Look for these articles in the August issue of Tea Journey magazine…
Global Harvest Report
Tea Journey in August will deliver an unprecedented global harvest report with posts from in-country growers in 40 distinct tea growing regions. Regions are defined by geography and growing conditions (terroir) as well as national boundaries. Reports on harvest conditions around the globe are filed by resident tea experts, garden owners, government officials, seasoned tea brokers, academics, agricultural extension agents and tea journalists.
Once tea is plucked, skilled artisans work tirelessly to produce the finished teas. It takes about five pounds of fresh tea leaves to make a pound of processed tea. Workers typically pluck 42 kilos (90 pounds) a day. Since tea grows in both the southern and northern hemispheres, the global harvest is nearly continuous. Processing is generally completed within a few days or weeks of the harvest but some roasted wulongs take months to settle after firing. Puer rests for up to three years before it is pressed into cakes that age for decades.
Ever Green Hawaii
“Nothing is more hallowing than the union of kindred spirits in art.”
This quotation from Okakura Kakuzo’s classic Book of Tea is the mantra for Hawaii tea growers Eva Lee and Chiu Leong. The age-old sentiment is the refrain that infuses the lives of this talented couple as they grow tea in their rainforest garden nestled on the slopes of Hawaii’s Kilauea Volcano. “Okakura would say their mission is steeped in the true spirit of Teaism,” writes contributing editor Bruce Richardson.
She Rises with the Sun to Pluck Tea Each Day
Purnima Rai is a 65-year-old tea grower in Illam, the most famous of Nepal’s tea growing regions. Each day from spring until fall she rises with the sun to pluck a basket of newly-formed buds from randomly scattered tea bushes that she has nurtured for decades. Purnima was married at 13 and raised a family of four on 1.5 hectares (3.7 acres) that was inherited by her late husband. The high-mountain soil produces grain for her chickens, enough grass to graze two cows and amlisso beans for her table. Alaichi kheti (cardamom) and tea are her cash crops. Now widowed, her family grown, she devotes two hours a day to weeding and pruning her precious trees. She is very selective about which leaves she plucks to ensure they are suitable for purchase by an organic-certified factory in the nearby village of Sunderpani. “Where there is tea, there is hope,” she told Tea Journey reporter Susma Bastola, with photographs by Italian photojournalist Giacomo Orlando.
Do you Drink your Raw Puer Blended or Straight?
Single origin or blend? In the world of whiskey, some prefer blended and some prefer single-malt. The preference holds whether a novice or connoisseur. The same applies to puer: with many sub-regions and teas from a single origin or a skillful mélange, tea professionals in China share their advice with Pu-erh magazine (Issue 9).
Yongzhong Xie – Tireless Tea Master
The first time we met Yongzhong Xie, he strode into the Keemun tea factory with a 9-foot bamboo stick on his shoulder tied with fresh strands of bamboo leaves. He then used his self-made broom to clean the dust from high atop the machines just like the Monkey King. By Yanmei Guan, from the Cha Dao Life (Keemun Issue).
Plus:
Authenticating Puer
CIS: Georgia Tea