Granny A-Pu’s Tea 阿蒲茶 – A Story of Kindness and Tea
Long ago, in a small village surrounded by rice fields and quiet canals, there lived an old woman named A-Pu (阿蒲婆婆). She was simple, kind, and always ready to help anyone who knocked on her door. Behind her house, on a gentle slope, she grew several rows of tea bushes. When spring came, their young leaves glistened with dew like tiny green gems — and A-Pu picked them with extraordinary care. She dried them slowly over a soft rice-straw fire so that they would keep the fragrance and spirit of the mountains.
Whoever came to visit received a bowl of tea. She never asked where one came from or what one needed. She simply smiled, placed the cup on the table, and said:
“Drink — tea is best when shared.”
It is said that one day, Emperor Qianlong (乾隆皇帝), on his famous journey “to the south,” passed through the area.
He was tired and thirsty, and when he saw Granny A-Pu, he asked her for a cup of tea.
“阿蒲，茶。」— “A-Pu, tea please,” he said.
Without hesitation, she offered him her tea — humble, yet full of heart.
The emperor drank and smiled — perhaps it was the simplest, yet most sincere tea he had ever tasted.
From that moment on, people in the region began to say that when friends gathered over tea to talk, laugh, and forget their troubles, they were drinking “A-Pu Tea” – 阿婆茶.
The word “阿蒲” (A-Pu) gradually changed in local speech to “阿婆” (A-Pó) — which in Chinese means “granny” or “elderly lady.”
And thus the expression A-Pó Tea was born — granny’s tea, a tea shared out of kindness, not for profit.
In many villages across southern China, this tradition still lives on.
Elderly women gather around a low table, bringing a few bowls, some dried fruit, beans, or pickled vegetables — and above all, tea.
They sit together, talking about children, the weather, and life itself — and every cup becomes a small act of friendship.
A-Pu’s tea has become a symbol of humble, quiet goodness.
It is not about rare leaves or perfect teaware, but about what happens between people when they share a single cup.
Kindness is like tea — quiet yet transformative. It is not measured by words or deeds, but by the gentle warmth it leaves behind. Where people meet over a cup, the lines between strangers and friends fade away, between giving and receiving. The story of Granny A-Pu from China’s water villages reminds us that even the simplest bowl of tea can be a gift warmer than fire — because it was made with kindness.
Every tea can be like Granny A-Pu’s — simple, yet filled with kindness.
When you share tea, you share a part of yourself.