From the category archives:

About Tea

Fukushima Radiation and Tea

October 25, 2011

Some say that drinking green tea helps protect you against the effects of radiation, but what if your tea includes a dash of cesium? At a recent tea market I asked some questions about radiation in teas grown in Japan. But when I spoke with people from Aoi Tea and Rishi Tea, both indicated that [...]

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Most Difficult Tea-Making

January 31, 2011

The most difficult tea-making experience I ever had? Was it in Cuba? No, that was easy: I’d brought an electric kettle which seemed like a remarkable miracle to our Cuban friends. Even if I didn’t have it, I’d have been able to use the single electric burner hot plate to boil the water in the [...]

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The Exquisite Tea Culture

October 11, 2010

There is something about tea culture that promotes beauty and the love of delicacy and refinement, but not in a way that excludes power, strength and all those other ineffable qualities we also love to engage in. Tea culture is centuries in the making and intercultural in its sweep through times, nations, kingdoms and kitchens. [...]

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Matcha and Gyokuro Processing

September 7, 2009

Make yourself a nice cup tea, sit back and stay a while. This short video shows the growing and processing of both Gyokuro and Matcha tea. That’s the Japanese tea grown for light green leaves, in specially covered areas to provide the shaded growing conditions. As the Kevan at O-Cha said, once you see this, [...]

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Tea Ceremony – a Time for Self-Reflection

May 19, 2009

When I was super-busy I used to nurture a fantasy of learning the tea ceremony, and that it would somehow give me more time in my life. I was inspired to read this great article in the Wall Street Journal on Tea for Today: Read full article here. Here’s a short excerpt: The tea ceremony [...]

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L-theanine, I am your Fan!

May 12, 2009

Why? Because it induces alpha brain activity, creating relaxed alertness. And because it is such an important ingredient in the relaxation effect of a good cup of tea – black or green. That “matcha buzz” isn’t only the caffeine, but also the L-theanine. Why ever take supplements? Just google L-theanine and you’ll see hundreds of [...]

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