Posts by Austin Hodge


Farmers seen here working their soil

Fair Trade?

Remarks on the Current Climate of Fair Trade & Its Realities Contrary to organizations involved in fair trade who will claim that benefits trickle down, critics have made claims that the money goes in to the pockets of middlemen and retailers. This was recently reported on by Jennifer Alsever of the New York Times in… // MORE


Picture seen on Plantation Trails by Tata website

Tata Coffee plans `Plantation Trails`

Sometimes you just have to stop in amazement and laugh. For those of you that have been following the continuing saga of the world’s largest tea company, Tata Tea, this little peace of news is going to crack you up, that is of course is you can find humor in misery of plantation workers that… // MORE


Dr. John Lombardi

Green Tea, Computers, Environmental Engineering

In a recent article by the National Science Foundation, another benefit of green tea has been discovered. It actually outperforms current machine compound industry standards. Last Saturday an amazing man came into our tea house, Dr. John Lombardi of Ventana Research here in Tucson, Arizona. Having spent a lot of time being amazed by tea… // MORE


Austin studies tea with the late Yao Yue Ming who is a famous rock wulong tea master

Sad News From Wuyi Shan

I was deeply saddened to hear that Yao Yue Ming had made his way to Heaven and would no longer be seen in the tea gardens of Wuyi Shan. He was truly one of the great tea masters of the world. He was one of the first to put to work his love of science… // MORE


https://sevencups.com/2006/02/japanese-companies-shaking-up-chinese-oolong-tea-industry/

Japanese Companies Shake Up Chinese Wulong Tea Industry

This is a timely story since we are featuring WuYi Shan oolongs this month. This is from the Herald Tribune/Asahi a national business paper published in Japan. Japan, as a tea producer, is strictly green tea. Chinese tea is the rage in Japan, and pretty expensive. The Japanese tea industry leads the world in tea… // MORE


Tea house picture from Wikipedia

Indian Financial Express Looks At Chinese Teahouses

It is very interesting to me to see an Indian business publication talking about the new success that is coming to China in the way of an ancient business model, the tea house. There is a little bit of irony here since the Indian tea business is in crisis. Last year when I was in… // MORE


Puer Factory

Steep Profits in Tea Collecting Across China

“Affluent young professionals spur craze in which vintages are valued like fine wine.” BEIJING — It was a savvy investment for the young Chinese couple — an impressive 900 per cent return in just two years. But instead of cashing in, they plan to drink it.” As you might guess, this is a story about… // MORE


Seven Cups photo of tea on shelves

The FDA, Green tea, Cancer

Going through information about tea and health is, at best, murky and confusing. What tea is good for your health and why?There is so much research out there that a full time researcher would be necessary to sort through it all. The FDA recently refused a request to issue a “qualified health claim” to label… // MORE


Puer Tea Cakes

An Answer to a Question About Puer

This was a question that was posted as a comment that I thought deserved to be elevated to a post. Puer is a hot topic and pretty controversial because of the wide variation in price and amounts of money some Chinese and Japanese collectors are willing to pay, mysterious even mystical qualities ascribed to puer… // MORE


Picture of Assam tea pickers from MakeMyTrip

Assam’s people suffering under the yoke of tea

In the long, drawn-out legal struggle that has become fused to tea production in India, many impoverished workers are perishing while estate owners and statesmen hash out how one of the world’s most popular commodities while benefit people growing and processing. The following story is a little window into the huge, torturous saga that Indian… // MORE


Laoshe teahouse picture from laosheteahouse.net

National Museum Collects Pieces of Beijing “bowl tea” House

National Museum Collects Pieces of ‘Bowl Tea’ House Three hundred and eight items, including ceramic tea bowls, video and pictures entered the National Museum of China on Friday, representing China’s opening up to the outside in the past two decades. Yin Shengxi, a local official in a small street office in the downtown Beijing Dashila area,… // MORE


A gai wan cup is commonly used for Chaozhou gong fu tea, instead of a yixing pot.

A Response to an Email

As if Friday weren’t exciting enough for office-bound tea drinkers on the 9 to 5 worldwide! I will be posting an excerpt from one of our more informative email responses. This way our readers can get easy insight into the answers to questions that tea drinkers just like you have posed. So, please draw yourself… // MORE


Lu Yu statue in Seven Cups tea house

Return of Tea-zilla

TIME-TESTED TEA China Daily article by Ye Jun 2005-06-03 09:13 To Zhao Yingli, a cup of tea is a lot more than a mixture of water and tealeaves. “When I look at tea, it speaks its own language,” the tea expert based in Beijing said. “To really get to know it, you need to learn… // MORE