Tea event at UCLA 04/23/13

This is the 5th year that the NCAM of UCLA will be hosting the tea event consecutively.  As one of the volunteers of the event, I am very proud to be part of this event for so many years. 

Since it has been a few years, if a freshman attended all 4 events, he would had been graduated by now.  So my concern is what should I talk about when there are students had been to more than one events, I am sure they would not want to listen to the same materials over and over again. 

Tea can be a deep subject, it never ends.  For young minds which may or may not have much exposure to the world of tea, what would they be mostly interested in knowing? 

I personally think tea can be separated into several categories:

1, the basic of understanding types of teas by color, cultivation, processing
2, tea brewing
3, how to identify tea by quality
4, drinking tea and health
5, energy of tea and nature

each category can be extended with many sub categories, which become a large tops on its own

I don't have time nor  that the students have the patience to listen to a 5 days talk at once.  What would you be interested to know if you were one of the audience?  Your input is appreciated greatly. 

My first tea tree

I got this last week, it's a small plant sown from seed.  The seller did not specify the varietal only informing seeds are from China. Let's play the elimination game for now until I receive feedback from China for its identity.  From the look of leaves, it is not pu-erh, it is not green tea, it is not wuyi rock tea, not dan cong either.  I am aiming for one of the varietals from Anxi oolong region.  My guess is Huang Jin Gui.

One might wonder why plant a tea tree, and why years later?  Well, I wish I could have started a few years back so it would be producing by now.  Last year, I visited the long jing producing region and had young tea leaves fried free range chicken eggs.  It was so refreshing and delicious, I can not forget how wonderful it tasted.  So planting a tea tree solely for this purpose is in my mind ever since.