I like to write about tea books and support tea authors and teachers. This one is a particular favorite.

Tea Here Now, by Donna Fellman & Lhasha Tizer is one of the first tea books I read cover to cover. My desk copy is now rather worn. If you pick it up, it… read more...

Popularity: 17% [?]

I love the leaf. The history. The legends. The art and literature. I dream of visiting all the places where it is grown and the many ways it is brewed. The brewed tea that fills my cup becomes more magical as I venture into new taste experiences. The teaware. The… read more...

Popularity: 25% [?]

We tea people often find ourselves dancing on the head of the pin in discussions about professional qualifications.

Tea Pro?

What is a tea professional? Which school? How much travel? Required texts? What’s your niche? How many years have you been in the business? With whom have you studied? How much has it cost? Can you tell a Darjeeling from a Da Hong Pao? How many countries of origin can you list… read more...

Popularity: 71% [?]

How Do You Experience The Spirit of Tea?

In a recent article about the growing popularity of premium tea, it was said that tea is becoming a fashion accessory. I thought I felt a cough and sputter from the Spirit of Tea. But I have that tendency, to personify and romanticize tea. And my own particular version of tea snobbery imagines that camellia sinensis wants to be known as more than… read more...

Popularity: 46% [?]

It happened on Saturday . . .

First, there was a bit of tea poetry on the radio.

I was driving to Sacramento, CA yesterday listening to NPR Saturday morning talk radio. There was a short intro to an upcoming story that I wish I could have recorded. Alas. This was not one of their recorded MP3 files.

The radio host asked the question, “Have there been… read more...

Popularity: 54% [?]

In my last article, I wrote about the opportunity we tea educators have to use storytelling in our work. The 5000 year history, the international cultural dynamic and the intimacy of personal experience provide more opportunity than any one of us could exhaust. What I think we sometimes might forget is that we are creating tea stories every day. And these are stories that bring people of all ages to… read more...

Popularity: 40% [?]

What was your first experience with tea?

For many of us it was learning the song and rhyme, “I’m A Little Teapot”.

But there are many other literary experiences that help children develop preconceptions about tea even before they taste their first cup.

Pooh’s Little Instruction Book . . . by A.A. Milne

Popularity: 52% [?]

Tea is finding a voice in a very contemporary art form.

This post is a slight deviation from my original question: What is it about tea that has inspired artists for thousands of years?  I’ve spent hours viewing some extremely contemporary tea inspired art and the motivation is totally transparent.

“Calm-A-Sutra” is a video competition… read more...

Popularity: 100% [?]

When I mention that artists incorporate tea themes into their work, the painter, Mary Cassatt is one of the first that come to mind. Her work is well-known and beloved. One of the authors writing about her work, Frank Getlein, in his book

Popularity: 80% [?]

“The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.”
- Pablo Picasso

As a vendor at the World Tea Expo, I had the pleasure of watching the transformation of the exhibition hall from dusty cavern to what must have been the largest tearoom in the world. On Thursday morning, our booth set-up day, the temporary shells were assembled but unadorned, the floors bare concrete, the forklifts… read more...

Popularity: 40% [?]