guy brought about twenty kinds of tea leafs and several sets of tea pots with him. I couldn’t believe his attachment to his tea leafs and old tea pots.

He taught me about different kinds of tea; yin and yang tea. Some teas weren’t suitable for young people while some tea leafs should agree with women. There were teas which shouldn’t be taken by elderly people as they wound harm their livers. Some kinds of tea should be taken during daytime only. The details and technical side of tea qualities just baffled me completely. So, it seemed drinking tea properly required at least some basic knowledge of yin and yang tea, and that some rare tea leafs required skilled tea master’s guidance.

My Korean friend was very kind and gracious. He treated me to a series of tea tasting. So, we tasted over ten kinds of tea and I became quite tipsy on tea; it was like wine tasting. The process was very enjoyable as the taste buds slowly progress from simple tea leafs to fragrant and strong tea leafs. We had to pause after taken each kind of tea so the taste buds could receive the flavour of the other kind of tea. So, I had some basic knowledge about tea leafs and how to use tea cups properly. This skills had impressed some old Chinese businessmen who didn’t except a younger person to be quite cultured in Chinese tea. So, tea appreciation has opened doors for me and gained me some respect from prestigious people.

I was always very grateful to my Korean friend for sharing his knitting knowledge with me in the past. I had try to locate him in Taiwan via social media but without success. It would have been nice to be able to find him a guided tour around Bangkok one day. So, I had become a tea addict from then on. But I couldn’t afford the very expensive tea leafs, sometimes I would be gifted with some special tea. Luckily, I stumbled on the tea shop at the mall and became friendly with the Chinese lady.

She used to have quite a variety of tea leafs so I could try out these different kinds of tea over the years. Sometimes the owner would make special tea for me to taste. Then I became hooked on more expensive tea especially the old fermented tea leafs. It’s just like tasting vintage wine with deep taste and lingering feeling in the throat. While the wine would make me tipsy and clouded my mind, the special tea would trigger some awakening inside my brain! Some tea acted very fast on my digestive system and gave a lot of comforting feeling.

I thought some chemical reactions from tea leafs could stimulate my brain and make me feeling so comfortable. The brain got some kind of special nourishment while some tea just relaxed my back muscles. The ‘chi’ channels had become unblocked so energy could flow more smoothly. This sensation reminded me of my acupuncture sessions in the past. So, I regarded tea leafs as some kind of herbal medicines and I ought to be doing more research on Chinese tea. I knew that I wouldn’t put on weights when I regularly drank Chinese tea. It’s very effective in keeping my fat level in check and my teeth seemed to be in good condition too.

After the long lockdown, the tea shop owner almost gave up her shop which would make life more difficult for me. She had good quality tea leafs and some top quality teas at very good prices. So, I was glad that she moved to a smaller shop on the fourth floor. The ambiance around the shop wasn’t so calm as it was in front of a restaurant. This prevented me from stopping by for a tea tasting. The new staff didn’t know snow out Chinese tea but she’s a nice and honest person. I had to teach her how to make tea for tasting so that she could persuade customers to buy some tea leafs. She told me the owner only taught her in five minutes so she had forgotten how to make tea properly.

I had already collected some of the best tea leafs last year. I thought the owner was giving up her shop altogether. I was glad the shop has continued to service customers. I noticed that the owner wouldn’t stock some kinds of tea, I couldn’t find my favourite ‘fragrance rice tea’ which wasn’t really tea leafs. These are herbal plants which taste like ordinary Chinese tea with sweet aroma. So, I bought a bag of Jiaogulan which was supposed to be very good at reducing sugar and cholesterol levels. The shopkeeper was very happy with my purchase. I asked her to tell her boss to bring back the ‘sweet fragrance rice tea’. I hope more young people would try Chinese tea as a health regime.