Tag Archives: Tea

Tea Horse Road Chronicles – The Tea That Never Came

A simple tea room in Weishan, Yunnan, and one of the only tea rooms in my life that I failed to actually have tea in. Weishan was another of the understated hubs along the Tea Horse Road, and it marks … Continue reading

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Tea Horse Road Chronicles – Part Human and a Little Part Goat

Over the course of years since meeting Dorjè I’ve written and pondered much about him. “Part goat and a little part human” was how he was described to me. Perhaps sounds unfair but the goats’ abilities in the Himalayas are … Continue reading

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Tea Horse Road Chronicles – Choices, No Choices, and some Courage

Ascending up to the Sho La Pass in northwestern Yunnan in May there would always be a chance of weather issues, but it would still be a surprise when, even at the relatively kind altitudes of 3000 metres, the skies … Continue reading

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Tea Horse Road Chronicles – Tea and Bloodlines

On foot our team of four puttered and wandered west (often faintly lost) through the Nyanqen Tanghla mountains in Tibet towards Lhasa. Highlights seemed on some days to be every single breath and moment. On other days, the grind of … 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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The Tea Sessions – A New Column with Outpost Magazine

Given the span of time and efforts to immerse in leaves and the lives connected to tea, there aren’t many more satisfying additions than starting up a tea column (in joyous  collaboration with Outpost Magazine). These pieces will comprise ‘The Tea … Continue reading

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Tea Horse Road Chronicles – Other Tales and Sight

Not all stories of the Tea Horse Road were ones of grand expanses, snow caps, or buzzing tea sessions. A friend from the Yi minority invited me to visit his grandmother who had tales of her own to tell. She … 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 – 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 – Way Out, and Out Again

Yeshi and I shared tea with this old memory palace of time. Goat milk and butter were used instead of yak variations. The tea was deadly but his memories as he recounted the days of watching caravans along a portion … Continue reading

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