Les maîtres du thé (2012)

Undoubtedly, the most popular beverage with the biggest consumption in the world after water is, by far, the tea. Deceptively plain in its appearance, this climate-dependent product demands the laborious efforts of the tea workers to cultivate it, to collect its precious leaves, and to transform them into a unique product with medicinal properties. As an illustration, if it rains, the tea leaves are likely to rot, and if they stay on the tea shrub longer than they should, they will lose their subtle aroma. Every Spring, tea sommeliers try to locate the best plantations across the famous valleys of Darjeeling in India, the steep hills of Shizuoka in Japan, and in the mythical Yunnan province in China, the cradle of tea. In the end, to conclude this exciting journey to Asia, we will get to know the most fragrant tea varieties: the Golden Needle; the subtly perfumed, Sencha, and the fermented, dark Pu-erh.