Tea & Bamboo

Tea

• Moganshan is home to both green and white tea. White tea is so-called as it is picked before the leaves are fully opened so the buds are still covered in fine white hairs

• White tea, of the three main teas (black, green, and white), under goes the least amount of processing in preparing to drink, the more tea is processed the darker it becomes. It is naturally decaffeinated and contains high amounts of antioxidant properties.

• White tea is not fermented at all, while green tea is partly fermented. By contrast, black tea is fully fermented. Because they are so gently treated, white tea and green tea retain their content of beneficial antioxidants

• White tea leaves retain antioxidants in higher concentrations than green tea and is for many the main reason for drinking white tea. In fact, one cup of white tea contains approximately 12 times as much antioxidants as a glass of fresh orange juice.

• According to Chinese legend, tea was invented accidentally by the Chinese Emperor Shen Nong in 2737 B.C. On one summer day while he was visiting a distant region, he stopped to rest. The servants began to boil water for the ruler to drink. Dried leaves from a nearby camellia bush fell into the boiling water which he then drank and discovered its amazing taste, and essentially that was when tea was invented but it still took until around 300 A.D. until tea became a daily drink.

• The word “tea” was derived from ancient Chinese dialects including the words “Tchai,” “Cha,” and “Tay”.

• Tea-picking season in Moganshan starts at the beginning of April and runs until the beginning of October.

Did You Know?

Bamboo

• Bamboo comes in nearly 1500 different varieties, and is a member of the grass family. The bamboo on Moganshan can grow up to a metre a day during its peak growth in the spring and is fully grown in 3-4 months.

• In Moganshan, bamboo shoots are harvested every other year alternating with growing years. Bamboo will generally grow up to sustainable use in 3-7 years.

• Over 400 species of bamboo can be found in China with Moganshan’s neighbor Anji, one of the 10 great bamboo cities, and Zhejiang province often referred to as the home of bamboo.

• The bamboo predominantly found in Moganshan is called Moso, It grows upwards of 21m and has a circumference towards 20cm. It only takes 5-6 weeks to reach its height.

• Only the shoots of Moso bamboo are edible, in fact not all bamboo shoots are edible, some actually carry cyanide in their shoot

• naked Stables Private Reserve uses bamboo in a number of ways including chairs, flooring, screening, fencing, cooking, blinds, clothing and tools.

• The Chinese claim that bamboo has more than 1000 uses. They sometimes call it the ‘universal provider.’ It is used to make furniture, chopsticks, sleeping mats, scaffolding, boat masts, fencing material, baskets, cooking utensils, pens for writing, farmer’s hats, combs, fishing poles, garden rakes, musical instruments, blinds, fans, laminated dishes, ropes, rafts, floats, traps, snares, roofing tiles and more. And for cooking, its leaves can be used to wrap food for steaming that you can find in Kikaboni restaurant in naked Stables Private Reserve.

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