Tag Archives: tea trade

Leaf Journeys, Leaf Ageing, and the Heights

It was upon the months’ long journeys along the Tea Horse Road that the big-leafed ‘assamica’ material and eternal panacea, tea, would transform and morph from a simple green tea into an almost compost-like blend that many Tibetans began to … Continue reading

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Tea Horse Road Chronicles – Walks and Words

“When you walk through mountains, you appreciate any arrival. When you walk to a place, you can speak about a place”. An interview about the Tea Horse Road which turned into a sumptuous afternoon with tea about far more than … Continue reading

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Tea Horse Chronicles – Remnants

Within the tidy remnants of a former ‘Tea and Horse Trade Office’ in Mingshan County, near Ya’an in Sichuan, Jamyan and I wandered for 25 bizarre and wondrous minutes. As we made our way in to the horse dung and … Continue reading

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Tea Horse Road Chronicles – Empress of Cloth

Ponzera, or Benzilan as it is now known, is a small valley town in northwestern Yunnan that lies alongside a headwater stream of the Yangtze River. For its size and population, its contributions to the Tea Horse Road spanned vast … Continue reading

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Tea Horse Road Chronicles – Blessings and Warnings

“When you are lost in the mountains you must sit and think with your good brain….think!” Continue reading

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Puerh’s Ancient Cylinder – 竹面 – Zhú tǒng

The round cylinder of compressed Puerh, was formed using a bamboo husk and provided one of the most effective means of transporting tea along the Tea Horse Road. Continue reading

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Mustang’s Eastern Trade Route

Trade routes (still) offer up hints and teasers about how lands evolved and functioned. Everything from DNA to luxuries and tid-bits from the past travelled and each shipment and caravan needed the guardians, the traders and the willful to ensure … Continue reading

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Darjeeling Chronicles 1 (of 2) – To Jungpana Slowly

A joy is sometimes not having a huge frame of reference nor expectation. There are no cues, limited preconceptions, and there is that wonderful feeling of slight ignorance. It is in this ‘not knowing’ that there is some room to … Continue reading

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The Tea Explorer – Documentary Film

Documenting the Tea Horse Road and teas origins in the documentary film The Tea Explorer. Jeff Fuchs hosts. Continue reading

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New Article in About.com About the Tea Horse Road…

Was asked to do an article about those stunning and often tortured Himalayas for About.com on trade and those icons of the mountains, the people. Article here

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