A few thoughts shared in a recent interview with Tea Biz here. In the great rush of tea paraphernalia and in the increasingly creative marketing and usage of fantastical descriptions and flavour wheels; in a time when the ‘names’ of tea say nothing of source or origin points, there is a need (I think) to retain some of the informality and integrity of simple tea knowledge.
A few moments with a Newari elder in Kathmandu about the old tea trade. Photo: Andrew Gregg
Source, the hands, and those wonderful moments when the best tea moments don’t necessarily involve the best tea, shouldn’t be lost.
A trip to some of the simple sources of the leaf wouldn’t hurt the sipping community either, to gain some simple but vital insights as to what tea means at the origin, and what goes into creating an offering. It is often at source that simple clarity is gained that permeates through the descriptives and fancied wrappings.
