He must visit several times a year, as the teas ripen in different seasons. They treat me as an old friend. The cost of the tea, the trips, the pots, and the labor over the past nine years is something Ahn refuses to discuss. Neither does he count how many cups he drinks a day. But with as many as 90 visitors a day, the costs of his mission are staggering for a small shop owner.
All teas come from the same plant.
The duration of fermentation is what makes them distinctive. The Yunnan tea he serves fermented in a cave in China for 60 years. Arab teas, in contrast, are not fermented at all. Even the teapots are special. Using traditional unglazed clay, they soak up the flavor of the tea over time.