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Blog: In China it's never just one cup of tea

After five cups, I lost my count and at one point I had to ask the girl serving to stop.

If you wonder what's so special about drinking tea my answer is that there are a lot.
In China's Ningbo city, while the China Daily staff, who organised a media trip for us, told us we will have some tea I also had the same feeling. What could be so special about some tea? We entered Yongyou Teahouse and then I realised, there could be something special.
The teahouse welcomed us with a human-size Laughing Buddha statue and the ambience was purely traditional. As we reached the fifth floor in a tiny lift that hardly accommodates 7 people, it was clearer. Small teapots were placed in a row with nuts and small fruits in plates in front of it. And Chinese girls clad in white dress were ready to serve us.
But the most noticeable person was sitting on a corner of the hall, behind a huge table. Yu Ying was brewing tea, the tedious, but traditional way and pouring it into the teapots. The serving girls don't touch the teapot, but place it on a wooden plate to place it in front of us. And the sugarless tea (I was later told that Chinese drink tea without adulterating it with milk or sugar) is really tasty and you yearn for more once you finish it.

And here starts the experience of Chinese tea drinking. As you empty the pot, the girls pour in more. And more and more.... I started feeling this would be unending exercise. After five cups, I lost my count and at one point I had to ask the girl serving to stop.
I remembered the hasty tea-making and drinking exercise many of us are used to. It's different... and special too. So try that traditional tea when you are in China.
Of course, eat (and drink) like the Chinese when in China.

• Out and about Ningbo, one of China's oldest cities