Journal

Unexpected Teas from Yakushima, Japan

Unexpected Teas from Yakushima, Japan

Yakushima 屋久岛 is a small island off of Kagoshima, in southern Japan. It is a World Heritage Site, and well known as home to an ancient forest that...

Japanese Roasted Tea and Maruhachi Tea Factory

“Hojicha” refers to any type of Japanese tea that has been roasted. Most people don’t know that sencha and bancha are the raw materials for making ...

Rare Tea Tasting: Pearl Orchid Anji Baicha 珠兰安吉白

Through the trust of my tea mentor in Beijing I was able to acquire the contact for a woman who lives in Anji, and who is known to make the fines...

The Elusive and Endangered Yellow Tea

Yellow teas have been prized as Tribute Teas, and favored by emperors, for over a thousand years. Crafting yellow tea requires an intense amount of...

Mengding Mountain 蒙顶山

A recently published "Forbidden City Tribute Tea Collection" catalogs 50 kinds of Tribute Teas from 11 provinces in the Qing Dynasty. For the firs...

Tribute Teas 贡茶

Tribute Teas (贡茶 gong cha) represent the highest level of teas historically: they are dedicated to royal families and their ancestral lineage, and ...

First Harvest Green Teas 明前绿茶

For the majority of the year, when we taste tea we are tasting the effects of time and the craftsmanship behind a tea’s capacity to be aged. The ...

Yoshi's Burdock: Our visit to Cedar Isle Farm for the harvest

Cedar Isle Farm is a small, family-run farm in Seabird Isle in Agassiz, BC. It is the passion project of Yoshi, Jim, Diane, and their dog Bell...

Cultivate x Wei Cheng: In the studio with Wei

During the course of our three-month collaboration with Vancouver-based ceramicist, Wei Cheng, we visited her tucked-away studio in East Vancouver...

Ms. Qiong's philosophical approach to tea farming, tea crafting, and way of life

自然農法 shizen nōhō, in Japanese / "natural-farm tea" Living mindfully and in harmony with nature; the farming and crafting of tea in its most natur...