A little history of growing green tea in Japan Tea shrubs have been cultivated in Japan since the early 13th century. The first tea seeds were introduced there by a travelling monk called Eisai who brought them from his travels in China. In 1202, he gave them to the monk Myōe of the Kōzan-ji Monastery, […]
Tea Wandering
Japanese green tea – in pursuit of umami
How did Oolong Tea get its special name
Oolong is a corruption of Chinese word Wu Long, which means black dragon. An old Chinese legend is associated with the origin of this name. Lazy Fellow Black Dragon Once upon a time, probably in the Wuyi Mountain Range in the Chinese province of Fujian, a farmer lived in the mountains. He had a son […]
Let´s go for tea adventures!
You will definitely enjoy traveling with your favorite tea utensils. The question is how to protect it, pack it, transport it, just don’t break it. Try Care For Teaware! With teapots around the globe Care for Teaware stands for practical and beautiful handmade pieces for tea ceremonies – both in tea rooms and outdoors. The […]
Postcovid Flush – what happened in Darjeeling
We managed to buy some great teas, which were produced in Darjeeling before the gardens closed in March this year. Until March 24, when a “lockdown” occurred across India, only a very small amount of tea was harvested. Pandemic versus hopeful tea season The weather was good for growers this year, so a very good […]
The Sakhejung Garden – the Story of Mrs Milan
This story started around 2000. There were very few tea factories in Nepal, but tea farming was on a rise: new gardens sprang up like mushrooms and thousands of small farmers started growing tea. However, there was no one who would process the leaves and, inevitably, their price was falling rapidly. Within a couple of […]
Hand rolled teas from south Sikkim
Sikkim is a mountain state in north-east India bordering with Nepal in the west, Tibet in the north, Bhutan in the east and West Bengal in the south, where it’s almost literally a stone’s throw to Darjeeling. Sikkim is famous for its biodiversity: it has both subtropical climate and the climate of the Alps. Specifics […]
The legendary Dong Ding contest in Taiwan
There are many tea contests in Taiwan. Some are more prestigious, some are less, some are trendsetters, some hardly keep pace. About twenty-five of them are widely acknowledged, but only one of them is a true legend: the Lugu Farmers’ Association Dong Ding Oolong Tea Competition that has taken place twice a year for over […]
Assam Koliapani – The Story of Mr Rebo
Mr Rebo is a farmer from the Koliapani village in Upper Assam. Originally a teacher in a local school, he decided to plant tea shrubs in a garden he had inherited from his father in the 1990s. His first seeds came from an abandoned tea garden in Nagaland, an Indian state bordering with Burma. […]
Jun Chiyabari – from Bio Production to Natural Farming
We cooperate with Nepalese tea garden Jun Chiyabari for some years already. Their teas are a guarantee of quality and pureness, because since the beginning they farm organic and recently they turn more and more into Natural Farming, when the fields are moreless left to themselves. We had an honour to invite Mr. Bachan Gyawali, owner of […]
Hadong – thousand years of tea
„A long time ago in Hadong – a steep mountain region – there were little to be offered to the king. After a long contemplation, people gathered tea leaves that grew between the rocks and presented them to the king, which he liked and bestowed the title „tea of kings“. Frist Tea Field and an […]