Styles
This main Styles category covers the the diverse world of Camellia sinensis, from the primary styles (black, green, white, oolong, pu-erh…) to the many varieties and varietals within those styles. The subcategories cover even more.
BLENDS
Tea leaves mixed with other styles of tea or other ingredients, like Earl Grey, or raspberry hibiscus green tea.
TISANES (Herbal Teas)
Leaves other than Camellia sinensis (the tea plant) that are steeped in water, like rooibos, honeybush, chamomile, or yerba mate.
WORLD TEA TOUR
Back when I had my tea shop, I put on a series of seminars about tea from different parts of the world. These are the notes from those seminars.
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Phong Sali 2011 Pu-erh from Laos
I first wrote this post in October of 2013. As I wrote back then, this was a pretty good sheng pu-erh, but it needed to be aged more. With much going on in life, I ended up putting it away in the back of the tea cabinet and forgetting about it. I pulled it out […]
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The Evolution of Taste
What was the first tea you tasted? If you’re American, it was probably a cheap teabag filled with black tea dust, probably steeped for a long time and possibly drowned in milk and sugar. Now it’s time to leave that cruddy old Lipton behind and plow forth into the tea world.
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Tea Around the World
I came across a fascinating article the other day with pictures (and short captions) of tea as they drink it in 22 countries around the world. Obviously, picking one tea — and one way of drinking it — to represent an entire country is difficult, but they did an admirable job.
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Jasmine Tea
Even purists who eschew “flavored” teas will often enjoy a cup of jasmine green tea. Perhaps it’s because there are no visible indications that your tea leaves have been adulterated. Perhaps it’s because the jasmine is delicate and subtle. Perhaps it’s the rich history of jasmine teas.
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Scottish Breakfast Tea
Have you ever sat down to a cup of hot, energizing breakfast tea and wondered what the heck makes it a breakfast blend? You never see anyone selling lunch teas or dinner teas. Why breakfast tea? And what’s the difference between Scottish, Irish, and English breakfast teas? Let me explain!
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Comparing Apples and … Tea?
I stopped at a stand selling fresh apples in Washington. They had about 50 cultivars of apple, and I was completely overwhelmed. Then it hit me: The deer-in-the-headlights look on my face was just what I’ve seen on people’s faces the first time they walk into my tea bar.
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Canon cameras and oolong tea
Why should you drink oolong tea when you’re taking pictures with a Canon camera? Let me explain…
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Gold Nugget Pu-Erh
We went to Portland, Oregon for a book show last week. I was there to roll out my new book (Who Pooped in the Cascades?) and to take a look at interesting books from other authors — not to mention a whole lot of networking. While we were there, I took some time out to […]
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Vietnamese Lotus Tea
If you walk into an average tea shop, you’re not likely to encounter much Vietnamese tea, if any at all. Vietnam, however, is the sixth-largest producer of tea in the world, with annual production approaching 200,000 tonnes — over double that of Japan, which has fallen to tenth place.
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Champagne, Tequila, Darjeeling, and Dark Tea
If you make a carbonated white wine, it’s called a “sparkling wine,” unless you are producing it in the Champagne region of France. Then, and only then, should it be called Champagne. I say “should” because there are a number of countries that didn’t sign (or don’t honor) the treaties involved, but that’s a whole […]
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Kenyan Tea in the News
For some reason, there seems to be a lot going in in the world of Kenyan tea this month! Kenya is the world’s largest exporter of tea. Not the largest producer, for they consume less than a tenth of the 345,000 tons of tea they produce each year — as opposed to China, which produces […]
Tea With Gary 