38. 西山茶 (xī shān chá) / 柳州清明茶 (liǔ zhōu qīng míng chá) ++
贵港 (guì gǎng) Guigang is a city in the east of Guangxi, known and valued for its beautiful lotus blossoms and for their 莲藕 (lián ǒu) roots (actually rhizomes) which are a favourite vegetable in these parts, turning up stir-fried, in soups and hotpots and even candied.
Lotus Root
One county town of Guigang, Guiping lies on the Tropic of Cancer and there is a Cancer Theme Park, which sounds ominous.
Xishan Scenic Area is located 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) from Guiping and is famous for its strange stones, elegant woods, sweet springs and is important locally for its fragrant green tea - 西山茶 (xī shān chá), literally ‘west mountain tea’. In fact, this is one of only two Guangxi grown teas I regularly come across. I’m not a big tea drinker, but I do cook with the local Xishan tea, especially stir fried shrimp with green tea.
Xishan Green Tea
Xishan Green Tea
The Guigang area is also now known for its 山竹 (shān zhú), mangosteen crop, a relatively recent innovation and for chufa or tiger nuts, Cyperus esculentus, 油莎豆 (yóu suō dòu), used in TCM as well as less often in hotpots and soups.
Mangosteens
Back in Liuzhou prefecture, tea is grown in large quantities in 三江县 (sān jiāng xiàn), Sanjiang county which lies up against the border with Hunan.
三江绿茶 (sān jiāng lǜ chá) Sanjiang Green Tea
The most prized in 清明茶 (qīng míng chá), Qingming Tea. Qingming (literally ‘clear and bright’ is the ancestor worship festival sometimes known as 'Tomb Sweeping Festival', on which people go to clean up graves and generally pay their respects. It is taken quite seriously and marked by a public holiday.)
柳州清明茶 (liǔ zhōu qīng míng chá) is picked in Spring around the time of 清明 (qīng míng), the 1st to 5th of the 5th month of the lunisolar calendar, which usually occurs in April by our calendar, and so the name. The most valuable (as it’s the newest) is picked before the festival, the second is picked during the festival and the third after it’s all over. The cost of the tea can be 100 times more at the beginning than the end of the season.
Liuzhou Qingming Tea
I’m not pretending Guangxi has the finest teas in the world, or even China, but they do make a reasonably priced brew, I’m told. And it’s nice to sip it while overlooking the terraces where it is grown
