Having Fun in a Most Beautiful Tea Town
Longwu Village, nestled at the west side of the West Lake and surrounded by verdant mountains and emerald waters, is famous for its blanket of tea trees spread all over the mountain slopes. Having welcomed its most beautiful season, spring, and after integrating all kinds of resources, the West Lake Tourism Bureau has introduced a brand-new child-parent tour itinerary, which infuses the most beautiful scenery of Longwu Town with the most rewarding activities.
Tea Activities in Nine Streets
After renovation, the core area of Longwu Tea Town, the then old site of Longwu Industry Park, has transformed into a tea culture industry park – Longwu Tea Town ? Nine Streets, which combines dining, accommodation, traveling, touring, amusement and shopping. With refreshing tea gardens as the backdrop, 57 red/black-bricked, white-walled and black-tiled republic-of-China-era-style residential houses with exquisite archways and balconies enhance one another exquisitely.
At the end of the month, Nine Streets will arrange a series of tea culture-related activities, inviting tea lovers to participate. The 1st “Longchi (Dragon Pool) Gujing (Ancient Well) Cup” West Lake Longjing Hand Frying Tea Master Competition will be held here. In the event, eight tea hand frying masters will hand fry eight pans of West Lake Longjing Toucha (Toucha refers to the first batch of spring tea of that season) on the scene and one intangible culture successor will hand fry 100 grams of Jiu Qu Hong Mei (another treasure produced in the Xihu District and a famous black tea variety) for auction.
From March 31 to April 7, at No. 12, 13 and 15 buildings of Nine Streets, Zhuantang Street will hold tea frying activities. Eight previous tea frying competition winners will hand fry tea together along with 500 tea farmers picked from 11 villages of Longwu Tea Town. The tea fried on the spot will be weighed, packaged and ready to sell.
In addition, Longwu Tea Town will also hold the first ever “Longchi Gujing Cup” Children Tea Skills Competition, inviting youngsters aged from 9 to 15 to participate.
Tea Fun
Speaking of tea sampling and tasting farm-flavored dishes, the top choice has always been Shangchengdai Village (上城埭村), which is right at the landmark structure of Longwu Tea Town – Giant Tea Pot. Currently, tea farmers are hurrying along the mountain path and with bamboo-made tea baskets, are busy picking tea leaves. In front of almost every household, villagers can be seen setting up big pans to hand fry tea leaves, while the fragrance of tea permeates the air.
Here, tourists can step into the local households and get to know all about China’s finest brew from its distinctive shapes to its colorful hues. Accompanied by tea farmers, one can also experience life as a farmer and pick some local tea leaves. Those who are into sport, can head to Hejia Village (何家村) to the “Longwu Sports and Leisure Park”, where they can cycle along the first international standard mountain cycling competition track in Hangzhou downtown, among verdant mountains, lush green teas and emerald waters.
Longwu Fun
In Outer Tongwu Village, there is a professional ceramic art museum named “Prince of Clay (泥巴王子)”, where children can free their imagination and play with clay; do ancient paper making, or experience Cyanotype to produce a cyan-blue print with leaves picked up from the wild.
Or one can head to Changdai Village (长埭村) to view scenery and experience DIY. At the east side of Longwu, there is a mountain which is planted with all kinds of trees and over 800 cherry trees to create a terrace-like view. Also, there is a birch forest DIY park, which is comprised of 30 DIY studios where children can play carpenter, make ceramics and experience the fun of working.
Child-parent route:
Morning:Nine Streets (experience tea skills, market bargain) → Hejia Village (何家村) → Shangchengdai Village (Tea tasting, having farm-flavored dishes)
Afternoon:A: Outer Tongwu Village, B: Changdai Village