It’s New Year’s Eve, time for a new beginning. Last year is so 20th century. It’s out. What’s in is another chance with your life, in spirit as well as in mind and body. And tea is rightly part of the new you.
Tea is good for your body, no doubt about it. Science is picky [...]
Can you love yourself for fifteen minutes once a day?
Great! Please go fill up the kettle, heat up the water, and let me tell you about self-success.
In the time it takes to mindfully sip a cup of tea, you can change your life. Sounds a bit too simple, doesn’t it? Ah, but this is how [...]
Recently, I got the chance to visit Xiamen, China, on a business trip. I was very excited because I looked forward to trying some more tea. When my colleagues asked me what I wanted to do after work, my answer was simply “Go to a tea shop”. At lunch, I told everyone that I was [...]
Every five or six years, I have a student who drives me crazy. The journey is short, mind you, so I work very hard at a good defense. “Never smile during the first three weeks of school” is my motto, and my creed is “You can always lighten up; but you can’t tighten up.” Therefore, [...]
The consumer research firm Mintel recently released predictions for 2010 trends in consumer spending. Reading these is like reading your horoscope - you naturally question the wisdom of statements so malleable as to bend to any number of realities. Their flavor trend predictions, on the other hand, are far more concrete. Here at least there [...]
Given the high number of Russian immigrants in our area of the Pacific Northwest, we recently decided to try out their time-honored way of drinking tea. We took a trip to a nearby store that sells groceries and kitchen supplies for the Russian community, and purchased ourselves an electric samovar. The ladies working in the [...]
For the past few years around this time, I make a point of reflecting on how our year at the teahouse was different from the previous one, and whether tea interest in our little corner of the country seems to be growing. If numbers are any indication, ours would point to a definitive “yes”; despite [...]
I had a debate this evening with a commenter named Austin that got me thinking. A lot of people, like myself, shout from the rooftops that the U.S. tea industry is growing rapidly and full of opportunity. At the same time, tea shops across the country are going under. Are the industry insiders just blowing [...]
If holiday good tidings have lifted our spirits, then what did those holiday cookies do? Once the holidays end and our normal lives resume, green tea can help us remove that holiday baggage - the extra pound or two we gained in the past month. Green tea has always been known to have tremendous health [...]
Over the years, I’ve read numerous reviews in various coffee trade magazines and on websites about what brewing devices make the best cup of coffee. Coffee-holics usually arrive at a similar place when they cup the strong brew in today’s conventional devices. If my memory serves me correctly, the French Press usually ends up on [...]
