Ask Me Anything? Vol. 1

I recently launched an e-newsletter to my tribe. I am sending it as an every-now-and-again newsletter. Tea stuff that I am working on, teas from Tea By Chase, and other tea stuff So specific, I know! It is evolving and fluid. If you want to signup, click here. My most recent message was simple: Ask …

Making Matcha at Home

I have been selling Japanese ceremonial matcha to my community and tribe via Tea By Chase since earlier this year. Since starting, I have received a number of questions on how to make this tea at home. So, I put together some home videos showing 3 ways to make at home... First, let's take look …

My First Taste of Matcha

About 3 years ago, I traveled to Japan for the first time. This was also my first time in Asia. Earlier that year, I had completed a yearlong journey around the world which took me to a variety of foreign environments (20+ countries). So... I believed that I was mentally prepared for the unknown that …

Cold brewing: Using different waters.

A friend came over to join me for tea this morning.  I had planned to make us a cold brew for the day. I felt it would pair nicely with the anticipated warm day in Austin. At the last minute, I decided to I wanted to expand the scope of the cold brew and turn …

A Guide for Tea in Tokyo.

The first time I went to Tokyo, I was looking for tea. I had only started to fall for Japanese tea then. The problem was, I had no idea how to find it. Japanese seemed intimidating to me. Kanji. I had no idea what that even was. Foreign sounds and sights, lots and lots of …

What types of teas are produced in Japan?

There are many different types of tea produced in Japan. A large majority of tea in Japan comes from the Yabukita cultivar (75%), however there are also many other cultivars that exist in Japan. The cultivar will ultimately influence the flavors in the cup based upon its chemistry. Sencha: Sencha is the most common type of …

How is Darjeeling black tea made?

This week I had the very fortunate opportunity to get a behind the scenes look at the production process for Darjeeling tea.  I was visiting the Longview Tea Estate and they granted me behind the scenes access to their factory and expansive fields so that I might get a better understanding of exactly what goes into making Darjeeling tea.

Darjeeling: Day 2, The Tea Fields

I began my day with a delicious Indian breakfast. The cuisine is all vegetarian at the place I am staying. I really love vegetarian food I have decided. I really need to expand my recipe volume and maybe, just maybe I could get behind vegetarianism for good. With breakfast out of the way, the Estate …

5 Teas, 5 Days: A week in (tea) review.

It was a delicious Monday through Friday of sipping this past week. Below is the list of what was in my cup with links to each's respective review. Enjoy! Monday: "Indefatigable Ox" 2015 Bu Juan (Shu Puerh) Tuesday: "Eiju" Japanese Sencha (Green Tea) Wednesday: "Competition Grade" Baozhong (Oolong) Thursday:"Monkey Picked" Hou Kui (Green Tea) Friday: 2006 Gong Ting …

Tea Review: Gong Ting 2006 Ripe Puerh

I found myself in the mood for a puerh today -- it was cold and cloudy outside and I needed something to warm both my body and mind. I dug into my stash and decided upon one which I had recently purchased from UNYtea: a 2006 Gong Ting Ripe Puerh. The packaging called for 5 …