You are learning shanghai tea culture: you will read the scene it happens in, learn 10 words and phrases, take apart the pattern behind them (我想 + tea vocabulary), hear them in a conversation, rehearse them, and finish by saying one thing out loud to be graded.
Huxinting Teahouse (湖心亭茶楼), Yu Garden — the oldest teahouse in Shanghai, built in 1784, sitting on a pond in the middle of the old city. Across the zigzag bridge, into the most classic teahouse moment in China.
Huxinting Teahouse sits on a small island in the middle of Yu Garden's pond, connected by a nine-bend bridge (九曲桥, jiǔ qū qiáo) — the bends designed to confuse evil spirits, who can only travel in straight lines. The teahouse opened in 1784 and has been serving tea continuously since then.
The stranger crosses the bridge slowly. The view is the old city's rooftops reflected in the water. Inside: wooden beams, ceramic teapots, the smell of Longjing.
「请问，有什么好茶推荐？」 The server, a woman in a silk vest, explains the options. 「龙井是今年新茶，清香。碧螺春是苏州的，更嫩。」
「我想要一壶龙井。」 The tea arrives in a glass teapot — pale green leaves floating upright, the water light golden. He watches the leaves settle. 「慢慢喝。」 she says.