As I mentioned on Monday, one of the treats our China Spree guide Jim Mao had in store for some of us was a visit to the restaurant inside the Jade Buddha Temple for a sampling of various Chinese teas.
Amazingly, serving tea in China is a lot more complicated than just pulling out a bag from a box of Sir Thomas Lipton’s finest and plopping it into some hot water. On this occasion we were confronted with a dizzying array of choices that promised everything from liver health to relief from hypertension and aiding in weight loss.
Fortunately we were not limited to only one or two selections. Here you can see our reference guides for selecting various samples, as well as our individual tea cups:
Preparation was also a visual art form. No teabags at this establishment! Each sample was painstakingly blended, carefully steeped, gently jostled, and delicately strained before serving.
The results were very tasty indeed. Here’s our table enjoying a sampling:








Decisions — Murder in Paradise
The Globe — Murder in Luxury