Tea Journey’s first annual harvest review gives you the big picture on the global tea business in 2016 along with insider information from local experts on some of the year’s most interesting teas. Especially for tea enthusiasts in the West, we hope this issue brings you a step or two closer to your favourite tea gardens – and your next new favourites!
Each spring, the entire world celebrates the role of mothers with grateful appreciation. The practice of families traveling to their ancestral home in Spring dates to antiquity and remains an occasion for festivals and fairs in both Asia and Western countries. The holiday is recognized from March through May.
Almost everyone has a secret charm secretly locked in the back of the mind: a magic word, favorite number, or familiar habit – in short, something guaranteed to bring good luck. A star has fallen from the sky on top of this teapot like a lucky star to brighten your table, guaranteed to make a wish come true with every cup of tea.
High adventure is not the first thing that comes to mind for those who enjoy tea but tea is a remarkably versatile companion outdoors, hot or cold.
Ah, nights by the campfire under the stars with a warm cup of camp-brewed tea! Designed with both safety and practicality in mind, this kettle’s ergonomic handle is wrapped in insulated plastic to protect hands from heat. A pointed continental spout allows for easy steam exit, lowering the risk of scalding injuries. The kettle can be used on an open fire, and heats water in only 3-5 minutes.
During these difficult times, tea’s calming effect comforted many, but mothers most of all. If there is something missing that will make her everyday tea ritual more pleasant, now is the time to purchase that convenience. Consider a bright teapot, a brewer, tea caddy, porcelain cups, or mug. If mom has everything she needs close at hand, consider a gift of tea-themed jewelry or a book to curl up with till normalcy returns.
Fine teas reveal their elegance in layers. Rock oolongs, for example, respond to short, controlled steeps in small volumes of water. Teasy offers that level of control with greater convenience and a larger volume than a gaiwan.
Gift sets make any tea occasion special. Matching teapot, cups, saucers, creamer, sugar bowl, and even a flower vase make this rose adorned teatime set from Théières du monde the ultimate for entertaining.
Considered a basic for a tea book library, this gorgeous volume is by the chef-owners of Quebec’s Camellia Sinensis Tea House and covers history, farming techniques, and tea culture, among other subjects. You can buy it directly from the Tea House’s website, which is in French, under “Cadeaux Pour Debutants” (Gifts for Beginners).
Tea Journey readers span the globe. Half of the magazine’s subscribers reside in Asia and Europe and Africa. That’s why this year’s last-minute gift guide features festive items from India, Europe, and China. These gifts bring to mind holiday celebrations around the world including Diwali (the festival of lights in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Linka), Yawm Ashura in Arabic countries, Hanukkah, and Dongzhi the winter solstice celebrated in China, Korea and Japan.
Tea is proven to enhance the well-being of those who drink several cups a day. It inspires a process of discovery among imbibers, cultivating a deep appreciation for the growing, crafting, and preparation of great tasting tea. Finding your own favorite tea leads to a daily ritual and, in time, a healthy life-long habit.
While tea brewed hot still cools millions worldwide, it is iced and cold-brewed tea that quenches the thirst of urban dwellers on the go.
Being Tea offers a uniquely human-centered membership program, offering financially accessible, sensory supportive, self-empowered education online for your daily life in tea!
A rose by any other name may smell like tea. These delicate rose varieties were originally named because their fragrance resembled tea.
Long before cut, tear and curl (CTC) dominated tea processing in the West, India exported sizeable quantities of handmade orthodox tea to an appreciative world market.
Small factories at small gardens cultivated the art of rolling and twisting and shaping tea. Artisan tea is labor intensive and tea masters are more selective about the leaves they accept.
“The indentured migrant laborer community of the tea plantations in Assam and North Bengal in India, has always intrigued,” writes Dr. Sunayana Sarkar. “Their history has also appalled, at times,” adds Sarkar, a professor of structural geology and geotechnics and a gifted musician.
Green makes us go. It is the color of currency and commerce. It is bright and brings us luck in a shamrock or a sense of calm sailing a vast sea.
“In Asia, the color green represents positivity, and happiness—all appropriate adjectives to describe the current state of the global green tea market,” writes Sam Molineaux in World Tea News. Read more…
— This time-lapse video captures the beautiful birth of the 2018 shincha harvest.A special video camera, positioned at the Nakakubo Tea Farm, advanced a few frames every 5 minutes for about 30 days last month to show us the dance of the new leaves. The digital images were then edited to create a short film.