My article on this year’s World Tea Expo has been published on the English Tea Store Blog. Here’s an excerpt: One highlight among the vast sea of exhibitors on the Expo floor was the Taiwan Pavilion, where Thomas Shu and his wife Josephine Pan [of ABC Tea] hosted tastings and demonstrations. They were aided by [...]
The third and final part of my interview with Nigel Melican is now posted on Cha Dao. Excerpted: Cinnabar: The attempts at growing one place’s regionally-specific tea in a different location seem strange to me, because if you’re taking a type of tea varietal and growing it somewhere else, with a totally different climate and [...]
The second part of my interview with Nigel Melican is now available for you to read on Cha Dao. Excerpted: Cinnabar: I guess there are really two focuses of organic farming. I wasn’t even thinking about how it affects the end product, because it seems like that’s not the same conversation. The impact on the [...]
A couple of weeks prior to the World Tea Expo in Las Vegas last year Corax, of the consistently excellent tea blog Cha Dao, asked me to engage in a bit of information gathering during my time there, which would ultimately become a guest post. He also solicited Nigel Melican of Teacraft Ltd, who agreed [...]
Hong Yue (红玉, “Red Jade” in Chinese) is unlike any other black tea you’re likely to drink, but it’s one I recommend trying when you can get it. It’s not commonly available outside of Taiwan, due to the small amounts produced each year and the relative lack of awareness among worldwide tea drinkers. That said, [...]
As I was leaving to fly to Las Vegas for World Tea Expo last week I found myself at Sea-Tac Airport in pursuit of a decent cup of tea. Much to my surprise, at the Dilettante Mocha Café I was able to procure a cup of what I am almost positive was Harney and Sons’ [...]
This is a teapot that I bought from Brett of Black Dragon Tea Bar several weeks ago. It was acquired during his most recent tea-related travels in Taiwan. Before seasoning it had a darker, very waxy, shiny surface on the outside, but it mellowed into the dusty surface it has now. It’s quite a photogenic [...]
Teas Etc.’s Plum Blossom Reserve Oolong (Dong Fong Mei Zen), a Bai Hao style oolong from Taiwan, is an exceptional and fabulous tea. It is one of a small number of teas that Teas Etc. has started importing from an award-winning Taiwanese grower. If you’ve tasted any Bai Hao oolong and are capable of calling [...]
A while ago I reviewed a Formosa Shanlinxi high mountain oolong from auraTeas. Not terribly long after that I received a sample of Rishi Tea’s Shan Lin Xi Gao Shan Cha Oolong, and I was quite interested in finding out how different the teas would be from each other. They are both from the Shan [...]
The first day of this month, All Saints Day, the first half of the two-day festival El Dia de los Muertos, I saw a much-needed period of un-allocated time laid at my feet, in between all of the running about, executing tasks and organizing, writing and building. I decided that this allowed me sufficient attentiveness [...]
