Under the Microscope I’m always pleased when I visit an online tea retailer and find that they have close-up shots of their premium teas. It is reassuring to be able to examine, photographically, the quality of the leaf before purchasing [...]
At a runway show during Toronto fashion week last fall, I found a small bright pink tin of Kusmi Sweet Love tea in a gift bag. I thought the packaging and theme would be perfect for the love-fest that we [...]
I first heard of this little wonder when I attended Cynthia Gold’s workshop “Making a Final Statement – Tea and Dessert Pairing” at World Tea Expo. While discussing methods for infusing foods with tea, she showed us a small Matcha [...]
Smoking out a Winner The origin of Lapsang Souchong, 正山小種 is also associated with war. There are several versions of the story, but each involves a prematurely halted processing of black tea, bohea class. In China, sometime during the Qing [...]
Those of us who seek out specialty teas from the prime tea growing regions of the world, may obsess about the pH of water, its mineral content, chlorine levels, purity, etc. We want to give our precious leaves the optimum [...]
Tea in the City: The perfect guide Two years ago, at the World Tea Expo in Las Vegas I purchased a series of three books by Benjamin Press, called “Tea in the City”. Jane Pettigrew and Bruce Richardson collaborated on [...]
Marie Saint Pierre at LG Fashion Week Toronto Marie Saint Pierre is a Montreal, Canada womenswear designer known for free-flowing, artistically inspired garments. Her clothing is a favourite of many of Canada’s cultural luminaries. Her clothes drape, wrap and layer [...]
Guest post by Gerald Robinson It’s a very tiny hotel, just 3 inches high, and could hold about 4 oz. of loose tea; - a reproduction of London’s Berkeley Hotel. In 1972 the Berkeley Hotel moved from Piccadilly to its [...]
I’m always on the lookout for new ways to experiment with culinary tea. I think I’ve hit upon a popcorn topper that is quite good. You have to like the taste of Matcha powder to appreciate this recipe, but for [...]
Tea in the Castle Gardens Always on the look out for an esthetic setting for ‘picnicing’ my tea, we hiked the short uphill trek to Casa Loma, Toronto’s famous castle. It was built between 1911 and 1914 when Sir Henry [...]
Linda Gaylard is author of The Tea Book, by DK Publishing (a division of Penguin Random House). Linda is also a Certified Tea Sommelier located in the city of Toronto, Canada. She graduated from a comprehensive program of study developed by George Brown College, with certification by The Tea Association of Canada. During her year-long training, Linda studied an extensive program of courses, including sensory perception, tea and food pairing, tea regions and terroir, tea history among other tea focused subjects... Read More