bringing style to the art of tea appreciation
I have always been captivated by the line in Leonard Cohen’s Suzanne “She feeds you tea and oranges that come all the way from China”. I recently learned that this line was inspired by Cohen’s introduction, by his friend Suzanne, to Constant Comment®, an orange spice tea blend from Bigelow. Constant Comment was one of the few teas (all loose leaf) that sat on my shelf when I set up house in a garage in Banff, Alberta (housing was scarce […]
Toronto Tea Festival, Saturday & Sunday, January 28th – 29th The end of January is shaping up to be an inspiring finale to Hot Tea Month, which is mostly celebrated in the US where it is necessary to add the word “Hot” to the title. Stateside, “tea” on its own usually refers to iced tea – not a cozy image for these short cold days. In Canada we seem to have adopted this celebration, keeping all three words intact, even […]
On Saturday, November 5, 10am – 5pm, The Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton Ontario will hold its first Tea Festival. I’m pleased to have been invited to speak. My topic – The Many Ways of Tea: Tea’s Journey Around the World. If you are in the Hamilton, Ontario region, come and participate. I’m scheduled to speak at 1pm and 4pm. In between I’ll be book signing The Tea Book. I hope to mee you there! Preview Save Save Save Save
When I first embarked upon my tea studies at George Brown College in Toronto, I was introduced to an odd little tea vessel – the gaiwan – which looked like a wide-lipped sugar bowl with lid and saucer. I struggled to use it – the lid needed to be positioned in a way that allowed the tea’s liquor to flow in a stream without letting any (or not many) leaves to escape the vessel. The index finger had to control […]
Year of the Monkey The Monkey appears ninth (out of twelve) in the Chinese Lunar calendar’s Zodiacal line up. New Year celebrations run from Sunday February 7th (New Year’s Eve) to Saturday February 13th. People born under the sign of the Monkey are said to be quick-witted, charming, lucky, adaptable, bright, lively, smart. A year of the Monkey is said to be unlucky, so precautions must be taken e.g. making sure the rice jar is not empty and avoiding sharp […]
The Tea Book, DK publishers On Saturday, September 19th, 1pm, I will be at Majesteas, a tea shop at 950 Queen St. E. near Carlaw Ave. in the Leslieville neighbourhood of Toronto. This will be my first book signing event since the release of The Tea Book in July. Owned by fellow tea colleagues Robert Gignac and Ian Macdonald, Majesteas is celebrating 5 years in business! They have a great selection of good quality tea, especially excelling in black teas, […]
In mid-August 3 years ago, I was fortunate to be in Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian province during Jasmine harvest season. My host, Chris West, formerly of Min River Tea, arranged for us to visit the old factory of Master Yu on the outskirts of town. We would be accompanied by the provincial Minister of Agriculture. He was to be present during the filming of CCTV’s beautiful documentary series, 茶,一片树叶的故事 06 一碗茶汤见人情, which roughly translates as “Tea, the Human Story”. […]
Matcha seems to fit the mood of the moment. It’s electric greenness reflecting the colour that we associate with health and nature. It was seen everywhere at World Tea Expo, 2015 or was it just that I was experiencing The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon! Matcha’s Origins Matcha’s use has strayed somewhat from its original ceremonial origins. Ceremonial matcha grades of Usucha (thin) and Koicha (thick) have been available in select tea shops for many years. Matcha was originally a throw back to […]
Like a dream it arrived and then was over and now I’m home. I wish I could reconstruct the experience of World Tea Expo in order to give you a picture of what actually happened and when. At moments it was elating, challenging, fascinating, funny and puzzling. Every time I try to reassemble the days chronologically, however, my brain resists. This year, my reports will be based on random observations, capricious interludes and impressions. Quite unlike me really not to […]
The Tea Book, DK Publishers This year has been devoted to research and inspiration for The Tea Book, a collaboration with DK publishing (a division of Penguin Random House). Famous for their Eye Witness Travel books and many and varied guides to culinary pursuits, DK chose to publish a book on tea at a time when the world’s favourite hot beverage is poised to gain even more ground in markets around the world. This comprehensive primer for tea lovers will […]