It's All About Tea

We have already discussed Chinese tea tradition and Japanese tea tradition, but how about the rest of the world?

 

Granted, most tea we find in other countries all over the world once did come from China through the Silk Road, and then slowly developed to have their own tradition and drinking practices in other countries. (Read more)

Japan doesn't leave much time to relax. As soon as the breathtaking cherry blossom season is over, comes the start of a new time of year — Shincha season. 

For many Japanese tea lovers out there May is basically a holy month!

Tea connoisseurs flock to the markets to secure for themselves some of the year’s limited supply of first flush... (Read more)

Overall there are two main types of tea ceremonies in Japan: an informal tea gathering chakai, and a formal tea gathering chaji. Chakai is a more simple tea gathering which will include some sweets and thin tea (usucha). While chaji is much more formal, usually including a full-course kaiseki meal followed by sweets, thick tea (koicha), and thin tea. A chaji is often times around four hours long, with guests taking small breaks to walk around in the garden by the tea hut.

Aside from the two main types of tea ceremonies there are also many other kinds of tea ceremonies which are held in Japan depending on the occasion, season, and time of day. (Read more)

So we have been getting this question a lot - which tea is the best substitute for coffee? 

We have compiled a list of the teas that we carry specifically for this purpose, to introduce people to other options. We will not be getting into the health benefits of tea in this post, but more so focusing on the caffeine level of the following teas...  (Read more)

The Japanese tea ceremony follows two main concepts — wabi sabi and ichigo ichie. Wabi-sabi, although hard to define literally, is a concept centered around the appreciation of imperfection. While ichigo ichie is an idiom meaning “one time, one meeting” and emphasizes the fact that each and every meeting is special in that it can only happen once. (Read more)