The Tea Adventure

Javy, May 21, 2015

On our first day at the hotel in Machu Picchu Pueblo, we went on a little tour of the place, and then we took another tour of the tea garden. The guide showed us how to make teabags.

First we had to put on a black apron and as you can see, I am wearing a pouch to put my leaves in.

The tea bush has two colors. We should not pick the dark green leaves because they are too old. You could pick the light green ones.

We picked and picked and picked. I became friends with the two boys in the picture. The one in blue is named Sam. His brother is named William.

Then we took the leaves and put them on a rock table. We took one leaf at a time and started to roll it until it was shriveled up. 

These are the drying racks to put the mushed leaves on to make them dry. We didn't have time to do that, so the guide gave us leaves that were already dry.

Here, he told us about roasting the leaves.

The next step was to sift the dry, roasted leaves, as you can see.

It was very fun, but I was making a big mess.

Here are the supplies for making a teabag. You have one stick, one piece of special paper, and some leaves. Also, you have a hot stapler, except it doesn't have staples. It is so hot that it can melt together the sides of the piece of paper.

You fold the paper like a note, and then staple the two sides to make the bag.

Here comes the tea! You put the tea into the bag, as you can see.

Here you have the stick at hand. You weave the stick into the top of the bag to make it stay in.

Here it is!

Now it's brewing. It looks so good!

Enjoy!