It’s true that much of my writing on T Ching, TeaRetailer.com, and other places focuses on the business of tea.  It can accurately be said that I am a tea capitalist.  Since a bankrupt company can’t be socially or environmentally conscious, I make no apologies for pursuing profit.  Success is a necessary prerequisite for positively impacting the world around you.  The key, of course, is balance.  A company that pursues short-term profit at any cost is a menace.  A company that pursues social values at any cost is defined as a non-profit, and subsists on donations, not customers.

I’ve worked in a variety of industries.  I’ve started small businesses, consulted for medium-sized businesses, and worked in the bowels of giant corporations.  I’ve learned a lot, had a good deal of success, and had a tremendous amount of fun, but I’ve never worked in an industry that fed my soul the way the tea industry does.  I’ve never been able to be so proud of what I do.  So what is it about tea, or the tea industry, that feeds my soul?

Tea is Sensual

Webster’s defines “sensual” as “relating to or consisting in the gratification of the senses or the indulgence of appetite.”  There you go.  Tea is warm on a cold day or iced on a hot day.  Tea offers incredible aromas, and either robust flavors or delicate nuances as your current preference dictates.  Tea is guilt-free, delightful, and offers a never-ending voyage of sensory discovery.

Tea is Intellectual

Tea is rich in culture, history, and science.  There is far more to be learned than I can ever hope to absorb.  While I have little interest, to be honest, in reading a history or science text book, I do find pleasure in learning tid-bits about tea that can guide my sensory discovery and add an intellectually fulfilling element to the voyage.  Whereas fruit juice may taste good, notes of plum or apricot in a Chinese oolong are fascinating in a way that awakens both my senses and my intellect.

Tea is Healthy

Yeah, I know, but honestly I don’t really care.  Tea is good for you in the same way that fruits and vegetables are good for you.  Tea is not a super drug and not a cure - it’s part of a healthy lifestyle.  I’m well aware that many tea companies out there are using the buzz (and myth) around the health benefits of tea to line their pockets, but much of what is claimed is accurate in the same way that infomercials are accurate.  With all due respect to the pitchmen, the health benefits of tea are a bonus, not a business.

Tea is Social

Sharing my passion for tea with others is richly rewarding.  Tea is definitely a secret worth sharing.  I am completely confident that I can find a tea that will impress just about anyone, and equally confident that a little bit of targeted information will make their tea-drinking experience both intellectually and sensually rewarding for them too.  It’s a real pleasure to experience tea with others and share what I’ve discovered.

So many people spend their days developing, supporting, or selling products or services that simply don’t excite them or the customer.  I know people need their cavities filled, their cars fixed, and their groceries to be fresh.  At the same time, as a customer, I don’t get excited when I experience these goods and services.  I have to believe that the people selling them to me don’t have anywhere near as much fun as I have selling tea.  With tea, I get to spend my time introducing people to a pleasurable passion of mine.

Tea is Profitable

So maybe I’m slipping back onto my business side, but bear with me for a moment.  The most profitable, sustainable businesses don’t make their money by taking advantage of customers.  They make money giving the customers something they really want.  How cool is it that I get to spend my days introducing tea drinkers to a better product at a lower price?  Even better, I get to introduce non-tea drinkers to the most popular beverage in the world.  I know they’ll love it.  I know I’m giving them a great value and a great experience.  I know that between the sensory, intellectual, health, and social aspects of tea, customers are definitely getting their money’s worth when they buy tea from me.

Honestly, is there another product that can make customers this happy and yet is really good for them?

I get paid for drinking tea and making people happy.  That’s pretty cool.

I’ve been wanting to visit this shop for some time, but was never able to match my schedule with its somewhat limited business hours this last winter.  Today was well worth the wait.  Floating Tea Leaves is, simply put, wonderful - a surprising treat for those of us searching for a hands-on, tea-purchasing experience.

When I walked through the front door of Shiuwen’s shop, I was surprised to see such a small space.  I had been expecting to see the usual tea-house accoutrements - counter, tables, and maybe a glass case full of pastries.  What I found was a single tasting table in the corner of the shop surrounded by three men and a Taiwanese woman with a tremendous laugh serving tea gong fu style from a gaiwan.  Although I was a little intimidated, they soon invited me to join them in their tasting.  We fell to talking, and my expected fifteen-minute visit turned into an engaging two-hour conversation about life, wine, tea, and the complexities of each.

We sampled five teas, including a Li Sian and a traditional Dong Ding, which I ended up taking home with me.  The Dong Ding has a wonderful floral aroma with some light fruity notes, and a wonderful honey-like mouth feel.  We ended our tour with a Pu-erh, a variety of tea that I had not yet had the opportunity to sample in my tea path thus far.  I was immediately struck by the depth and complexity of the flavor of this tea.

After the rest of the guests had left, Shiuwen and I got to talking.  I introduced myself as a Starbucks barista with a passion for tea and photography and she told me a little of her story of working for the same company, leaving to start her own business, and her desire to bring people to a greater understanding of what it means to drink good tea.  She is a specialist in Taiwanese oolongs and personally knows many of the farmers from whom she sources the teas for her shop.  At Floating Tea Leaves, not only is the tea exquisite, but the owner is vibrant, engaging, friendly, and passionate about what she does for a living.  Next time you’re in Seattle, be sure to stop by.  You won’t be disappointed and you might just make a new friend in the process.

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In 2009, Green Tea Cola debuted in Japan.  Several YouTube videos recorded the excitement, or disappointment rather, of many customers’ first taste of this novelty beverage, which is surprisingly being marketed as a healthy drink.  Isn’t “healthy cola” an oxymoron?  Coca-Cola then launched Sprite Tea - also flavored with green tea - in China.  If you are interested in trying a green tea-flavored carbonated soft drink in the States, you may be able to find Ramune, a well-known Japanese soft drink in a bottle that is sealed with a marble that is available at many local Asian supermarkets.

Food manufacturers have the critical responsibility of ensuring ingredient safety; they should also be held accountable for the claims they make regarding their products’ boons.  I have not read up on how matcha’s health benefits diminish after being incorporated into processed food, but I suspect they do.  Enjoying matcha in its most primitive form - as hot tea - should alleviate some of these worries.

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I spoke to my midwife and she advised moderation - as with everything while pregnant.  I trusted that advice and my instinct and continued enjoying my tea.  I instantly felt better.  My morning sickness started to fade.  It seemed that the month I did not drink tea was the month during which I felt the worst.

I continued with my daily tea ritual, but I did eliminate pu-erh and black tea.  These two teas have always been a bit strong for me, so I figured I better leave them out during the pregnancy.

I did not have a single side effect that the studies warned about.  On the contrary, I think there were benefits to drinking tea.  I did not have gestational diabetes, I had normal blood pressure, my son was average weight, and I maintained an energy level that kept me active throughout my pregnancy.

My son is now two months old.  He was born at home with the help and care of midwives and I am thrilled to report that he is a happy, healthy, alert, and calm baby.

Following my instinct was the right choice for me.  To many, tea is another beverage, simply another option at breakfast.  For me, it’s a way of life.  It’s one that has taken the role of work, hobby, and ritual.

What’s in my cup now?  Silver Needle (hot) and Jade Oolong (cold).

All Puerh tea (whether the semi-green or dark-green fermented type) is made with sun-dried broad green tea leaves from the Southern Chinese Province of Yunnan, where the tea-growing season can last as long as eight or nine months each year.  The Puerh “family” of teas includes semi-green teas and dark-green pile fermented teas, which can also be aged for many years.  It is often presented as a black tea, perhaps because of its dark red liquor, but it is not.  Puerh is higher in caffeine than black tea, yielding about 60 mg per 8-ounce serving.  It’s a unique tea type.  In both its ripened and aged forms, it has undergone secondary oxidization caused by organisms that continue to develop in the tea, giving it strong antibacterial qualities (think “blue cheese”).

Puerh tea comes in many different forms – from loose smaller-leaf tea, to incredibly large-leaf tea, to tea cakes or bricks.  The mini-bricks are called tuochas.  The rarest Puerh teas are made with tea leaves that are hand-harvested from wild and semi-wild antique tea trees (100 years and older).  The resulting aged tea is mellow and has a sweet taste and heavy mouth-coat.  Puerh teas are now often classified by their year and region of production, much like wine vintages.  They gain value with aging, and have been touted in the press as an “investment tea.”  On an early tea-buying trip to China, I saw Japanese businessmen picking up Puerh tea cakes from their personal tea lockers at a high-end purveyor’s shop.

According to traditional Chinese medicine, Puerh tea has a body-warming and potent digestive property.  Puerh is often consumed as a tea that dispels or cleanses the body of fat and toxins from meat and oily foods.  Many in Asia, where it is consumed as a “detox tea,” feel that Puerh is the best cure for a hangover.  In France, Puerh is widely popular and consumed by many women as a “beauty and dieting tea.”  Compared to other teas, Puerh has an almost cult-like following among tea lovers and is regarded as a sacred relic of ancient tea cultures and traditions.

Only in recent years has good-quality Puerh made its way into U.S. teahouses and retail shops.  I personally choose the Puerhs we offer from The Tea Spot – both the organic loose-leaf as well as the organic tuochas, which are my travel teas of choice.  Our best-selling signature tea, Bolder Breakfast, which you may have already guessed has a good helping of Puerh as well as bold black teas and dark chocolate, has a very dedicated following.

By the way, the daughter who spat out her first sip of Puerh into Boulder Creek at David Hoffman’s seminar at the Dushanbe Tea House in 2003 now can’t go a day without her Bolder Breakfast.  So if you haven’t yet, next time you’re in an adventurous mood, give Puerh a try.  Even if you don’t fall for it at first sip, it just might develop into a healthy habit over time.

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I could instantly recall a wonderful childhood experience of an elderly neighbor woman making tea for me many times when I was barely four years old. It is one of my only clear memories before beginning kindergarten. She was kind and gentle and would take out a simple teacup for me and fill it with black tea. Then she would slice a lemon and drop a tangy slice into my cup. She showed me how to twirl a honey ladle into a jar of honey and make it over to my cup without losing a drop of honey on her tablecloth. I was one of many children in my family and this alone time with her made me feel special indeed.

This memory, sparked by Dr. Carole, led me to other memories that all seemed to involve teacups - yes, teacups. I remember my mother having ladies over for tea and bringing out all the fancy teacups and saucers for the gatherings. I have four sisters and we each had our favorite teacup from her varied assortment. Even when the good set of dishes came out for guests staying for dinner, we never used the teacups that came with the set; it was always my mother’s collection of brightly colored, floral, and patterned vintage teacups and saucers.

Trips to visit my mother’s ten sisters and my father’s five sisters resulted in similar tea time rituals – the china cabinets got opened and teacups and saucers came out – each was always complete with a story of where it came from, the year it was received or purchased, and who had passed it along to whom.

Being the eldest daughter, I was first to get married, and when I did, my mother let each one of my sisters have their favorite teacup and saucer, and then she gave me the rest of the teacups from her collection that she had begun to accumulate when she was still a teenager.

With a move from Canada to the United States, I noticed an absence of tea gatherings and my precious teacups remained in the back of my china cabinet for almost two decades.

At the age of forty-five, I brought to life a childhood dream by building a playhouse in my California backyard – just for me. When it came time to decorate it, I filled it with things that held special memories. The teacups made it onto a fancy shelf for all to see – well, mostly me. I would make myself tea and sit in my little playhouse where I would spend hours writing and sipping tea. Over the days and months that ensued, I drank out of each and every teacup many times. Six months later, I visited my first tea expo and my life took an amazing turn. Tea, teapots, and teacups all took on new meaning for me, but the old memories are still alive and well, still warm and special. Dr. Carole was right – they have indeed led to my fascination and appreciation of tea and family.

SORORI-TEA

Honouring the divine feminine energy,
a force that unites all women,
I reconnect myself with this goddess intensity.
As sisters, we are one, one with each other, one with God/Goddess.
A sisterhood unified by more than
a spoken vow or sacred oath.
A bond that is inseparable,
inseverable and irresolvable.
This unity strengthens our individual spirits.
It opens my heart to see my own worth and purpose,
and all that is good because all is God.
I am so grateful for the blessings of my blood sisters,
my sisters in spirit, and the Divine Presence that joins us all.
Even with the strength of a spiritual sorority,
and even in times of joy, I give it all back to God.
The solidarity of our sorority is divinely sanctified and purified.
So I let it be and the joy of the
Sacred Feminine comes back to me.
Amen

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Many entrepreneurs resort to branding companies and pay a hefty amount to have them produce names for their businesses.  We didn’t have much capital in the beginning and had to go grassroots.  I basically carried around a little black book with me everywhere and every time I came up with a good idea for a business name, I would write it down.

By the time we settled on Tavalon, I had over 1,500 potential names in my book.  We sent our Top 3 names to everyone in our group of friends and family to aid us with the decision.  Tavalon is a combination of the letter “t” from the word tea and “avalon”, which is the island paradise in Celtic mythology.  Put the two words together and you have Tavalon - a tea paradise.  I also liked this name because I wanted the company to become a global tea entity and the name had to be easy to pronounce across many languages.  Starbucks, for example, is very hard to pronounce in Korean and Japanese.

The logo was also tricky because we wanted it to be simple, yet strong and meaningful.  After 40-plus renditions, we settled on our current logo, which is the word Tavalon with our symbol replacing the letter “o.”  At first glance, our symbol looks like a yin and yang, but if you look closely, you will notice that the top is a tea leaf and the bottom is a water drop - combined in harmony you have the perfect cup of tea.

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I had been suffering from a slight stomach ache for a couple of days when Megan, who is studying Ayurvedic medicine, made me a lovely, warm tea that smelled like Christmas wassail and tasted scrumptious. It also settled my stomach rapidly and much better than the Pepto-Bismol that I had taken the day before.

Ayurvedic medicine, which is native to India, is a type of traditional medicine dating back to around 1500 BC.  It takes a mind/body/spirit approach to health with a focus on diet, yoga, meditation, and massage.  Different teas are used as a part of the regiment for good health and digestion.

The tea she made for me was one that aids digestion and settles an uneasy stomach.  I was hopeful that it would help my stomach, but I thought it would probably taste horrible since it was medicinal.  But to my surprise, it tasted wonderful.  In fact, I have decided to make a cup every night before I go to bed just because I like the way it tastes and in hopes of preventing more stomach aches.

Tea is amazing.  Not only is there a tea for your every mood or whim, but there is also a tea for every ache and pain.  And if you are lucky, it just might cure what ails you and taste like a warm cup of Christmas heaven.

Megan’s Magical Molten Mixture

Makes 2 large cups.

4 c. filtered water
12 cloves
4 cinnamon sticks
1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
4 Tablespoons honey

Bring water to a boil.  Add cloves, cinnamon, and ginger.  Boil for 1 minute.  Remove from heat and strain.  Add honey.  Stir.  Drink.

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Upon first learning of Korean teas, I was quite skeptical, though eventually I decided to give them a try.  Then I was completely intrigued and had to learn more about them.  Even the more mass-produced Korean teas seem to be a far cry from their mass-produced Chinese, Japanese, and Indian counterparts, as they showed signs of far more care taken in their production.  The story of how tea production even managed to make it to this day in Korea is fascinating, seemingly reduced to a story of hermits harvesting bushes that have long since become “wild.”

The fact that Korean teas have endured in such a fashion is largely a result of Korea’s relationship with China.  While the production methods may not be the same as they once were, low-production, modern-day Korean teas (difficult to find in the West) are most likely processed and picked completely by hand.  And much like their Japanese and Chinese equivalents, they demand a high price.

Korean teas are categorized based on when they were picked in the lunar calendar.  I have heard mixed responses as to whether these categories are roughly the equivalent of the well-known flushes by which Indian teas are categorized.

I have had a fun time exploring Korean teas lately, and I highly encourage others to do the same.  The care put into them seems to come at a high price, but they are incredibly long lasting in that a little bit goes a long way!

A few years ago, I was parent teaching at our middle school and one night I decided to introduce the concept of relaxing with tea.  Many of the attendees were moms, who are often tired and stressed, forget about themselves, and lose balance in their lives.  I told them, “This class is about you.”  I explained that it was very important that they take 10 minutes every evening after putting their kids to bed to reflect and breathe.  To show them how, I had prepared tea, brought some relaxing music, delicious scents, and photographs of beautiful scenery, and had them relax.  They cried.  They loved it!  They quickly realized they were need of those 10 minutes for themselves.

It is important for human beings to maintain balance in the four pillars of their lives - mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual.  This balance brings out the best in us and helps us reflect.

When you sip that cup of tea, think about the calm and serene area from which your tea was harvested.  The Camellia sinensis plant must have the right temperature and soil to grow well.  Sometimes, the climate or the soil is not ideal, but with the proper cultivation, the conditions can be improved and good tea can result.

At the end of the day, spend some time in a favorite spot - a cosy room or garden - and set the mood.  Select candles with a clean scent.  Listen to relaxing music to help your mind drift - I recommend nature sounds.  Invest in a small fountain (the trickling of water soothes).  Contemplate a picture of a beautiful landscape, a tropical island, or crystal-clear waters.  Then select your tea and your favorite cup.

Listen as you pour the tea into your cup, take the cup and inhale the scent, take some sips, close your eyes, and transfer yourself to that beautiful scenery and - just for that instant - forget your worries.

Last May at Kulov’s Annual Tea Festival, while attending a workshop with Angie and David of 1001 Plateaus, I learned a different way to brew tea, which was drawn from Lu Yu’s The Classic of Tea:
When the water looks to have fish eyes, and the hint of sound, it is at its first stage, and excellent for white and green teas; when it looks like pearls strung together, it is in its second stage, and excellent for oolongs and blacks. If, however, it leaps like ocean waves, it is boiled out and should not be used.

Here are some suggestions for brewing tea:
Green - 175-180 degrees - 3 minutes
White - 185 degrees - 3-5 minutes
Oolong - 190 degrees - 5 minutes
Herbal - 212 degrees - 2-4 minutes

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