Tag Archives: tea sourcing

The Tea Sessions Latest Instalment – Masters Wear Flip Flops

Few have had quite the leaf influence upon me, as has Mr. Gao (aka Dr. Gao, Master Gao, or just Master). From his understated approach to communicating to his intuitive understanding of the vital ‘fry’ his has been a calming … Continue reading

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Tea Horse Road Chronicles – Fields vs Forests

Blankets and ridges of green stimulant leaf lie in rows near Puerh. Here the leaf is entirely industry. Gorgeous industry, but still industry. Local Hani, Han, Yi, Lahu, and Dai pluckers shimmy through the humid air to pluck, pluck, and … Continue reading

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Tea Horse Road Chronicles – The Pluck

Napu went up the tea tree amid a forest of tea trees, shimmying along a support branch, until she could access the buds and leaves two metres off of the ground. I shimmied up along side her to watch her … Continue reading

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The Tea That Got Away

Every single year on the tea foraging and sourcing missions I go on, there is a tea that – for any number of reasons – I miss out on acquiring. Here, I’m speaking about good teas that ‘hit’ me. The … Continue reading

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Jingmai Pu’erh – Menghai Part V – Last Sips

Few things bring people to concur like trees do. We need more of them everywhere and of every kind, and when the trees happen to be tea trees, there is the added bonus of the ‘sips’ and stimulant-wonder that they … Continue reading

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A Time of Talk … of Tea – Xishuangbanna lll

  There is always a kind of inevitability of events in China. With the rush, the masses, the intensity of purpose, things just MOVE!! There is the sense at times that the speed and lack of warning of when something … Continue reading

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An Arrival – Xishuangbanna/Sipsongbanna

Heat, Green, Some Characters…and more Green There are moments when the senses tell the rest of the body that one has arrived; moments when the body knows something before the mind does. Stepping out of a plane’s hatch, hot air … Continue reading

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“Hu Kai – A Tea of the Soul” … and one that still stuns the tongue

It remains a tea that I don’t get enough of (which will hopefully be remedied in the coming two weeks). My fierce Lahu contact in Xishuangbanna assures me that this will be the case. Hu Kai’s roots, flavours, and understated … Continue reading

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“Tea’s Ancient Trees” – Absolute green, absolute heat, and absolute tea

There are few geographies (with their perks) that I would rather be than amidst the ancient tea forests of southern Yunnan, and fewer-still fluids that I’d rather consume than these forest’s ancient teas. The full article here: “Tea’s Ancient Trees” … Continue reading

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