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 …

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 …

If You Are Ever in Northern Thailand: Mae Salong

If you ever find yourself in northern Thailand... Maybe you're in Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Pai, or maybe even Bangkok (you would need to fly and drive but hey its for the tea...) Visit Mae Salong. If nothing else, the drive up into the mountains is absolutely stunning.  I mean it. Stunning. Do yourself a …

Tea Review: Waikato Valley New Zealand (Chocolate) Oolong

I love this leaf... I picked this Oolong up last month while I was in Singapore. I stumbled across it while paroozing TWG for the first time. This tea comes from the WaikatoValley in New Zealand, explained the teatender. In my first steeping of this tea I noted the tea had fragrance and tasting notes of …

Drone Views of Cau Dat Tea Farm, Vietnam

Here is a video that I created from the drone footage I captured while flying over the tea fields of Cau Dat Farm in Vietnam.

Exploring Argentinian Tea Culture: Yerba Mate

🇦🇷 Happy Yerba Mate Day! For those that didn’t know, and I admittedly needed a reminder, today is Argentina’s official Yerba Mate Day. What exactly is yerba mate? In Argentina yerba mate is their go-to “tea”... though it does not come from the camellia sinensis plant. However, it does however have similar properties to tea …

Traveling with Tea

I have been traveling pretty much non-stop for the past year and a half. As a self-proclaimed teahead (I love that term), making sure I have the proper tools and of course leaf is a top priority. Before I left (and packed up my apartment), I emptied my cabinet of my favorite teas into my …

A Chance Encounter at Cau Dat Tea Farm (Vietnam)

Grab a cup of tea and let’s go to Vietnam… I spent a month in Vietnam traveling from north to south.  It was quite the journey and an amazing adventure.  I had a friend fly in to join me for 3 of the four weeks. We were pretty constantly on the go from city to …

Exploring Tea Fields in Kyoto at Obubu Tea Farms (Japan)

It was a few days before my 33rd birthday and I had decided that as a birthday present to myself I wanted to take a day that week to explore some of the tea fields and farms around Kyoto. I googled “tea farms Kyoto”… up popped several links for Kyoto Obubu Tea Farms.  It appeared …