Author Archives: JeffFuchs

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.

The Glacier’s Breath – Amid the Temples of Ice

Himalayan glaciers and their freshwater plight as climate change hits the third pole. Continue reading

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The Glacier’s Breath – Bara Shigri

So much of what is good and cherished in my days is both deliberately tea related and in some wonderful cases accidentally tea related. Days into ‘The Glacier’s Breath’ expedition tin cups are held in a large semi-circle of bodies … Continue reading

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Expedition – The Glacier’s Breath

Preparing to head back into the precious Himalayas of Ladakh for a month of living atop two glaciers to see what the great bodies of ice are up to. It is part of an initiative not simply to ‘explore’ and … Continue reading

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The Himalayas Matter – Portraits from the Heights

Portraits from the Himalayas Continue reading

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Southwest – Arriving to Pu erh Tea Central

Pu erh tea and its people and geography of southern Yunnan. A journey into sips Continue reading

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Wuyishan Oolongs – Rock Teas and Red Robes

A journey to Wuyishan to search out the origins and process of the famed Oolong Rock Teas of Chinese tea fame Continue reading

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Green Tea – Long Jing’s Three Roasts and One Roaster

Looking at Long Jing Tea in Hangzhou with a look at where, who and how Continue reading

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A Little More Winter

Winter in the Himalayas “Often leaves in small stages…but sometimes it simply leaves one night” says Kersang from her village near Deqin in northwestern Yunnan. It is still ‘spring’ of this year when she says this. Being Tibetan she feels … Continue reading

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Mountains and Their Precious Rivers

Returning to northwestern Yunnan’s snow-clad mountains and their precious waterways. We’ll wander up the Salween River (pronounced Gyalmo Gyul Chu and written རྒྱལ་མོ་རྔུལ་ཆུ། in Tibetan) to the eastern extension of the Himalayas and a slow route south along portions of both the … Continue reading

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A Brilliant Bit of Puerh Sampled…at Last

“What you taste when you know what has gone into creating that Pu erh cake of tea is an entirely different sensation than that same tea served without its story, without its hands”. Continue reading

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