Experiência em Chengdu: Excursão Particular de Produção de Chá na Plantação de Chá Mengdingshan

The trip was awesome. I took the chance to combine visiting the Bifengxia Panda Centre in the morning and then afterwards the Mengdingshan Tea Plantation. I was very happy that the operator of this tour made this possible and gave helpful advice on the timing and organization of the trip. Although the tea garden and the panda centre are close time was limited and we had to hurry a bit - yet for me this combination was perfect. Green - my tour operator and translator - was great. She was very friendly, helpful and patient in doing a lot of translation work at the tea plantation. I would clearly recommend this tour. It is a unique experience.

We felt the need to write this review to provide a different perspective. We booked this tour due to all those positive reviews that said this tour had been the highlight of their trips. The different experience could be due to the different tour operation/guide (ours was Victor), though the itineraries are similar. The roundtrip from Chengdu took 4 hrs. The cable car rides took another 20 min each way. There’s not much to see at the top. The tribute tea garden is extremely small and disappointing. I’m still not sure which tea garden exactly was the first tea garden in China. After that, we drove a short distance to a tea farm. There was a lot of sitting around waiting for lunch and chatting with the tea farmer without much translation help from the guide. We looked around the small tea garden a bit, picked a few tea leaves, and watched tea master demonstrated roasting/rolling tea leaves (probably the most interesting part of the tour). The tea master let us try our hands at it a bit. While we had fun here and there, this tour was really not a good use of our time and money. I don’t think it’s worth spending the whole day traveling so far for so little activities. We don’t recommend this Mengding tea tour unless you’re already staying near the mountain (less than 30 min away). We also think that it would be more fun to go by yourself and take a longer hike towards the mountain top. It's not necessary to get a guide.

<p>Our Tea Plantation tour was fantastic! Our English-speaking guide, Jenny, was excellent. She is a Chengdu local so it was fun and informative just to talk to her about the area during our drive to the plantation and at lunch. It was extremely convenient being picked up at our hotel in a very nice car and driven in comfort directly to the tea plantation. The experience there couldn't have been better. We spent two hours picking tea after being instructed on how to do it correctly. It was great to be out in the country away from the crowds of the city in the peaceful farm setting. Following that we were served a delicious Sichuan meal, prepared onsite. In the afternoon we participated in the processing of the tea leaves we had picked and they were then packaged for us to take home. We learned so much and had a great time doing it. We were then driven directly back to our hotel. It was a wonderful day and both agreed that it was our favorite thing we did in Chengdu.</p>

<p>This was GREAT! I can't say enough good things about it! Our tour guide for the day was from a farming family in the area, and had clearly done a lot of homework before our tour to be sure he knew all about the tea process. His English was excellent, and he was willing to go the extra mile to try and answer any questions he didn't know the answers to. The best guide ever!!! This trip provides a special opportunity to get away from the city and experience something very different indeed - well off the beaten track. The scenery during the drive was lovely and the location/host family farm was beautiful. Our tea-farmer hosts were super wonderful and took us through the entire process from harvest to drinking and we got to try our hand at the making ourselves! Not only that, but they cooked us a fabulous meal that was better than any we'd had on our whole trip. We definitely recommend this trip for everyone and congratulate the organizers, guide, and family hosts for a magnificent experience!!! Tea picking season is actually the spring, so if you want to make the best tea, do the trip then - but even our hosts admitted that despite the wrong season and our dreadful picking capabilities - our tea was still quite acceptable. So any time of year will work.</p>

<p>We certainly enjoyed this tour. <br/> From the drive into the mountains to a tasty Sichuan home cooked meal. Tea sipping. Collecting tea flowers. All Brilliant</p>

<p>I'll admit I was skeptical about this tour, particularly because there was not a lot of information and no reviews. But I am so glad we still decided to go! Our tour guide was very friendly and fluent in English. She was not only incredibly informative about the tea-making process, but she also shared a valuable insight into the local culture. We traveled to a local farm (or tea plantation) where we picked tea for a little over an hour. It was hard work, but definitely an important part of the experience and really made us appreciate the process! We then were served one of the best meals on our entire trip, and the cook was very accommodating to the allergies of one of our group members. Afterwards helped roast our tea leaves on a special stove. By the end we had a nice packet of tea to take home! Unlike some "tours" in China, we were not asked to buy anything, but instead were able to simply enjoy the experience and leave with a special gift.</p> <p>If you have any interest in how tea is made or want to have a more rural experience in China, I would definitely recommend this tour. The only downside was that it is fairly expensive, particularly when compared with other tours available in Chengdu. But if this is something you're passionate about (as we are), it's definitely worthwhile and the experience of a lifetime!</p>

<p>When in Chengdu this tour is a must. We had to go to a different plantation because of the recent earthquake damage, but had one of the best days of our holidays. Coral our guide was one of the best we have ever had and Jerry our driver always got us there safe and sound in horrific traffic. This place was true China in the mountains. We picked our green tea with our baskets tied around our waist, then joined in frying it. The couple that owned the plantation were fantastic, did not speak English but our guide did a fantastic job and we all had a wonderful time. We then had a home cooked lunch and sat outside drinking green tea all afternoon. A few of the neighbours came wandering down to have a look at what we were laughing at and joined in as well. This was a fantastic tour, but made even better by our wonderful guide Coral.</p>