Ju Pu Cha
The uplifting citrusy aroma from dried tangerine is deftly balanced with the plummy, earthy and glowing vintage puer.
Inspiring enthusiasts to refine their taste in tea
Brewer Magic
Shopping for a brewer? Tea Journey covers the globe looking for innovative and advanced tea brewers to make every kind of team from matcha to machine-learning internet operated models.
Caffeine May Lower Older Women’s Risk of Dementia
New research indicates that drinking many cups of tea a day can reduce the onset of dementia and Alzheimer’s in older women.
Tea Cultivated 3,000 Years Before The Pyramids
Archaeologists digging in the Tianluo Mountains near Ningbo, in Zhejiang province, China, have traced the origin of tea to around 3,000 years before the first pyramids.
Kanchenjunga: Five Treasures of the Great Snow Mountain
Parts of Nepal, Tibet, India and Bhutan are within view of Mt. Kanchenujunga a majestic icon whose five peaks look down on famous tea gardens in Darjeeling, Sikkim, Kalimpong, Pedong, Ilam, Hile and Taplejung.
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.
The Timeless Perfection of Yixing Teapots
In the households of Yixing, home of the celebrated purple clay teapots, ordinary potters are crafting something extraordinary.
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.
Where Trees Become Teas and Strangers Friends
Happenstance along a muddy uphill trail in Xishuangbanna leads to a long-time friendship sharing 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.
Is that Cream in Your Tea or Tea in Your Cream?
Like a kaleidoscope of flavor, with each permutation of tea and dairy, a winning new combination comes into focus.
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.
Tea and Heart Health: Benefits of Long-Term Consumption
Studies show the benefits of regular tea drinking can prevent arterial stiffening, reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases like heart failure and stroke.
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?
Tea for Stronger Teeth?
Is the fluoride in tea guilty of dental problems?
Using Green Tea to Block Starch Absorption
How does green tea prevent obesity?
A Cuppa Day for Better Heart Health
Even one cup of tea a day may be good for your heart’s health.
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.
Green Tea Promising for Treating Adult Acne
Decaffeinated green tea extract (GTE) shows some promise in treating adult women with acne.
If Drinking Tea While Pregnant or Breastfeeding, Moderation Is the Word
The risk from caffeine to humans during pregnancy is low but present.
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.
Puer Chazuke (tea over cooked rice)
Experiment puer with simple Asian style stir fry. Vegan friendly.
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.
Confluence Topographic Tea Tray
This beautiful carved-wood tea tray lets you bring the tea plantation home with you.
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.
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.