a tea house above the terraces

Villa Ānjí sits on a gentle rise above the Tabanan rice terraces, a quiet pocket of Bali where the only sounds are the irrigation water and the distant call of black-naped orioles. The architecture is unadorned — teak columns, lime-washed walls, floors of cool-andesit stone — but every window frames a deliberate view of the paddies, their colour shifting from emerald green to soft gold as the season turns. Three bedrooms, each with its own terrace, hold six guests in linen-sheet stillness; the common areas open fully to the east, catching the morning light that slowly warms the day’s first pot of tea.

At the heart of the villa is the tea room: a nine-mat space with low cypress table, charcoal brazier, and a cabinet of Yixing clay and porcelain. This is not a casual lounge but a dedicated tea centre, where resident master Zhou Xiang conducts two daily sittings for up to six guests. Zhou, a senior tea expert from Hunan, has spent two decades refining his approach to green tea — his hand on the gàiwǎn (盖碗) lid is as precise as a calligrapher’s brush. During the spring residency period, the programme revolves around Ānjí Bái Chá and Lóngjǐng (龙井), sourced directly from a small cooperative in Zhejiang and rested in the villa’s own ceramic urns. The tea room’s north window slides open to the terraces; on still mornings, vapour from a freshly rinsed cup drifts out and mingles with the mist rising from the paddies.

Beyond tea, the villa offers a long infinity pool that mirrors the sky and a small library of tea literature, including the binding of a handwritten Hunan green tea manual that Zhou sometimes shares with guests. The kitchen is stocked for simple meals — a fruit bowl of mangosteen and salak, a cold-press juicer — but most guests prefer the village warung a ten-minute walk along the irrigation canals. Bicycles are available for the ride down to the coast, yet many find little reason to leave the grounds. The light here changes slowly, and with it, the flavour of the tea.

green tea programme

Zhou Xiang’s tea programme at Villa Ānjí is quiet, methodical, and built around the idea that green tea is best understood in the climate that most threatens it — the tropics. The heat and humidity that can flatten a delicate green tea in a closed canister become an object lesson in the importance of storage, brewing temperature, and season. Each morning session begins with a single varietal: Ānjí Bái Chá in the first days, its pale liquor tasting of chestnut and morning dew, then Xī Hú Lóngjǐng (西湖龙井) as the season advances, its flat-pressed leaves unfurling into a broth reminiscent of green beans and faint steam. Both teas are prepared gongfu style in porcelain gaiwan, with water cooled to exactly 80°C — Zhou measures by the size of the bubbles, a detail he learned from a tea master in Junshan.

In the afternoon, the programme opens to comparison. Guests might taste Lóngjǐng from three different spring harvests, or a Hunan green alongside the Zhejiang standard, learning to discern the mineral finish of high-mountain soil. Zhou speaks little unless asked, preferring to let the tea do the teaching. Once a stay, he offers a sunset session that pairs a rare yellow tea — Jūnshān Yín Zhēn (君山银针) — with small bowls of mango and sticky rice, the floral sweetness of the tea lifting against the fruit’s acidity. All sessions are included in the villa rate; guests may also request a private sitting in their own terrace, where the ritual becomes as much about the view of the paddies as the contents of the cup. As Zhou writes on tea.school, “Green tea is a conversation with time — in the tropics, you learn to listen faster.”

Amenities

• dedicated tea room with porcelain and Yixing ware

• daily guided tea sessions with resident master Zhou Xiang

• three bedrooms with private terraces, all en-suite

• infinity pool overlooking the rice terraces

• library of tea literature and handwritten manuals

• charcoal brazier and temperature-controlled kettle in tea room

• bicycles for rides to the coast or village warung

• open-air pavilion with cypress tea table

What’s included

• all daily tea sessions — morning and afternoon

• a welcome set of Ānjí Bái Chá and Lóngjǐng in ceramic jar

• use of gaiwan and tasting cups for the duration of stay

• fresh fruit bowl and cold-brew tea daily

• concierge assistance for village dining and rice-terrace walks

• airport transfer from Denpasar