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The missing tea history of Darjeeling
Recently, Jonathan Kane Houldsworth from New Zealand contacted me via Facebook about a Robert Fortune film that was produced by an Australian company. Mr. Houldsworth is associated with Dilmah Tea, but...
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In a tea rut
Recently, I’ve found myself in a tea rut. Every morning before work, I make myself a pot of the Georgian Village black tea I love from Tea Embassy, pour most of it into my travel mug, and drink the...
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Tea and wine: Vintages and terroir
A common lament from foodies, farmers, and culinary writers is that many of us have become too far removed from the origins of our foods. We have no tangible connection to the land, the farms, and all...
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Darjeeling comes to Eastern Europe
With lots of states breaking away from what had been the former USSR and regrouping as Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries, the ensuing economic prosperity has made it possible for the...
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A unique aspect of Singaporean tea culture
Since I run a tea shop in Singapore, my overseas friends sometimes ask me what uniquely characterizes our local tea culture. Singapore, along with Malaysia and Hong Kong, represents a meeting point...
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2013 ITCC World Tea Expo
On opening day, June 7, 2013, an ever-growing audience of 60 tea enthusiasts gathered in hall no. 256 of the World Tea Expo in Las Vegas. The occasion was the Cup Warming event organised by Babette...
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Darjeeling teas in dire peril
The gold mine for the Indian tea industry – Darjeeling – has been stolen by the so-called “keepers of the hills.” They have robbed it with their own hands. It is unfortunate and saddening to see the...
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Tea in Germany: U.S. Food and Beverage Industry take note
A quiet – and very positive – revolution is underway in Germany. Tea is slowly chipping away at coffee’s stronghold at the table and doing so with a finesse that is truly admirable. It had been six...
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Darjeeling tea & China
Darjeeling tea was not known in the 1850’s, when tea planting first began in the area. A lot of hard work took place through the 1900’s, when 89 gardens were running at full steam. Robert Fortune and...
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Xiamen – a destination for tea business..
Looking for more avenues of consumption, the Indian Tea Board landed in Xiamen to attend the Tea Fair from 10th to 13th October 2013 along with six producers from Darjeeling, Assam, Bengal, Bihar and...
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A Fortune-ate melding of flavors
As much as I love single estate teas and seem to stick to drinking teas from a single region, sometimes it’s refreshing to peruse my overflowing tea cabinet and randomly select two different loose leaf...
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Inside the tea-tasting room of a Darjeeling tea garden
It’s midmorning on the Nagri tea estate. Angela Pradhan is in the factory’s tasting room preparing for the tea’s final test. She has prepared a dozen or so tea cups and several small tea pots, each...
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Hattialli Golden Lion
Which is your favorite tea? Which tea do you reach for when you need to relax? Celebrate? Reflect? Give yourself a hug? For some readers, there might be a different tea for each of those important...
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K2K and Darjeeling
Kunming of Yunnan, and Kolkata of Bengal, are now declared sister cities. This adds another jewel in the crown of Darjeeling! Kolkata to Kunming – K2K – is a regional co-operation group under BCIM –...
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Tea at sunrise
As final arrangements are put into place for the upcoming World Tea Tours’ Tea Tour of Fujian, I’m still warmed by the illuminating memory of my visit to Darjeeling in December of 2011. After having...
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Arighato Gujaimaso
From the moment you get up in the morning, go to the restroom to get ready, have breakfast, catch the train to Minamimakhuari station and take the bus to the venue of Foodex 2014 in Makuhari Messe, the...
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Mineral springs
Free Trade makes an entrepreneur ready for war. I learned this costly lesson visiting Harrison, Mineral Springs, and Lebong tea estates. These estates had been lying abandoned for so long the...
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Phoenix Mountain Single Tree Oolong
During April in North Guangdong province at an altitude of 4,500 feet, 100-year-old Oolong trees are harvested for their young shoots, which are then oxidized to 45%, fired under medium heat, and...
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Chabbesey . . .
Destiny takes you to places. On 28th June 2014, we landed on a parcel of land where we closed the missing link between India and China. Xiao Juan of Dongli Tea was visiting India. Together we went to...
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Tea in the garden
I love decorating magazines, architecture magazines, and gardening magazines. If I had the extra time, I’d probably spend a lot of it sitting in my own backyard garden – matured like me over the years...
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