Brief information on Fangcun Tea Market  

Every country, and indeed region, has its own distinctive cultural traditions that give it a unique flavour and feeling. China, having a long and rich history, is certainly replete with colourful cultural traditions that are guaranteed to delight the visitor.

One of my own personal favourite aspects of Chinese life is the tea culture, with its elegant and ornate cups, vessels and tea trays, alongside a myriad of different types of tea from all over China.
Of course, each different type of tea has its own distinctive taste and  flavour, and each tea is particular to a specific region of China, adding to the richness of the experience.

For tea-loving visitors to Guangzhou, there is a tea heaven on earth, just waiting to be explored.

Knowing my love of tea-and green tea in particular-a good friend of mine suggested that we take an afternoon off work to visit Fangcun Tea Market, a quite wonderful, sprawling morass of shops on and around Fangcun Dadao. The market is the largest of its kind in South China, and is home to over 3000 shops selling all varieties of tea at extremely reasonable prices, and certainly much cheaper per jin than mainstream stores. The other delight is, of course, the sheer variety available and the joy of talking to the many shop owners about their different teas. I became a regular at a certain store, and would always go there to buy tieguanyin. The wonderful thing about the shops at Fangcun market is that the shop owners are perfectly happy for you to try all manner of teas, with absolutely no compunction to buy, unless you decide that you want to. This, for me, is one of the most civilised aspects of China’s tea culture-the unhurried manner in which tea is savoured with friends and family. What a delight to stretch this pleasure over an entire afternoon! The owners daughter even furnished us with a steady supply of oranges, as she informed us that the constant tea-drinking would make us ravenously hungry. She wasn’t wrong! Such friendly attention to detail ensured our repeat custom-not to mention the excellence of the tea!

The number of tea shops at Fangcun is simply staggering. Even a whole day wouldn’t take in all of the establishments-but this is not the point. The real point is to make it a leisurely pursuit, sampling and savouring. Most of the shops also sell other tea-related accoutrements, such as cups, boilers and  wonderful, hand-crafted tea trays.

Getting to Fangcun is extremely easy, whether by bus or metro. Many busses run to Fangcun market, including numbers 19, 52, 55, 57, 65, 75, 81, 193, 202, 206, 207, 222, 277, 281, 811 and 838. Remember to get off at Shancun Zhan. Alternatively, take metro line 1, and get off at Fangcun Station. Remember to allow plenty of time though, as, like the tea itself, the market takes its time to reveal its delicately subtle wonders.

*You can download the bilingual note to show it to a taxi driver or someone else to find your way to Fangcun Tea Market if you plan to visit Fangcun Tea Market and have language problems.