Chengdu: Tea Market Tour, Tasting, and Hotpot Dinner｜China

Begin your experience with a pickup from your hotel in Chengdu and head to a local tea market. Explore a paradise for tea lovers, where vendors from all over Sichuan sell their harvests. See green teas like Mengding Ganlu and Zhuyeqing, black teas like Sichuan Hongcha, Tibetan-style brick tea, and flower teas like jasmine, osmanthus, and chrysanthemum.

Learn how to identify quality tea by look, smell, and touch, the difference between spring and autumn harvests, and how to avoid overpriced tourist traps. Then, sit down at a local tea house or vendor's tasting table inside the market. Your guide or a tea master will lead you through three tea tastings: a Sichuan green tea, a Sichuan black tea, and a dark tea or aged Pu'er.

Learn about the proper water temperature for different teas, how to brew in a gaiwan, and the history of the Tea Horse Road and Sichuan's role in the tea trade. Sip, compare, and discover your personal tea preferences.

From the tea market, head to a local hotpot restaurant (not a tourist chain — a real Chengdu favorite). Here, experience the city's most iconic meal. Enjoy a bubbling, fiery red oil broth infused with chilies and Sichuan peppercorns, a non-spicy side for vegetables or those who need a break from heat, a selection of classic hotpot ingredients, and a personal mix of sesame oil, garlic, cilantro, and vinegar.

Your guide will show you how to cook each ingredient and share hotpot etiquette. After dinner, your guide will take you back to your hotel.