When Barack Obama was elected U.S. President, I believe everyone thought it would mean some kind of change – whether good or bad.  His first week in office, he fulfilled this expectation, initiating changes in our country’s approach to stem cell research, torture, and auto emissions, among other things.
The beverage industry appears to be headed [...]

San Francisco is a great place for tea - I went there to attend the Specialty Tea Institute (STI) Level 3 Oolong seminar and check out some tea rooms.  A caveat:  I know next to nothing about Oolong tea.  I’ve tried some, but they hadn’t really been that exciting to me to this point, so [...]

In India, tea blended with spices accompanies and supplements Ayurvedic treatment, the ancient Hindu health and medical science.  Drinking tea has also long been a purely recreational and social activity throughout India, and it is said the average Indian citizen drinks tea at least four times each day.  For tea drinkers anywhere, however, Masala Chai [...]

Third in a series on the teas of Japan.
Around three-quarters of Japan’s annual production is classified as sencha.  All sencha is not created equal, but for the most part it seems safe to say it is one of the world’s most extraordinary—and expensive—teas.  Quality ranges from fair to finest, which is rightly reserved for special [...]

How do you brew your tea?
The answers are as individual as we are, and may vary daily.  After all, most people spend the days doing things for others, typically their employers and their families.  Time is precious; for many people with full lives, time spent on themselves is invaluable.
The preparation of my first cup of [...]

I was recently asked to write a review of one of the newest additions to the published tea literature, The Tea Drinker’s Handbook, published by Abbeville Press, which I gladly accepted. The book, collaboratively written by Francois-Xavier Delmas, Mathias Minet, and Christine Barbaste of Le Palais des Thes, is this expert team’s first foray into [...]

I was delighted to see the report in the New York Daily News that the National Osteoporosis Foundation has finally debunked the myth that caffeine causes low bone density.
“There has also been talk that caffeine contributes to the development of osteoporosis.  Another myth, says the National Osteoporosis Foundation.  Although caffeine can interfere somewhat with the [...]

When the January 2009 issue of Sunset Magazine arrived in the mail recently, I immediately noticed one of the headlines on the cover: “Teahouses: The West’s healthiest bar scene”.  I always get excited when I see tea covered by the mainstream media.  The article included a Top 10 list of “tea joints” in the West, [...]

Second in a series on the teas of Japan.
Pearl Dew, as the name is translated, is Japan’s best and one of the world’s costliest teas.  Gyokuro’s pale-looking, greenish-gold liquor gives no hint of its intensity of aroma and taste or its complex and mouth-filling flavor.  Developed and first sold in Japan in 1835 by the [...]

I find it interesting that while lifelong tea drinkers and connoisseurs consume green tea in liquid form (or perhaps dabble in treats sprinkled with Matcha), there is a subculture of green tea fans who consume the product by smoking it.
I wonder who even first looked at a tea plant and said, “I can smoke that!” [...]