All The Tea in China

Tea. There is nothing more perfectly Chinese.

Almost everywhere you go, tea is served. Whenever we meet someone, the hospitallity includes a round, or several, of tea, and many homes feature an elaborate tea set on the coffee table. Even in many little shops, around lunchtime, you can find someone brewing in the back of the shop.
A tea set here looks nothing like the western version. The whole thing sits on a tray, often very elaborately carved with a dragon or a lounging buddha wrapped around the rim. Always, it's hollow, the surface slightly dished in, with a drain in the middle, so the whole thing works like an oil changing pan, collecting spilled tea, of which there is quite a lot.
On this is a little sugar bowl- like dish with a saucer and a lid, a creamer-sized pitcher, and a number of tiny little bowls, about the size of those little paper cups you put ketchup in at resturants.
To brew the drink, a little packet of tea opened up and dumped into the bowl. The local type is bright green, and made of whole leaves, rolled up in little wads.
Hot water is poured over the leaves, allowed to brew for less than a minute, swirled around a tiny bit, and dumped out or poured over the cups to warm them (the first brewing isn't good, I'm told) then the process is repeated, this time with the results poured into the bowls- sometimes this is done in one continuous pour, like filling an ice cube tray, with more spilled tea draining into the tray. After this round is drunk, more water is poured over the tea leaves- by this time unrolled and swollen till they fill the bowl.
The third, fourth, and fifth brewing are said to be the best, but 7 or 8 are still good.
I have discovered, though, that this tea is also great made the western way. I've been putting my tea maker to good use, drinking a mug most mornings. It's a wonderful tea, very green, and mellow enough that I seldom bother with sugar. The leaves are strong enough that I'll keep one tiny packet going for a week, sticking the whole thing in the refrigerator between uses. Even then, there is no problem with the strengh, it just slowly becomes a tad bitter and I have to put in sugar again.