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? His reply came swiftly: Horatio Bustos of Gyokuro Circulo Argentino de Te.
Buenos Aires is some 5,659 miles from Kansas City, my home. Since this was my first trip to South America it seemed like an adventure to the moon. Nevertheless, off went my introductory email to Horatio requesting a time to share with him our tea stories and to taste some Argentinian teas. His reply arrived the next day and we settled on March 21 at 10:00 a.m. at his place in the Villa del Parque neighborhood of Buenos Aires.
Horatio explained that he did not speak any English. My travel partner Lisa and I knew little Spanish. So, I replied: “Ah, but we all speak the language of tea. See you in a couple of months.”
Lisa and I arrived in Buenos Aires on March 17. We kept very busy while waiting for our appointment with Horatio. On his suggestion we had Afternoon Tea at the Alvear Palace Hotel near the historic Cementerio de la Recoleta. We took a Mate Masterclass to learn about the national drink of Argentina, the highly caffeinated herbal called yerba mate. We took an Argentinian cooking class with Fran at the Pachamama’s Cooking Experience in the Palermo area of Buenos Aires. We made chipas, chimichurri sauce, empanadas and dulce de leche crepes. All quite yummy.
Finally, our appointment with Horatio arrived. We booked an Uber knowing that traffic in Buenos Aires was terrible. We were told it could take up to 45 min. to drive those 7 miles across town, so we added an extra 30 minutes to reach Horatio’s place on time. The Uber drive was an exasperating experience, taking longer than anticipated. The driver was becoming quite explosive in language and driving skills while trying to find Horatio’s address.
With rattled nerves we arrived at Horatio’s building. We rang the doorbell to Apt. 39 and were let in. We got in the elevator, pushed the button to the 3rd floor. On the 3rd floor, I opened the elevator door to discover a wall! Puzzled, we went back down to the first floor and started over. Up to the third floor. The same experience. While I danced around in great angst, I finally noticed the door behind us. Two doors! Behind the second door, Analia, Horatio’s wife, waited patiently in the hallway.
We collapsed into our seats. Our struggles to get there soon melted away and were forgotten. Next began our adventure to communicate using Google translate, hand gestures, broken English and messed up Spanish, and all our physical senses. It was like the sun cracked through the clouds after that Uber storm!
For all the tea classes that Lisa and I have taken over the past 20 years, for all the tea sites in the world we have visited, those two hours with Horacio and Analia will be forever treasured. Our struggle to communicate, to understand what Horacio wished to tell us and what we wanted him to know about our tea experiences, was full of laughter.
During those two hours, we tasted nine Argentinian teas made in the Misiones Province some 715 miles north of Buenos Aires. We experienced the tea liquor, and the dry and wet leaves of two white teas, two green teas, two oolongs and three black teas. These teas were from seven different organic, orthodox growers/producers; many of these tea farms were female owned and operated.
All the teas were beautifully crafted producing a range in liquor color from the palest, hardly discernible, to dark, golden hues. The dry leaf ranged from wiry to bold. Flavors that crossed our tongues had notes of honey and chocolate, toasty and spicy, floral and nutty.
Horatio followed the same preparation procedure for the white, green and oolongs: 2 grams, 150 ml water, 80 degrees Celsius at two minutes of steeping time. For the three black teas: 2 grams, 150 ml water, 90 degrees Celsius at three minutes of steeping time.
Conversation through Google translate began to suffer when discussing such topics as pirazina, the heterocyclic aromatic compounds; that taste is different than flavor; that there exists two assamica varieties, the C. sinensis ‘chinensis assamica’ (softer on the palate), as well as, the better known bolder, C. sinensis ‘assamica’ from India.
By the time our two hours came to an end with all our language struggles, all the new facts we learned, all the new tastes of these wildly unique and beautifully made Argentinian teas, we were just giddy! Our time with Horacio and Analia, while experiencing these nine teas, could certainly be described as a tea adventure beautifully served with pastaflora (need to check if this is Pastafrola or Quince Tart) cake and the Argentinians favourite, cake with dulce de leche and coconut. We had prevailed through the language of tea with mutual respect and love. Horatio and Analia, thank you for such a rewarding time together.
