The Tea Explorer – Our Tea Documentary on CBC’s Doc Channel

Posted on July 12, 2017 by JeffFuchs

Finally, our Tea Horse Road inspired film doc, The Tea Explorer has a first ever air-date on television on CBC’s Doc Channel on July 23rd, 2017 at 9pm ET. The link above will give a teaser of some of the people, leaves, and landscapes that are inseparable from this epic route through the sky. It is a story of Mountains, a green leaf, and the memories with some random obsessive bits from myself to fill in some of the spaces.

Shar Gong La, or Eastern Gate Pass along the Tea Horse Road in Tibet.

The Tea Explorer doc follows roughly the direction of my book but has to compress certain elements. Editing a passion project is an evil thing…for it takes an ability to cut out and for that I’m ever-thankful to 90th Parallel Productions  and director Andrew Gregg for making those cuts. For the film we followed a route into Nepal’s remote Mustang region and the hallucinatory spaces of the Kali Gandaki gorge. Our route traced yet another alternate route of the great tea road, as well as finding a gift: the absolutely epic trader, Konga, who features in our film and warms it with his integrity and passion. The film will travel to film festivals as well and I’ll be updating when possible about the tea-fueler progress of the film.

Epic Konga retrieving some of his trade paraphernalia, which was used for yak and mules. An epic interview with this treasure of the days of Himalayan trade.

We’ll follow the tea leaves off of ancient tea trees in Yunnan as they move through the Himalayas ending up in Kathmandu.

A Hani picker of tea moves along a branch in southern Yunnan Province

Will also update regarding online streaming and DVD possibilities as I know more. Good sips and thanks as always for continuing to participate in these mountain and tea-fueled rants and wanderings.

A moment with my idol, Konga, at a recent trip to revisit him and present him with some more of the Yunnan Puerh tea, he craves. The Tea Explorer is as much about these vital characters as it is about the tea itself. Tea could not have traveled for 13 Centuries without these titans of the mountains hauling it.

About JeffFuchs

Having lived for a decade in Yunnan, Fuchs’ work has centred on indigenous mountain cultures, oral histories along with an obsessive interest in tea. Fuchs is the author of 'The Ancient Tea Horse Road' (Viking-Penguin) and he was the subject of 'The Tea Explorer' documentary based on his exploration of the Tea Horse Road. His photos and stories have appeared on three continents in publications such as Kyoto Journal, TRVL, and Outpost Magazine, as well as The Spanish Expedition Society, The Earth, Silkroad Foundation, The China Post Newspaper, The Toronto Star, The South China Morning Post, and UNESCO amongst others. Various pieces of his work are part of private collections in Europe, North America, and Asia. Fuchs served as Asian Editor at Large for five years at award-winning Outpost magazine. Jeff has worked with schools and universities, giving talks on both the importance of oral traditions, tea and mountain cultures. His recently released book ‘The Ancient Tea Horse Road’ (Penguin-Viking Publishers) details his 8-month groundbreaking journey traveling and chronicling one of the world’s great trade routes, The Tea Horse Road. Fuchs is the first westerner to have completed the entire route stretching almost six thousand kilometers through the Himalayas a dozen cultures. Fuchs partnered with Wild China to create a journey along the Tea Horse Road which National Geographic Traveler called one of the "50 Trips of a Lifetime". He is co-founder of Akahiao Nature Institute on the island of Hawai'i along with his wife, Julie Rogers.
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4 Responses to The Tea Explorer – Our Tea Documentary on CBC’s Doc Channel

  1. Marc Peterson says:
    August 4, 2017 at 10:41 pm

    Would love to get an update on how I can watch this doc without the CBC channel.

    • JeffFuchs says:
      September 22, 2017 at 4:06 am

      Apologies for the tardy reply Marc. The film will travel to film festivals and after that there will be an disc and online option I’m told. I’ll be updating on this blog site.
      Jeff

  2. Al says:
    September 21, 2017 at 7:59 pm

    Jeff, I just recently caught the filmed tea trip on TV. I wish I new it was coming, but I caught most of it and would love to see it again. Hope its available on disc. going to search out the book. Thanks for the documentary.

    • JeffFuchs says:
      September 22, 2017 at 4:05 am

      Pleasure to hear from you. A second edition will be out in the coming months to the book and I’m told that there will be both disc and online streaming possibilities. Will be updating and thanks for the note.
      -Jeff