Category: Sichuan (四川)

Sichuan (better known in the West as Szechwan)’s tea industry dates back at least to the Song Dynasty (960-1279 CE), when that dynastic family put a stranglehold on Sichuan tea sales to pay for their war machine. Thanks to desertification over the centuries, SIchuan has become too arid for tea production to flourish. Sichuan is best known for its Golden Monkey, Huangya Yellow buds and Zhu Ye Qing. My favorite Sichuan tea is their Pre-Chingming Meng Ding Gan Lu.

I will be the first to tell you I suck at travelogues. I've tried to "live tweet" some trips in the past and had little success. Also, my stoic frightful…