While drinking teas from all of the great tea-growing regions of the world is a journey in a cup, exploring tea’s culinary potential, unfurling the myriad flavors inherent in the leaf, is oftentimes an even richer pleasure that can spirit you away to other dimensions.
Going beyond the more familiar renditions of tea-flavored foods, such as [...]

A couple of weeks ago, an old friend of mine from college came through town with his wife and three daughters.  I hadn’t seen them in about five years or so, and it was great to get to know the girls and see my friend again.  I definitely bonded with his middle daughter, who is [...]

It’s so easy to assess others based on little clues.  Do you look down on people who make tea using a microwave, or use their tea bag a second time?  These are verboten in the tea purist’s world, but most people do these things at some time in their lives.
In British literature (one of my [...]

For most of the previous week, the local weather pundits had danced around a slight possibility of rain, which never materialized.  On the 11:00 o’clock news the night before I was to visit to the Huntington, they raised the odds to an 80% chance of precipitation by the next afternoon.  Named for its founder, Henry [...]

Seventh in a series on the teas of India.
The high-grown black teas from the Nilgiri (”Blue Mountains” in Tamil) of southern India are among the finest produced anywhere.  Just as the British officials of Calcutta took to the hills of Darjeeling for summer coolness, Raj officials in Madras retreated to Ootacamund, or “Ooty,” the hill [...]

It is almost impossible to find a Japanese eatery that does not list green tea ice cream on its dessert menu, but I have always wished that ujikintoki was instead the most commonly served Japanese sweet dish.
Ujikintoki is Japanese kakigori, a shaved ice dessert flavored with matcha syrup and enriched with toppings like red beans [...]

So, what’s it like to own a teahouse?  Many people have asked me to share some of my experiences “from the inside”.  So here it is, a brief overview of the Good, the Not-So-Fun, and the Downright Ugly of what teahouse ownership has been like for me the past three years.
The Good (really, the Great)
Not [...]

Thank you, Dr. Weil, for calling our attention to the health benefits of green tea once again.  His terrific post identifies three important attributes (quoted verbatim below) of this wonderful, healthy brew:

High in antioxidants, which can promote stronger bones, lower cholesterol levels, and lower rates of heart disease [...]

Second in a series on World Tea Tours’ Tea Tour of India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.
More than any other beverage, tea evokes romance and exoticism.  And few experiences are more romantic or exotic than climbing on the back of a camel for a ride along the same paths traveled by the ancient tea caravans and [...]

Sixth in a series on the teas of India.
First Flush Darjeeling fades rapidly and is best drunk before autumn.  It is a tea said to have no keeping quality, just as young Beaujolais does not.  It gradually dwindles into a ghost of a tea, whereas weeks or even months after its birth it was unforgettable.  [...]