Visiting The Anji Mother Bush

Anji County & Deep Fried Larvae

By , on April 17, 2011 in: Tribute Tea Tour

It is the second day of our tea tour and we are in Anji County. It is a lovely spring day but it was a little chilly when we left this morning from Changxing. I hope that if you are following our posts you check out the Google links at the top of the posts.… // MORE

80 year old tea picker's hands

Lu Yu Tribute Tea Factory Museum & Yixing Pottery Museum

By , on April 16, 2011 in: Tribute Tea Tour

We started off this year’s green tea/wulong tea tour on a beautiful spring morning. Our first stop was the Lu Yu Tribute Tea Factory Museum. During the Tang Dynasty there were 20,000 people involved in the factory, and all of the tea produced was for the consumption of the court. Production only lasted for about a month.

First stop to get to 2011 black tea crop

By , on April 5, 2011 in: Seven Cups News

Kunming April 2011… I am hear to get a first had version of the weather, and visit Lincang county to see the first grow and assess the coming crop. Some of the best black tea that is produced in China comes from this area, and it is one of our best selling black tea

Qing Ming Long Jing 2011

Qing Ming Festival | Honoring the Ancestors

By , on April 2, 2011 in: Industry News

Qing Ming In Hangzhou   April  2011. Yesterday was Qing Ming Festival in Hangzhou. The day was cold and rainy but the tea harvest is well underway: it started late but, unlike last year, there wasn’t a false spring that resulted in a damaging cold snap that destroyed the new growth on the bushes. Harvesting… // MORE

Shamian Island pigeon on a plate

Late Tea Harvest Musings

By , on April 1, 2011 in: Industry News

Guangzhou, Late Tea Harvest, and the World Tea Expo   The spring is late in coming this year because it has been another very cold winter in China. Even here in the south it has been unseasonably cold. I have been in Guangzhou (Canton) for a few days researching changes to the Chinese export laws… // MORE

Brewing tea for hardcore tea drinkers

By , on February 28, 2011 in: Blog Posts for the Tea Curious

I was prompted to talk about brewing tea by a Twitter conversation with @michaeljcoffey and @joiedetea. I am kind of a part time lurker in the social networking world, and I’m often surprised by the level of sophistication in the discussions about tea. I think that is really great, and am thrilled to see it. That… // MORE

Da Xue Shan Sheng 2012

New Year’s Musings on Tea

By , on December 31, 2010 in: Blog Posts for the Tea Curious

Amazingly enough, I am sitting here on New Year’s Eve with all of my work done. It feels great. Everyone else has gone , their work done as well. I am drinking some remarkable puer, Da Xue Shan Sheng, a green puer that was transported for one week by mule…

WuYi Shan Harvest inside the Reserve

Dahongpao, A New Chinese Tea Bubble?

By , on October 21, 2010 in: Industry News

“Since the middle of last year, the report says, prices of certain types of Da Hong Pao have increased tenfold. According to one expert interviewed by CCTV, the wholesale price for mid-range varieties of the tea has risen from between 200 and 400 yuan to around 4,000 yuan per kilogram, with retail prices reaching 20,000 yuan or more…

A Fisherman piece beside a yixing pot with a red filter

Cold Winters, Floods, and the Price of Tea

By , on August 2, 2010 in: Blog Posts for the Tea Curious

It is just about that time of year when we start asking ourselves why we started a tea business in Tucson. The monsoons are hovering in the evening, sparing a drop or two, providing just enough humidity to stop evaporative coolers from working. Today it is raining hard and roofs all over Tucson are leaking…

World Tea Expo taster

2 Years, Too Much: Perspectives on the U.S. Tea Industry

By , on June 30, 2010 in: Industry News

I was asked many months ago to write about my experience with the tea industry for this blog; I have had so little time and it has taken me a long time to put my thoughts together… even now I am not sure I have done the best job, but this is more or less the story of what happened with my blog, authori-tea.com.

Purple bamboo shoot

Gu Zhu Zi Sun (Purple Bamboo Shoot)

By , on May 25, 2010 in: Industry News

In the Gu Zhu Valley rests the origins of documented Chinese Tea Culture, for it is the place where Lu Yu managed the Emperor’s tea factory during the Tang Dynasty. He did so for twenty years while he wrote the first book about tea and tea culture…

Anji Bai Cha withering

Early Spring Green Tea Arrivals

By , on April 30, 2010 in: Seven Cups News

I am a green tea lover, so there is nothing that gives me more of a thrill that the arrival of the first green teas. For the last two years I have been here in Tucson waiting like everyone else for the tea to arrive…

Oldest Longjing master in Shifeng peak_preview

Before the Harvest in Hangzhou

By , on April 13, 2010 in: Customer Favorite Tea Tours, Tribute Tea Tour

I’m behind on posting for the Green Tea Tour. Please forgive while I catch up. The tour stayed in Hangzhou for a couple of days and sent these photos back. The tea was just beginning to be harvested because of temperatures way below what is normal for this time of year. Hangzhou is the modern center of Chinese Tea Culture.

Wang Qiang Zhen

Mo Gan Shan & Rare Female Tea Makers

By , on March 30, 2010 in: Tribute Tea Tour

Yellow tea is rare, but the rarest is Mo Gan Huang Ya. The fifth day of our tour was visiting Mo Gan Shan where this tea is made. Mo Gan Shan is next to the city of Deqing about 30 minutes from Hangzhou. Also it is rare in China for the tea maker to be woman. Wang Qiang Zhen is one of the very few women that is master tea maker…

LuYu Tea Museum

Silk Origins & Golden Ages

By , on March 22, 2010 in: Tribute Tea Tour

Our Green Tea Tour is underway and here are some photos that Tang Le sent me last night. They are in Changxing in Zhejiang province. Changxing is just south of Tai Lake about 1.5 hours west of Shanghai.

Austin drinking mao cha loose green puer tea in a village house.

Mediocritea

By , on March 2, 2010 in: Seven Cups News

I’ve just returned from a whirlwind trip to China. I was sent a ticket by a Chinese corporation that is thinking about opening a chain of retail tea shops. Their plan is to create a ‘tea beverage’ and they want a trustworthy supplier…

the piling segment of black puer tea production

The Safety of Chinese Teas

By , on December 29, 2009 in: Industry News

Recently I sent out a newsletter that had a picture of puer being fermented. Someone sent me an email that said that the photo was not appropriate for people who were already afraid about the safety of Chinese products.I can understand why that might be a perception commonly held…

NYT Tim Arango Oct. 5, 2009 article publication picture

Soon, Bloggers Must Give Full Disclosure

By , on October 7, 2009 in: Industry News

This is a ruling I’m glad to see. We have been on-line for 7 years, and we have seen a lot of things change. A lot of the changes have been great, but I haven’t seen an explosion in integrity. I have seen some awful things, like the websites that have been selling cheap oolong… // MORE