We are all searching for moments when time stops, opens up. When something deep inside, says hello. Fleeting moments, shy they seem, angels they are. Vanishing as soon as you recognize them.
I drink tea because I love to lose myself in the moment. Poets, artists have long been inspired by this seductive nature of [...]
My friend Heather recently had surgery, and while recovering, rented tons of Pixar movies. Cartoons, she confesses, her indulgence. She asked what I would have watched. Looking around, I said softly, Masterpiece Theater with, ummm, a teapot of Lapsang Souchong. Have to tell you she looked horrified, she a film school graduate working on a [...]
Waking up to snow, the air is soft and still, delicate. I heat the water kettle, pull snow boots over my flannels and wrap around a scarf. The wind throws open the back door. I carefully walk, slide through the snow to the table, sit down, make tea, and listen to the sounds of the [...]
My friend Alex, founder of Product Perks, and I have been working on a tea quiz to help people explore different styles of tea and teaware. It’s posted up in the corner, and I invite you to take it for a spin. I’ll be adding more explanations and changing up the teas now and then. [...]
have a small group of friends in New York City that practice gungfu cha. ‘Gungfu’ literally means ‘hard to make’ and cha means ‘tea.’ It’s sometimes referred to as the Chinese Tea Ceremony and it’s a way of tasting tea leaves by making multiple infusions in a gaiwan or a yixing teapot. The more [...]
Hojicha is the underdog of Japanese teas. It will never be as beloved as sencha, matcha – or as rare as gyokuro. But, in time, it could take genmaicha.
It’s not top shelf, but I have fallen in love with hojicha all the same. It wasn’t always like this, there were years when I turned my [...]
He held out a lime and said “you can’t smell anything until you cut it open. The limes at home (Bangladesh), you can smell without cutting. Even the leaves.” In some sort of aha moment, I agreed, remembering how deeply satisfying it was to drink gyokuro in Japan. Could it be true? The further away [...]
