Four Symbols Premium Chinese Tea

Four Symbols teas are sourced in the unique tea lands of China, harmonizing the artisanship of man with nature to produce authentic specialty loose-leaf tea.

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Inspiring enthusiasts to refine their taste in tea

Four Symbols Premium Chinese Tea

Four Symbols teas are sourced in the unique tea lands of China, harmonizing the artisanship of man with nature to produce authentic specialty loose-leaf tea.

Palette for Your Palate

Thirty world-renowned chefs and mixologists were challenged to create a recipe for a tea entrée, tea dessert and tea cocktail, drawing inspiration from Tealeaves’ teabag collection and one out of 10 PANTONE colors.

Mary Cotterman: Entranced by the Spinning Wheel

At a very young age, Cotterman developed a passion for pottery, making pinch pots in the rocky Texas dirt of her yard. By the age of 12, she had her first formal experience with a throwing wheel during a summer camp class.

Wuyi’s Rock Tea: Treasure Mountain

Long into the night tea grower Yihua Luo keeps a watchful eye over the new harvest roast. It is the critical final stage of the most intricate processing technique of any tea. He hasn’t slept in 32 hours.

Mammoth Tusk Teaset

Apple Computer designer Marc Newson recently unveiled a five-piece mammoth-ivory tea set for Georg Jensen, a Danish metalware brand.

Whimsical Tea Fish

Charm Villa’s whimsical tea bags are constructed of a Japanese fabric that requires 16 steps to make by hand.

In Search of the Elusive Tai Ping Hou Kui

Every tea taster dreams of discovering a remote, virtually inaccessible growing region producing exceptional tea. The discovery of Tai Ping Hou Kui was just such an experience for us.

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’?

A Rendezvous with Chance

Patterns in glazed tea bowls from the imperial Jianyao Kiln are “mysterious, sacred and transcendent” and some of the most celebrated national treasures in Japan.

Chigusa: Ancient Japanese Diaries as an Art of Tea

Particularly fine items used in these Japanese tea rituals were designated as meibutsu, or revered objects, by the tea men. Chigusa is a meibutsu tea jar and one of the most famous of several hundred antique ceramic storages jars still in existence.

Tea is the New Wine

Think of your personal relationship to wine. When you first discovered wine and how you learned to appreciate it. Most importantly, retrace how you learned about wine and why a particular wine became your favorite. Now, imagine rediscovering that awakening, education and discovery. It is time for Grand Cru Tea.

Tea Mixology

Tea is a flexible botanical that belongs behind the bar and can inspire a mixologist from many directions. The role of tea continuously evolved in Modern craft cocktails.

New Zealand’s Tea Evolution

New Zealanders are determined tea drinkers ranking 6th worldwide in per capita consumption. Supermarket teas dominate but offerings have evolved beyond canisters of traditional loose-leaf blends. Artisan merchants and entrepreneurs have found their niche in specialty tea blends so expect further expansion and innovation.

Garden Hopping in Queensland

Visitors to the Northern Queensland, Australia, can still find a handful of tea estates in an area called the ‘Wet Tropics’ – go there before the rest of the world catches on and lose yourself in the peacefulness and timelessness of a heritage that’s gone but not forgotten.

The Key to Weight Loss: Is it Caffeine or Tea Itself?

Connections have been shown in the past between caffeine-containing beverages and weight loss. But what is it that actually produces the result? In the case of tea, is it the caffeine or is it the tea?

Too Hot to Handle?

If you drink your tea very hot, that may increase your risk of cancer, according to a World Health Organization research agency.

Pile-fermentation: The Catalyst that Creates Shou Puer

The 45-day pile-fermentation process involves moistening large stacks of sun-dried crude tea leaves. The leaves are piled high and carefully monitored to produce a dark composted tea known as Shou Puer.

Puer Peanut Butter Cheesecake

puer and peanut butter, a combination made in gastronomic heaven that celebrates both the savoury and sweet profile of both ingredients simultaneously.

HARVEST REVIEW 2016

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!

Inside the Taster’s Practice

Experiencing the taste of tea and then describing that experience in spoken and written language is an art and a science, dependent on both inspiration and a lot of hard work. Professional tasters discuss some of the key questions about their craft.

Purnima Rai’s Nepal Garden

Smallholders are the backbone of the tea industry, especially in underdeveloped Nepal. Here’s the story of one Nepali smallholder: a widowed grandmother who has spent a lifetime in tea, nature, faith and family.

Teabags too Charming to Compost

Most tea connoisseurs will choose loose leaf over a teabag. But one New York artist is doing something wonderful with teabags that you can’t do with loose leaf.

Lepod Tea Brewer

A Shanghai company has invented a tea appliance that it claims can brew tea as well as a skilled gong fu cha artist but in a fraction of the time.

Nepal Kanchenjenga

Nepali Tea Opportunity

A lack of infrastructure, a lack of capital, natural disasters, a pandemic, and a very tough competitor at the border – these are the challenges faced by Nepal growers.

The Significance of the Utah Teapot

Tea—in particular, one special teapot—holds a special place of honour in the history and ongoing development of digital 3D modelling.

Two Centuries of Iconic Spode

Italian ceramics maker Spode celebrates the bicentennial of its trademark pattern with an exquisite limited edition collection.

Rock On: Designer Porcelain Dinnerware

American interior designer Kathryn Scott’s new line of porcelain tea ware is inspired by natural forms and the grand traditions of porcelain design in China.

Growers Hope to Revive Georgian Tea

For most of the past century, Georgia was one of the world’s leading tea producers, supplying the unremarkable brew that filled tea cups in the Soviet Union. The Soviet collapse and the country’s civil war virtually killed the industry, but it’s starting to make a comeback.

Tasting Notes: Georgian Tea

What kind of tea is coming out of Georgia these days? Well, it’s not your (Georgian) grandfather’s tea! We recently sampled a green and some black teas from producers reviving a tea industry that under the Soviet Union was once the world’s fourth largest producer.

HARVEST REVIEW 2016: China

The Chinese tea industry, responsible for a third of global tea production, will remember 2016 mainly for the challenge of recovering from severe spring frost. Early spring tea was hit hard but the late spring harvest made up somewhat for the early losses. It has added up to overall lower sales compared to 2015, especially for the higher grades.

Yongzhong Xie: Tireless Tea Master

Meet Yongzhong Xie: born into tea, raised by tea and to a great extent, defined by his tea. A tea master and a task master, Mr. Xie demonstrates the art of manufacturing fine Keemun tea.

HARVEST REVIEW 2016: Southern China

It’s never a bad year for tea in Southern China, home of Anxi and Wuyi wulongs and many more outstanding varieties. But a wet spring dampened this year’s harvest, especially in early May when heavy rain brought tragedy to the region. Recommendations from the region this year include two Dancong oolongs from Guangdong province, Rougui from Wuyi, and jasmine.

Hawaii: the Spirit of Tea is alive

A community of artisanal tea growers has taken root in Hawaii and it’s finding success in niche tea markets internationally. For one Chinese-American couple, their new career keeps them connected with their art and their family’s tea heritage.

Hawaii: Lifegiving Terroir

Hawaii’s climate, soils and topography make it a natural place to grow tea. But the rich physical and biological diversity of the islands pose both opportunities and challenges for the first generation of Hawaiian tea producers.

HARVEST REVIEW 2016: Australia

2016 was a good year for the growing tea industry in Australia. Australians have a history of being black tea drinkers and following their mostly British heritage, but that is rapidly changing. Gardens there specialize in Japanese and Taiwan style teas with a reputation for high quality and distinctive taste from the continent’s varied terroir.

Harvest Review: Jiangbei China

Photographs by Huiling Liang Jiangbei (literally means River North, refers to the area north of the Yangtze River in eastern […]

Hobbyists Building a Tea Industry

Hawaii is experiencing the birth of a new cottage industry: tea farming. The American state is taking advantage of favourable terroir to build an environmentally sustainable industry. Its development approach is based on research, innovation and cooperation.

HARVEST REVIEW 2016: Japan

Tamiko Kinezuka: “We make tea with great effort, and hope you will drink our passion with your tea. As my father says, ‘Please taste the tea in one half of your cup, and the heart of its farmer on the other.’ “