Jun Shan Yin Zhen close up

The Niche of Yellow Tea

By , on April 7, 2014 in: Blog Posts for the Tea Curious

Rare and Elusive Yellow Tea: Now Less Rare (But Still Elusive) Years ago I had the good luck to hear a veteran tea maker give a lecture on processing techniques that bracket one category of tea from another. His talk passed through great detail on the chemical contours a tea leaf and how manipulating them… // MORE

My Tea Blog is Ten Years Old

By , on December 17, 2013 in: Seven Cups News

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.

Tea Trends 2013

By , on November 1, 2013 in: Industry News

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

Lucky to be in the tea business

By , on July 10, 2013 in: Seven Cups News

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.

Chinese Tea Mysteries

By , on March 22, 2013 in: Blog Posts for the Tea Curious

It has been twenty years since I first became obsessed with Chinese tea. It has not lost any of the magic pull for me throughout these years, in fact I am probably even more obsessed. Although I have had other obsessions in my life, Chinese tea is probably longest running one. I think it has to do with mysteries.Mysteries are always rooted in questions and problems to solve.

Transparency In The Tea Industry

By , on August 27, 2012 in: Industry News

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.

Chinese Tea Trends in the Market

By , on March 23, 2012 in: Industry News

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.

Choosing Green Puer Cakes

By , on February 2, 2012 in: Videos

In this episode we visit Austin at the Seven Cups Warehouse to talk about choosing green puer cakes. Learn the basics for evaluating a cake in relation to the quality of the mao cha and whether it is made from an old tree. Austin shows how the color changes over time, gives tasting notes and… // MORE

The Basics of Brewing Loose Leaf Tea

By , on January 9, 2012 in: How To Brew Tea, Videos

Instructions for Brewing Various Loose Leaf Teas in Different Vessels What’s in This Video In this video on tea brewing basics, Zhuping reviews how to brew scented, oolong, black, and puer tea. For each of these, she discusses the ideal temperature with which to brew each of these teas and what vessels to brew them in.… // MORE

The Facts You May Not Know About Fair Trade Practices

By , on October 20, 2011 in: Blog Posts for the Tea Curious

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…

Plagiarism and Tea Ecommerce

By , on August 22, 2011 in: Industry News, Seven Cups News

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

Leadership in the tea industry?

By , on July 27, 2011 in: Industry News

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

Why am I writing this blog?

By , on June 23, 2011 in: Seven Cups News

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

Jingmai, Shui Alcohol, and a Princess

By , on May 29, 2011 in: Origins Tea Tour

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

Dealing with Tea Plant Myths

By , on May 19, 2011 in: Blog Posts for the Tea Curious

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