Pick Tea in China; Le Passage Mohkan Shan Launches Promotion

Since the Tang Dynasty, the lush and green rolling hills of Moganshan Mountain have been famed for their high-grade tea harvesting.

From mid-March to end-April 2015, guests at Le Passage Mohkan Shan can join in the annual tea harvesting season with a personalized tea-picking experience under the close guidance of a skilled personal local Tea Hand.

Situated on its own tea plantation, the French-style country house hotel offers a unique opportunity to harvest the locally indigenous Camellia Sinensis plant that produces the complex and aromatic tea for which Moganshan is famous.

With the close help of a tea specialist, guests are taught to pick the first shoots from the tea bushes on Le Passage Mokhan Shan’s eight-hectare organic tea plantation.

The private Le Passage Mohkan Shan plantation produces a fragrant green tea that is fermented until it becomes a medium-bodied and fruity Black tea. After the tea leaves have been picked they are roasted by hand in a wok and once finally dried, the tea leaves are wrapped in Le Passage tin caddies to take home.

Guests can relax on the patio with a cup of the premium signature Mogan Huang Ya yellow tea from the plantation as the scent of tea fills the air and the hotel’s 12,000 Rose bushes begin to come into bloom.

After a day of picking tea, the hotel comes alive in the evening with the scent of tea as Chef Jackie Meng uses the fresh and full-flavored leaves collected from the plantation to create his alternating menus. Highlights include Foie Gras with a side of homemade Tea Jelly, Tea-Smoked Duck, delicate Green Tea Biscuits and Green Tea Mousse Cheesecake among other French classic dishes with a touch of tea.

Inspired by the natural healing properties of tea, this year Le Passage Mohkan Shan will introduce a range of bath & body products containing a combination of green tea and green tea seed oil all from the private plantation available in the rooms and for purchase.

To mark the start of the annual tea season in early April, Le Passage Mohkan Shan together with the Moganshan Bureau of Agriculture, will host the Regional Tea Harvesting Opening Ceremony, which sees 13 different tea plantations coming together for a friendly competition to determine which plantation has the best crop of the year.

Private Tea-picking can be added to any booking at Le Passage Mohkan Shan for RMB 280 per person.