Being the only one museum themed with tea and tea culture in China mainland, China National Tea Museum (中国茶叶博物馆) is especially worth for a visit to have a taste of China’s profound tea culture and long history that have been lasting for at least 4700 years. Opened to the public in 1990, with a cover of 2244 square meter for exhibition in the whole construction area of 7600 square meters, this museum perfectly shows the historical development as well as colorful culture of tea, and diverse kinds of cultural relics about tea to visitors. Furthermore, China National Tea Museum offers a great chance to learn about the tea art with a firsthand experience, and that may be the reason that many G20 Leaders’ wives have paid a visit to this museum on their Hangzhou tour in September 2016.
China National Tea Museum
Besides, China National Tea Museum is distinguished from others, because it has no exterior walls but is surrounded with all green plants with thorns and lush tea plantations, which expresses the warm welcome to people from all the directions, particularly tea lovers.
Best China National Tea Museum Tour:
There are countless interesting highlights waiting for your discovery, like variety of tea, tea ceremony, tea stories, tea plantations, etc. Just go and find your likes!
To well exhibit the culture and history of tea, China National Tea Museum sets 5 halls within the Building 1.
In the Tea History Hall (茶史厅), you can see the origin, evolution, prosperity and spread of Chinese tea from thousands of years ago, knowing that China is the original place of tea trees. With the very primitive tea sets of each period, poems about tea, and other exhibits, the brilliant tea culture and history of tea spreading over the world are lively showed in front of you.
In the Tea Collection Hall (茶萃厅), more than 100 samples of famous Chinese tea are well exhibited, from the green tea, black tea, oolong tea, to yellow tea, white tea, dark tea, and reprocessed tea, from which you can see how big the family of tea is.
Entering the Tea Information Hall (茶事厅), you can appreciate multiple specimens and pictures of tea and know about the tea knowledge of the cultivation, processing, drinking, preservation, etc. Also, there are some pictures of leaders and famous people who visited China National Tea Museum from home and abroad, demonstrating that tea is a communicating bridge of China and the whole world.
In the Tea Sets Hall (茶具厅), you can admire the diverse sorts of tea sets in different periods in China. Teapots, teacups, tea containers, teaspoons and so on that are made of gold, silver, copper, jade, ivory, etc. from the Neolithic period to the modern times are so delicate in different shapes, giving a chance to know about the change of their looks and functions.
Tea Custom Hall (茶俗厅) exhibits the customs and manners of tea tasting in Chinese provinces, like Yunnan, Sichuan, Tibet, Fujiang, Guangdong, and shows the wonderful tea culture in China by imitating the lively scene of tea making and drinking.
Entering the building 3 in China National Tea Museum, you can taste various kinds of tea in the 6 tea rooms of distinct styles, so just release yourself to immerse into the fresh and pleasing aroma of the tea. Furthermore, in the building 4, fantastic performances of tea art and tea ceremony of China and other countries from ancient period to modern times are provided, like the West Lake Tea, Scholar Tea, Buddhist Tea, Kungfu Tea, that express the characteristic of Chinese people and emotion in the oriental region. Japanese tea ceremony of typical specialties is also offered to show the diversity of tea art. Those performances in China National Tea Museum are surely hard-won for you to know about the magic and elegant tea art in our world.
If you want to get more fun in tea, you can join into the tea plucking in spring to get close into the emerald and fragrant tea plantation and feel the fresh experience of plucking the little green tea leaves from the trees. After the tea plucking, you can continue to watch professional people drying tea with their own hands in the Tea-baking Workshop(焙香簃). Or you can see the working process of the tea drying machines.
This experience is only available in spring because tea leaves are the freshest and best during this season.
Recommended China National Tea Museum Tour Packages:
Cultural Introduction & Tea Sets in the Exhibition Hall
Yunnan Dai Baking Tea in Tea Custom Hall
A Lady Learning about the Tea Art in the Museum
Have Fun in Tea-plucking in the Tea Museum Plantation
Watch People Drying Tea with Their Own Hands
You want to learn more about tea and tea culture in China? Want to learn about how to taste different kinds of tea? Want to know about the elegant tea ceremony…You may choose the special designed tea classes provided in China National Tea Museum. See the details as following!
| Training Class | Duration | Training Content | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Top 10 China’s Famous Tea Experiential Training | 90 min | Basic knowledge of tea culture, tea identification, tea making, tea tasting, etc. |
RMB 299 for 4-6 people; RMB 199 for 1-3 people; |
| Single Famous Tea Experiential Training | 30 min | Famous tea introduction, main points of tea identification, tea making, tea tasting, etc. |
RMB 199 for 4-6 people; RMB 99 for 1-3 people; |
| Either Two Kinds of Famous Tea Experiential Training | 60 min | Famous tea introduction, main points of tea identification, tea making, tea tasting, etc. |
RMB 249 for 4-6 people; RMB 149 for 1-3 people; |
| Specialized Tea Training | Depend on the Need | General introduction of tea culture, 6 basic tea classifications and identification, main points of tea making of each kind of tea, manner of tea performance, practical training of tea art, etc. |
Need further discussion |
Note: The prices of tea classes are for your reference only, for the updated and detailed information of tea classes in China National Tea Museum, please contact our Travel Consultant! If you are interested in the classes, you can choose your favorite(s) and tell us China Discovery to book the tea class for you in advance!
After appreciating the exhibitions and tea, you can spend some time in the garden-like environment of China National Tea Museum. Since there are waterside pavilions, flower corridors, antique Chinese buildings, etc., you can enjoy every minute to get refreshed in the natural beauty of Chinese style. 100 Chinese characters of “tea” in many calligraphic styles, a vivid stone statue of the “Tea Sage” Lu You (陆游), ancient featured buildings of southern China charm, pleasing sound of clear water running from Qiantang River (钱塘江), delicate fragrance of layers of lush emerald tea plantations around, etc. which is really a feast of eyes, ears and nose. Apart from that, there you can find the sundial and gnomon with the real local Hangzhou time that is different from the Chinese Standard Time, and these traditional astronomical instruments in our nation help a lot with the best time and season for tea plantation and tea picking. That is a very important and great part in Chinese tea culture.
China National Tea Museum was very popular among tea lovers and Chinese culture lovers since its opening in 1990, and it has gained another wave of visitors after the G20 Leaders’ Wives visiting it on September 4th during the G20 Summit in Hangzhou in 2016.
The wife of Canadian prime minister took her daughter to visit China National Museum to be attracted by the profound tea culture in China and watch the tea ceremony performances. The wife of the Argentinian president paid a visit to the tea museum and learned how to stir-fry the tea and found her favorite two kinds of tea. Moreover, the wife of president of European Council visited here and expressed her strong appreciation of Chinese tea and its culture.
Recommended China National Tea Museum Tour Packages:
Inhale fresh Air in the Garden-like Tea Museum
Canadian Prime Minister's Daughter Learning Making Tea
Argentinian President's Wife Learning about the Tea Culture
People usually choose to first visit the Longjing Tea Plantations that is less than 3 km away from the museum to get close to the growing condition of the tea and experience the interesting tea picking, and Meijiawu Village as well as Longjing Village are both good choices. After then, transfer to China National Tea Museum and enter the Building 1 to appreciate the exhibition of tea culture, tea history, tea sets, tea customs and other things to feel the strong Chinese traditional art. Then, go to sample tea in diverse kinds in the building 3 and enjoy wonderful and elegant tea art and tea ceremony performances in building 4. Later, admire the scenery of tea plantation and beautiful ancient view in the museum. (For about half day)
Situated in Shuangfeng Village (双峰村) of Xihu District (西湖区), in West Lake Tourist Area, China National Tea Museum can be reached by many vehicles.
By Bus:
Take bus No. 27, No. 87 or No. 27 Regular Bus (27路定时班) to stop at Shaungfeng Station (双峰站)
By Taxi:
Taking a taxi to China National Tea Museum is very convenient and more time-saving.
From Hefang Street: 7 km, about 25 min
From Lingyin Temple: 3.5 km, about 8 min
Note: Since China National Tea Museum is located on a mountain and not in a prosperous area, you can take a taxi to the museum but may find it difficult to return to the downtown for the very little taxies there, and bus may be a good choice for getting back.
If you want to get rid of hustle of public transportation and troublesome navigation, you can book a private tour package which covers sightseeing, dining and transfer from us. Our local tour guide and driver will escort you to China National Tea Museum with speed and convenience, and take care of all the details. You just need to focus on sightseeing.
Click to Enlarge the Location Map of China National Tea Museum
Click to Enlarge the Tourist Map of China National Tea Museum
1. English and Chinese explanatory guide service is provided for fee, and digital voice guide is also available for fee in Chinese, English, French, Japanese, and Korean.
2. If you are very interested in Chinese tea and the fancy tea sets, China National Tea Museum offers a place for you to buy these souvenirs that you can give you your people as gifts.
Things to Do in Hangzhou: West Lake, Lingyin Temple, Longjing tea Plantation, Hefang Street, Xixi National Wetland Park, China National Tea Museum, China National Silk Museum…
How to Get to Hangzhou: International flights from Singapore (5 hrs.), Seoul (6.5 hrs.), etc., domestic flights from Guangzhou (2 hrs.), Beijing (2 hrs.), etc., or high speed trains from Shanghai (1~2 hrs.), Suzhou (1.5~3 hrs.), Huangshan (1.5~2 hrs.), etc.
Best Time to Visit Hangzhou: all year around
Usually, visitors spend 2 days around to enjoy a classic Hangzhou tour to visit the West Lake Scenic Area, including the amazing West Lake, Lingyin Temple, Longjing Tea Plantations, etc. If you want an in-depth Hangzhou tour, you can also pay another half day or so to visit Xixi National Wetland Park, one day around to Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, or one day or so to Thousand Islands Lake, etc. Check all Hangzhou Tours >>
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Also, you can spend 1 day to take a side trip to the nearby water towns like Wuzhen and Xitang in Jiaxing, 2~3 days to Putuoshan - one of the four sacred Buddhist Mountains in China, or 1 day to the popular Nanxun Old Town in Huzhou. Check more about Zhejiang Tours >>
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Besides, compared with just travelling Hangzhou, most of the visitors prefer to travel the metropolis Shanghai, Suzhou Gardens and Hangzhou Lakes in One Go! Such an amazing tour will take 5~6 days.
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Some visitors also ride a high speed train to Huangshan to visit the world-famous Yellow Mountain. A Hangzhou Huangshan tour needs about 5 days around.
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