When you visit an Uzbek family, don’t be surprised to see them pour very little tea into your bowl. Tea is poured into the bowl little by little, literally for 1-2 sips. This is a sign of special respect for the guest. The more often the host pours tea into the guest’s cup, the more precious the guest is to him.
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Kangra Looks Towards West Bengal for Tea Tourism Inspiration | West Bengal Government to Meet Tea Industry Stakeholders | Episode 206
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Darjeeling Faces A Challenging First Flush | Growers Ask for 100% Auction Sales | Two Tea Brands Raise Funding | Episode 205
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Tea Biz is compiling information on the fate of USAID agricultural department projects focused on tea. This may lead others to assist. Help us get the word out by commenting | re-sharing | reply. Send project details and current status to dan@tea-biz.com or find me on WhatsApp (dwjbolton) or WeChat (dwjbolton)
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In the Phoenix Mountains in China, the Dancong Oolong reigns. We meet 33 year old Huang Huan who chose to return home to take over his family tea farm. He has made it his mission to produce only organic oolong from his 10,000 trees.
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βPeruvian tea is on a trajectory of growth and improvement both nationally and internationally. With an appropriate strategy that emphasizes quality, authenticity, and sustainability, there is significant potential to increase its presence and prestige in the global market.β
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Red Sea Shipping Attacks Paused | Carlsberg Acquires UK Bottler Britvic | Kidney Mortality Rates Lower for Tea Drinkers Consuming Oxidized Tea | Episode 202
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Hot Tea Gains Marketing Momentum | FDA Bans Red Dye No. 3 in Foods and Beverages | Argentinaβs Misiones Tea Growing Region is Awarded Geographic Indication Status | Episode 201
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Hundreds of tea professionals, educators, and enthusiasts will travel from around the world to attend the UC Davis Global Tea Institute’s 10th Anniversary colloquium on January 30 at UC Davis. This year’s theme is Tea and Peace: Bringing Communities Together. | Episode 200
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Malik Fernando, of Resplendent Ceylon, and a legacy in tea, speaks about what drew him to hospitality and why tea lovers must visit Sri Lanka.
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If you drive 250 kilometers west of Bangalore, India, you reach Sakleshpur, where the coffee country begins. And sitting here amongst the coffee estates is a tea garden called Kadamane. And that itself seemed reason enough to book a stay.
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If you decide to visit a Kyrgyz teahouse, first of all you should take off your shoes, then lie down on the carpet near the dastarkhwan (traditional table cloth), on which there is a bowl and a teapot with aromatic hot tea. You can spend the whole day in a teahouse, because time flies unnoticed over a cup of good tea and friendly conversations.
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Tea wasnβt just what I did β it seemed to define who I am. As my close friends light-heartedly joke, “Kurush doesnβt drink tea to wake up, he wakes up to drink Tea!” and “If he won the lottery tomorrow, heβd still be doing tea!”
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When the tips of leaves start to turn yellow and fallen chestnuts scatter on the sidewalks, itβs time to bake pumpkin cookiesβbecause Thanksgiving is coming. Jessica Natale Woolard writes about Canadian Thanksgiving, Elizeth van der Vorst writes about Christmas in Brazil, Poorvi Chordia writes about Diwali in the United States, and John Smagula writes about the winter solstice in China.
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We associate tea with soothing, calm moments (canβt you just feel yourself relaxing?). What better way to keep readers interested than to lull them into a happy, tea-induced mood and then BAM! throw the unexpected.
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Taking a steaming cup of tea in my hands, I stepped out onto the Palmoβs teahouse porch. And there it was, a rainbow stretching across the vast expanse of the Langtang mountain range. The vibrant colors contrasted against the backdrop of the rugged terrain. I stood there, in awe but […]
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When asked what the key to a successful blend is, the first word that comes is “love,” love of the plant and love of the producer, from which stems a desire to always enhance the products and never distort them.
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“Right from the tea workers who pluck the bud at the crack of dawn to the manager of the tea estates who still live in a time-warp in their colonial bungalows, laal saah rules the roost from morning to sunset. But donβt be fooled by its outwardly egalitarian existence, it is only a ruse. If one is inclined to look hard, then the differences unravel themselves…”
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Bringing consciousness to tasting, not just in the sensory experience of the mouth or intellect, but also in the body. Sometimes these approaches face each other: the very Western sommelier side, especially French, and the very experiential Chinese approach.
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Kumaon was where a lot of British tea experiments took place. It’s land-locked location led to its losing out on what Darjeeling or even Kangra saw. In the last decade there has been a revival taking place led by Raj Vable in the US and Desmond Birkbeck in Kumaon.
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John Smagula stopped for tea at the Nan Yuan tea store in Shanghai. He chatted with Zhou Yin and learned about the changing dynamics for tea sellers.
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If you imagined that Chai was part of the traditional Indian kitchens and comes with a long history, you’ll be surprised to know that chai is very much a 20th-century creation. This week, India celebrates Independence Day, and seeing how many celebrations feature Chai as a cultural motif, I thought it was a good time to talk about chai and how tea became Chai.
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Smoking with tea leaves is a culinary innovation you can enjoy. It combines the ancient practice of smoking food and the nuanced flavors of tea.
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En las tierras misionales existen muchos cultivos diferentes, desde los mΓ‘s exΓ³ticos y novedosos como la moringa hasta los tradicionales e histΓ³ricos como la yerba mate y el tΓ©. El cultivo del tΓ© ha dado lugar a nuevas prΓ‘cticas culturales y de procesamiento mΓ‘s allΓ‘ del tΓ© negro y los […]
Read More In our Tea Discovery series, we make our acquaintance with Argentinian powdered tea, resulting from experiments by farmer Mario Paredes. “Tea plantations were being destroyed because black tea had stopped being profitable.
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We all enjoy a good cuppa tea, but why not take that enjoyment step further with doing a little tea leaf reading as an added bonus! Tea leaf reading, while it sounds like a parlour trick, is a simple form of divination that is fun and can be done by […]
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In the lower elevation gardens of the Lumbini tea estate, bordering the pristine Sinharaja Forest, a decade-long pursuit has led to a special white tea range, produced in small batches for discerning tea seekers.
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Fatherhood is not just about being there physically but also about being emotionally present and engaged. Boys are motivated to create and sustain meaningful relationships when they witness this healthy behavior in their fathers.
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Tea culture in the Czech Republic got a boost when Petr Zelik decided to revive it with his company OXALIS. Inspired by Eastern cultures and Western preferences, this is the story of a tea brand that has kept up with changing times and continues to make its impact in tea.
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Because of their affinity, gin and tea are natural botanical bedfellows, adding complexity to one another when used in concert. In the early 2000s, Desmond Payne, Master Distiller (now emeritus) at Beefeater Gin, created Beefeater 24, which included Sencha and Chinese green teas as key differentiators in the botanical list.
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Straight out of university with a masters in English, I found myself at age 22 up in the High Ranges of South India on the Panniar Tea Estate. It was 1975. I was dispatched there by the Malayalam Plantations Agents in coastal Cochin, 130 kilometers west.Β Born and with my […]
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IchΕ or ichoucha is withered tea. The first process in producing Japanese green tea is steaming the leaves as soon as they are picked to stop oxidation and keep their strong green color. However, by withering them first, the leaves undergo a slight oxidation between harvest and steaming, bringing out the floral notes.
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In 1881 when it was completed, the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway was the only option to commute. Anyone who missed the train boarded a bullock cart on a much longer journey. There was no concept of a βToy Trainβ back then. In the decades since it was constructed the commuter railway with its 55 miles of zig-zags and loops has established itself as a tourist attraction. It was a welcome change for those who prefer a closer look at the Hills instead of just check-boxing! Among those who came were authors, filmmakers, poets, scholars, and artists. When the Buddhist monks traveled on regular passenger trains, they also had opportunities to interact with residents, which brought them closer to the realities of daily life at the hills.
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Β Β In January 2024, once my South American trip was in its full planning stages I emailed Dan Bolton: Did he know of any passionate tea person in Buenos Aires?Β His reply came swiftly: Horatio Bustos of Gyokuro Circulo Argentino de Te. Buenos Aires is some 5,659 miles from Kansas City, […]
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A tea enclave has emerged amid the Pyrénees Mountains, a natural barrier between France and Spain that runs over 430 kilometers from the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. A young agronomist, Lucas Ben-Moura established a new terroir in the Argelès-Gazost valley, a few kilometers south of Lourdes.
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The tea industry relies on women whose strong yet nimble fingers pluck the delicate buds from the trees and sort the imperfect from the perfect leaves. Yet women are far more likely to live in extreme poverty and have less access to education. This Motherβs Day Tea Journey celebrates the companies and individuals change that narrative by educating, empowering, and enabling women in tea. Join us in supporting those who a difference for mothers and female tea workers worldwide.Β
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βThere are nights when the full moon is clear, and the golden light radiates like a warm forest. The ancient tea trees lit up magically, their warm, sweet fragrance mixed with a little bit of night incenseβ¦ We would love to capture that magical moment through the tea which holds in it a feeling of mystery, something shrouded in the darkness.β – Nguyen Viet Hung
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With every delicious sip and satisfying bite, the Araksa Tea Room in Bangkok is revolutionizing Thai tea culture. Araksa means “to preserve” and both the tea garden and restaurant promote Thai traditions while simultaneously elevating the way tea and food are produced and consumed.
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That the Bengali love tea is now legendary. And in Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal, tea is part of the social and cultural fabric. Our Chai Trail series takes readers up close and personal to the tea culture across India, and this story is a peek into the Bengali homes and the place that tea has in their lives.
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Badaga food from the tea-growing Nilgiri mountains is distinctive from all other Indian tea-inspired cuisines. Tourists drawn to South India are fascinated by the stories of this indigenous tribe that has lived in the Blue Mountains for centuries.
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Teatime allows us to slow down and savor life β and what better way to savor life than by escaping with a good book? Put on the kettle and nestle into your favorite chair to celebrate Valentineβs Day with a romantic read. These tea romances explore many relationships: romantic, friend, family, and even our relationship with ourselves.
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Thereβs an ideal pairing for every kind of tea and chocolate. Finding the right combination produces a union that delights the palate and raises the individual components to a higher level.
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Buddies Cafe in Ooty. This cafe is the largest tea room in India, which features over 220 varieties of tea: artisanal and hand-crafted single-origin teas, orthodox blends, tisanes, and CTC dust. When I first entered the cafe, Nirmal Raj stood next to a wall of transparent glass tea canisters and opened them enthusiastically to allow customers to inhale as he spoke animatedly about each tea. After leaving my non-heated hostel, I chanced upon the cafe, searching for a warmer place to write from. As a shoestring budget backpacker, I had traveled to the Nilgiris tea-growing region on an overnight bus from Bengaluru, India, and soon found myself returning daily to Buddies Cafe.
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“My decision to embark on the path of professional tea-making and tasting was deeply rooted in my upbringing. Surrounded by the intricate dance of tea artisans and the fragrance of freshly plucked leaves, my fascination with tea began at a tender age. Iβve been living with tea for over three decades now.”
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This holiday season, use tea as a special ingredient to elevate your main dishes and cocktails. From prime rib to mushroom risotto, tea makes everything taste better.
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Parsis call tea choi, not chai, cha, or tea, but choi. Choi was never, ever consumed on its own. There were always Bhakras, the soft cookies made with dough fermented using palm toddy, or chaapat, a flat, mildly sweet pancake. For special occasions, ghaari – thick dough discs filled with a mixture of bananas cooked in ghee, dates cooked till gooey, or a sweet dal paste were served.
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Immersive tours are a remarkable equalizer, bridging the gap between seasoned tea connoisseurs and novices. Through shared experiences of plucking tea leaves alongside local farmers, crafting their blends, and witnessing the alchemy of leaf to cup, they forge bonds that go beyond language and cultural barriers.Β
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The holidays are perfect for combining your favorite teas and festive desserts. Bakers from around the world share their best tea-themed recipes with Tea Journey readers.
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Masala chai is like a mini meal, as it not only includes the well-documented health benefits of tea but also has protein and calcium from milk, anti-inflammatory properties from ginger, and superfood benefits from spices.
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Stay in a restored bungalow originally built in 1910 and once the residence of the Nepali royal family. It offers 12 exquisitely decorated and spacious suites, each named for an historical figure attached to the estate.
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