Zhang Yang

    nicolezyyy@163.com

    TOMAS WONG drinks tea daily, but he had no idea about the effects of tea on his health until last week when he attended a five-day tea-making course in Shenzhen.

    “I learned about tea-making etiquette and the features of different types of tea on the first day,” said Wong, who traveled an hour and a half from his home in Hong Kong to the Helinchuyun teahouse in Futian District for the class. The five-day course cost about 3,000 yuan (US$471.6).

    Wong said there are courses in Hong Kong training people how to make coffee, but few classes about tea. “Both my wife and I like drinking tea. Instead of just drinking any tea, I learned that we should pay attention to the tea’s features and our own bodies to ensure what we drink is good for us,” Wong said.

    Unlike Wong, another Hongkonger, Lai Hei-chi, said she barely ever drinks tea. Working as a financial consultant in an insurance company in Hong Kong, Lai signed up for the course because she wanted something she could talk about with her clients.

    “The most impressive thing that I found is that making tea is relaxing,” said Lai, adding that she would attend more tea courses.

    Lin Xiaohong, one of the teahouse’s tutors, is a senior tea master who has a State-level certification in tea making. “Starting from 2013, the number of Hong Kong people attending our tea-making courses slowly climbed, and at peak times four out of 10 students in a class are from Hong Kong,” said Lin.

    Lin said Shenzhen has a more mature tea-drinking culture than Hong Kong, because Shenzhen has embraced different kinds of tea coming from all parts of China. “There is a lot of diversity, even if the city doesn’t produce tea itself,” she said.

    “The buying power of Shenzheners also means several upscale teas are sold in the city,” Lin said, adding that Guangdong Province has a stronger tea-drinking culture than any other province in China.

    According to Lin, the five-day course will teach students how to recognize and make 18 kinds of tea. She said the teahouse also organizes tours of famous tea-planting hills around the country several times a year.

    Data shows that the yearly consumption of tea in the Pearl River Delta region is about 2 kilograms per person, which is the highest in China and the third-highest worldwide. In 2014, over 1.98 million tons of tea was produced in China, making the country the largest tea-producing country in the world.

    Shenzhen has hosted a tea exhibition for the past seven years.