A POV on how our senses of sight, smell, and taste are educated and shaped by cultural context, revealing that tasting tea is a culturally cultivated skill, and not instinct
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• Point of View
Engage with opinions shaping tea’s present and future.
Camellia Sinensis: The Evolution of Experiential Retail
“Our stores have always offered the option to smell the tea, and clients really appreciate the opportunity to select their tea sensorially. We are done with the impracticalities of the sit-down visit, but we wanted to capture that special tasting moment and offer the possibility to take it further.” – Kevin Gascoyne, partner Camellia Sinensis, Montreal.
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‘A Nice Cup of Tea’ – for the 21st Century
Tea drinking has evolved in the 75 years since George Orwell’s famous essay ‘A Nice Cup’ was first published. The variety of teas available today would likely astonish Orwell and certainly would have astonished his Evening Standard readers. The process of discovering what a great pot of tea means to you can and should be more nuanced and wide-ranging than it was in Orwell’s time.
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Harnessing the Inherent Charm and Potential of Farm and Forest Tea
There is no doubt that in this golden age of tea quality frontier teas are precious opportunities to increase the spectrum of possibility. With the right care, everybody could win as producers gain a new source of income and the flowering of that beautiful craft-pride from focused artisanal activity. We should never forget, when tasting new tea, to exercise reverence for the passion and determination it takes to harvest and convert any form of the leaf into a finished tea.
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Climate Change: Growers Fight Back
It’s no news that climate change is a growing, severe and global problem. Alas, it’s also not news that this is getting worse. For the tea industry, the impacts are becoming more and more apparent. The consensual figure is that 20-50% of the positives of tea will be lost within […]
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Tea Packaging: The Innovation Edge
Innovation in tea increasingly depends on innovation in packaging Make the tea bag go away Change the labels Freshen up Don’t hide the evidence That may all sound negative. What it really amounts to is: Don’t treat packaging in its dictionary sense of being just a container. Packaging is more […]
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The Times and Tides of Tea Innovation
Tea innovation is a surprisingly inexhaustible subject. Choose a topic that has shaped society, such as trade, war, health, literature, nutrition, crime, ship design, politics, household utensils, science and technology, retailing, and social reform, and you’ll soon find strong and deep connections with tea. It has been one of the […]
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Innovation in Tea: Watch These Spaces
The Innovation Imperative: Where and How, not If In a time of change, the question is not whether to innovate, but how. For tea, it’s also urgent. There are challenges to business as usual everywhere: sustainable development, shifting consumer tastes and demographics, coffee competition, yields, costs, and quality, to name […]
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A New Era of Tea Tech and Sci: Smart Eyes, Molecular Detectives, Soft $3
Tea tech: robotics, computer vision, machine learning; Tea Sci: biogenetics, biomarkers; Soft $3: end-to-end logistics, sustainability, cost, productivity If you search online for “tea innovation news” most of the results will be about the surge of new products. These are creative and original. They are targeted to millennials, premiumization, […]
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Viewpoint: Why Tea Education Matters
“Put it before them briefly so they will read it, clearly so they will appreciate it, picturesquely so they will remember it and, above all, accurately so they will be guided by its light.” – Joseph Pulitzer At the heart of every journey is a purpose. For Tea Journey magazine, […]
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Resplendent and Indulgent Ceylon: Q&A with Malik Fernando
Malik Fernando talks with Tea Journey about what drew him to hospitality and why tea lovers must visit Sri Lanka.
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Mother’s Day Teas That Empower Women
The tea industry runs on the backs of women. Their strong yet nimble fingers pluck the delicate buds from the trees, and sort the imperfect from the perfect leaves. Yet in many tea-producing countries, women are far more likely to live in extreme poverty and have less access to education. However, some people are striving to change that narrative by educating, empowering, and enabling women in tea to rise up and bring others with them. This Mother’s Day Tea Journey wants to celebrate the companies and individuals who are helping make a difference for mothers and female tea workers around the world.
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Modern Tea Trends Take a Decidedly Victorian Turn in London
The quintessentially English custom of afternoon tea is experiencing a serious renaissance in London with dozens of hotels and tea salons offering both traditional services and those updated for a modern palate and sensibility.
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For the Hostess, Tea is the New Wine
Looking for that perfect hostess gift? According to many experts, tea may be just as good a choice as wine—if not a better one.
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A Call for Standards
The last decade has seen a boom in what the industry calls ‘Specialty Tea’, but if you ask for a definition you will come away confused.
What is so special about ‘Specialty Tea’?
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A New Normal
Happiness is only elusive when you pursue it. During the pandemic, for the first time in generations, fathers found themselves at home spending daylight hours with their children, who in pre-pandemic times, would have been at school. Families cooked together ate together and shared time in front of the TV. Fathers who invested in the most important, meaningful relationships of spouse and offspring, siblings, and parents found an overall sense of satisfaction. As the threat lessens and our lives resume consider retaining a bit of a “pandemic mindset.” Remember, the new normal is what you make it to be.
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