A Date with China international media tour visits the Laoshan Mountain in Qingdao, East China's Shandong province, to explore the tea culture on June 6, 2024. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]

A group of China-based foreign correspondents and social media influencers paid a visit to the Laoshan Mountain in Qingdao, East China's Shandong province on June 6, to embark on a unique journey of tea culture.

The delegation didn't just tour the tea plantations; they engaged in hands-on tea picking, joined the production procedures, and fostered meaningful dialogues with indigenous tea craftsmen.

Gloria Agapiti Michael Meiseyeki, a journalist from Tanzania, said they usually drink black tea in her country, and she wants to try green tea here.

Nataliia Liublinskaia, a journalist from Russia, wanted to bring some green tea back to her family, and said this was her first time seeing tea trees, "I used to think that tea trees were taller, but I didn't expect them to be this short."

Luke Johnston, a British online content creator, said he started drinking more tea in China and found that there are wide varieties, such as green tea, Pu'er tea, and Longjing tea.

Laoshan tea is known as the most famous tea in the north of the Yangtze River. At present, the planting area of Laoshan tea is about 20,000 acres, with an annual output of over 1,500 tons and a value of over 600 million yuan ($82.82 million).