A Major Error In The Reporting of Longjing Prices and What the Real Prices Were in 2014. Every year there is much talk about the price of Longjing, 2014 being no exception. Most of the talk is hype, reporting the extraordinary prices that some Chinese businessman or government official has spent for Longjing. However, these… // MORE
Doughnuts are the type of pastry that seem daunting, but are in fact fairly easy to make. They do take time, however; this is a recipe that is easiest when started the night before, because the separate components need time to rest in the refrigerator. Brioche is a buttery, slightly sweet yeast dough that yields… // MORE
Earl Grey Tea Origins Tea is the most commonly consumed beverage in the world, and in the western hemisphere, the majority of the tea enjoyed is black tea. Perhaps the most popular and recognizable variation is Earl Grey tea, a slightly smokey blend infused with the essence of bergamot orange rind, probably in an attempt to… // MORE
Tea Drinking Habits of Ethnic Minorities in China A large part of launching our new website includes a brief (considering how intricate tea history is) scope through the history of Chinese tea. I’ve been lucky to be presented with the opportunity to sit down with our tea master and owner, Zhuping and receive a one… // MORE
November 2013 was the tenth anniversary of my tea blog. When I first started the idea of blogging was relatively new. There were just a few political blogs, and many of these were focused on reporting.
The demise of Lapsang Souchong Black Tea, one of China’s most famous black teas, is filled with irony.
I have been able to travel a lot this year, and talk to a lot of people, from consumers, to producers from a number of different countries, to tea educators, to small tea business owners, to tea journalists, to corporate tea executives. It is been a log time since I have written a blog because… // MORE
Since the middle of May I have been on the road, traveling in China, the US, and Europe, and for Zhuping it was three months in China. Finally we are enjoying our sanctuary in Tucson, with a lot of welcome home cooked meals.
I am going to London in June for a meeting of the Ethical Tea Partnership to discuss tea and sustainability…
Starbucks buying Teavana will push the tea market to a tipping point causing a significant shift towards better quality tea in the market in general.
Greenpeace and the safety of Chinese tea
Transparency has been a core value for our company from it’s beginning. We remain the one of the very few companies in the world that has a completely transparent supply chain from producer to customer. It is an important value for the tea industry to adopt in the future, and provides for solutions to issues related to quality, safety, and fair trade.
Travel + Leisure Names Seven Cups One of Six Best Places to Drink Tea in America
TUCSON, AZ – Travel + Leisure’s tea fanatic Bruce Schoenfeld first tasted da hong pao, a rare Chinese oolong tea, at Seven Cups Teahouse in Tucson, where Austin Hodge serves teas he sources in remote regions of China.
When I think about tea trends, I am thinking over a ten year period and extending what I see going ten years into the future. Things have changed a lot in the past ten years from when we began our business. Twenty years ago getting any good Chinese tea was virtually impossible in the US. I had to get mine from a Chinese friend whose family was from a tea-growing region in China.
Fair trade certification has always been pretty meaningless when it comes to China. With the new split between Fair Trade USA and the European FLO as reported by Dan Bolton in the World Tea News, Fair Trade USA has increased the gap between the original core values of the founders of the Fair Trade movement, and the marketing focused business that fair trade certifying has become…
I first came to Yunxian in 2005 after a trip to Dubai. I was invited to Dubai to become a member in the newly formed Dubai Tea Trading Center. Dubai wanted to become the hub of tea distribution and was providing remarkable incentives for companies to set up business there.
Last week a fellow tea entrepreneur emailed us with a question. We had never spoken before, so he wasn’t sure how to approach us about a very sensitive issue. He had been searching for a map of Shi Feng Mountain and noticed that some of our photos and content appeared to have been lifted from… // MORE
Since it has been a few years since I have attended the World Tea Expo, I was curious about any changes that the expo might have undergone, so I briefly interviewed several of the attendees that I happen to know. I know I would have been better informed if I had just gone myself, but… // MORE
I was looking at our archives, and I have been writing something on a pretty regular basis since 2003. Of course it hasn’t been all me; there have been others that have contributed. In the beginning it was just monthly emails, and the actual blog didn’t come into existence until around 2005. Still, that is… // MORE
Day 6 our Yunnan Tea Tour packed up our little bus and took off for Jinggu. The Jinggu area is the largest forested area in Yunnan, and rich with many unknown mountains peaks with older trees. I have spent a lot of time in Jinggu and it always seems like I could stay there year… // MORE
I got an email yesterday from a friend who asked me what had happened to the rest of the Yunnan Tour blog postings. Well, I have been home just for a couple of days and am just starting to get back in the swing of things after recovering from killer jet lag. Better to post now… // MORE
Our third day of our Yunnan Tour brought us the Nannuoshan one of the Six Famous Mountains of Xishuanbanna
I’m sitting in a cafe in Dali a long way from Yiwu where we were on the second day of our Yunnan tour.
I have a special love for Yunnan. It is one of the most beautiful places on earth, and one of the most interesting, especially if you are a tea lover, and it is filled with very friendly people who really enjoy life, and feel it is even more enjoyable if they have some guests… // MORE
Does All Tea Really Come From The Same Plant? One axiom that is typically taught to new tea students is that “all tea comes from the same plant.” If these students continue to learn about tea and study Chinese tea in any depth, they will discover that this statement is almost as wrong as the… // MORE
Seven Cups Founder Wins Award In Puer City I have been thinking about how I was going to write about this for a almost two weeks now. This award came as a complete surprise to me and I am still trying to get my mind around it. I found out about winning this award when… // MORE
This is my last post from the Green/Wulong Tea Tour for 2011. The tour is still continuing for a few more days…
The first day we were in Huangshan a good portion of the afternoon was spent at a dedication and ribbon cutting ceremony for Wang Fangsheng.
Hangzhou is the capital of Zhejiang, it was once the capital of China for a short period in the Song Dynasty, a favor place for our tea tour…
This morning headed to Moganshan to watch some yellow tea being made. It is the rarest of Chinese yellow teas. It is virtually unknown outside of Dejing country, which is about 30 minutes north of Hangzhou. In 2010 the tea had a surprising spiciness and I am hoping that will be present in this year’s… // MORE
