I've spoken of Bada Forest in Pingtung, Taiwan before in a previous post. Well, I got to visit it again a second time. This time we had the chance to enjoy some tea in a forest of Mahogany trees.
Bada Forest Paradise, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
I don't mean we sat there and dipped some tea bags in a mug and called it 'tea time'. I mean we did the whole Tao of Tea (茶道). The word Tao (sometimes spelled Dao) means "the way" or "the philosophical concept". I couldn't recall all the different steps, but it was something similar to the Gongfu Tea Ceremony. If you're too lazy to click on that link, there's basically complex procedures for:
- Preparation of the Tea
- Brewing the Tea
- Serving
- Aroma Appreciation (smelled very good!)
- Appreciation of the Tea Leaves at the end
- Clean up!
Tea Time in Bada Forest of Taiwan
Tea Time at Bada Forest Paradise
Now for one of my favorite parts: Snacks!!
The snacks available from the vendor in the forest:
- Dried Shitake Mushrooms
- Dried (another type of) Mushrooms
- Dried Roselle Flowers (google image them! they're pretty!)
- Dried Okras
- More dried snacks!
I can't describe how yummy these were. They were crunchy and didn't really taste like what they normally taste like (well, I don't really know what Roselle Flowers taste actually but still).
Snacking at Tea Time
The Rowdy Chowgirl
Sunday 10th of June 2012
What an amazing experience! Thanks for sharing!
Tina
Sunday 10th of June 2012
It was a great experience! Drinking some tea, in a beautiful scenery like that.. thanks for stopping by!
Carine
Saturday 9th of June 2012
The whole process looks so precious. I love it!
Tina
Sunday 10th of June 2012
It was a very interesting process to learn about, and the fact that we were enjoying the tea in the forest was another bonus!
shermangerherd
Tuesday 5th of June 2012
Love Taiwan!