Tea Tasting

I met some English students from Qingdao today, who took me to a proper Chinese tea-tasting, hosted by a "Teamaster." I sampled several including one ginseng variety, one of dried fruit and flowers, one blackened lychee, one jasmine flavored, and one with a flower that "blossoms" in the hot water. It was fascinating to see the expert steeping and pouring, and to have someone translate the Teamaster's extensive knowledge of the teas' uses, traditions (girls should hold the cup differently, and the small pots are full of symbology), and superstitions (we had to touch the tea god- which looked like a frog, but was pointedly not a frog, but a three legged god, with chinese coins built in that hopefully preclude riches for us). The rituals involved were really quite complex, I hope that some of the good luck actually comes through. My new friends really helped me with my Chinese- when I accidentally left out the 0 when I said 205, which left me with a very offensive term, apparently. There are a couple of numbers in China that double as curses! (36 is also bad!!, but how random is 205 with no zero?!)