L-Theanine in Tea: Health Benefits, Levels, and Factors
What’s L-theanine Have you heard people complaining that they cannot have coffee because when they have coffee their heartbeat rises?…
How to Brew Fenghuang Dan Cong Oolong Tea
Fenghuang Dan Cong, also known as Phoenix oolong tea, is a great tea to be brewed in gongfu style using…
Tang Dynasty and Tea | The Classic of Tea by Lu Yu
The Tang Dynasty - Rewinding our Minds 1200 Years Before we dive straight into The Classic of Tea, I want…
Lu Yu And The Classic of Tea
If you could only name one book about Chinese tea, what book would it be? Probably The Classic of Tea.…
China Tea ep. 31 – Yellow Tea – Junshan Yin Zhen, Huoshan Huang Ya | Sunday Tea Book | Sip-a-long – Da Ye Qing
Junshan Yin Zhen In the book Dream of the Red Chamber, Miaoyu used the snow on the winter sweet flowers…
How to Make Green Tea? Best tips to brew better green tea
How to make green tea so that it taste the best? In this post, we will share with you 3…
Does tea go bad? Does tea expire? What is the shelf life of tea?
Does Tea Expire Does tea expire? Does tea go bad? What is the expiry date for tea? If tea goes…
China Tea ep. 15 – Long Jing & Bi Luo Chun – Sunday Tea Book – Sip-a-long – Ming Qian Not Long Jing
Xihu Long Jing Among tea, Xihu Long Jing is probably the first to come to mind for many people. Emperor…
China Tea ep. 12 – Tea Pets & Dry Brew – Sunday Tea Book – Sip-a-long – Top Grade Lapsang Souchong
Tea Pet Function Also known as a tea curio, it’s used to decorate and beautify the tea table setup. It’s…
China Tea ep. 11 – Gongfu Tea Tools – Sunday Tea Book – Sip-a-long – Aged Shou Mei (2014)
Exquisite tea enhance the tea experience Drinking tea is pleasant, so tea accessories should be pleasing. A good rule for…
China Tea ep. 9 – Tea Table/Tray and Tea Cup – Sunday Tea Book – Sip-a-long – Qian Liang Cha 2012
Tea Tables The tea table may not be the most remarkable part of a tea set, but is very important.…
China Tea ep. 8 – Kettles and Teapots – Sunday Tea Book – Sip-a-long – Autumn Tie Gian Yin
Tea Kettle (Sui Shou Bao) Most gongfu tea requires boiling water, but the “boiling water” from many machines is only…
China Tea ep. 7 – Teaware – Sunday Tea Book – Sip-a-long Ming Qian Dafo Long Jing
Teaware Teaware is essential and sophisticated. It’s not an exaggeration that teaware makes up half of Chinese tea culture. SIP…
China Tea ep. 6 – How to choose good tea – Sunday Tea Book
Skills for selecting tea First look at the dry leaves, then the liquor, and last but not the least, the…
China Tea ep. 5 – Tea Appreciation – Sunday Tea Book
Step One: choosing tea, vessels, and water Tea has its color and aroma. Although it is the most common thing,…
China Tea ep. 4 -Tea classification – Sunday Tea Book
Tea Appraisal China is a big tea country. One of the signs of this is how many different teas there…
China Tea ep.3 – Tea Picking – Sunday Tea Book
Understanding tea The growing environment and craftsmanship are both vital to the quality of a tea. Good material requires careful…
China Tea ep. 2 – Tea Growing Environment – Sunday Tea Book
Beautiful trees in the south There are beautiful trees in the south. Tea plants grow in the south of China…
China Tea ep.1 – Intro to Chinese Tea – Sunday Tea Book
Preface As the Chinese saying goes, there are 7 essential things we need every day, firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce,…
What water to use for tea brewing?
We have a saying in Chinese that water is the mother of tea. It emphasizes the importance of water to…
How to store your tea properly
You may have noticed that not all the tea you purchased comes with an expiry date. Does tea expire? How…
5th Anniversary Luck Bag – Off Menu Supreme Teas
Shu Pu'er 1990s Dry Leaf: Antique paper, wood, subtle sweetness Wet Leaf: Log cabin woodiness with hints of sweet and…
Tea and Health – What affects caffeine in tea? How to lose weight with tea?
Tea is often associated with health in North America. So much so that many people begin drinking tea just for…
How to Taste Tea Like A Pro
Tea tastings, tasting notes, tea flavor wheels... as a tea drinker who has been indulging in the world of tea,…
Tea Processing Steps: are the charts helpful or misleading?
Once you get into the world of tea, your curiosity naturally grows and the more you dive into it the…
How to make Gongfu Tea – A Guide to choosing and using the Gaiwan and Teapot
I still remember my first introduction to Chinese tea and the fascination that surrounded the multiple infusions, and especially the…
Why do we rinse/wash the tea?
To rinse or not to rinse? It's a question people often have when it comes to Gongfu tea brewing. Do…
What is Bai Hao Yin Zhen White Tea and How to Brew Silver Needle Tea
Introducing Bai Hao Yin Zhen Bai Hao Yin Zhen, also known as Silver Needle, is a very popular white tea.…
How to Brew Tie Guan Yin (Iron Goddess) Tea
Tie Guan Yin is a well known and well-loved tea. It is often rolled into tightly packed 'balls' or pellets…
How to brew Long Jing green tea
Long Jing, also known as Dragon Well, is one of the most famous Chinese teas in the world. Some people…
6 Chinese Tea Types/Categories
6 tea categories As a tea lover, you have probably heard of different types of tea, especially the popular ones…
Top 5 Tips for Chinese Tea Sourcing
Many tea vendors go to China to source their own tea, others get their tea from the importers. No matter…
Water and Tea Brewing
One of the reasons that Chinese tea and tea culture play a major part in the world’s tea scene is…
What is Wuyi Yancha (Rock Tea)
What is Wuyi Yancha Wuyi Yancha or rock tea (literally translated Wuyi yan cha mean Wuyi rock tea) is a…
Which tea is better?
This is a little quiz I saw online couple of days ago. I found it quite interesting and shared it…
A Living Legend of Tea – Mr. Zhang Tianfu
Today is Mr. Zhang Tianfu's 107th birthday. It's a name that is rarely mentioned in the western tea world, but…
The Ultimate Tea Processing Experience
A Game with Water Our tea trip was not a typical sourcing trip. We don't need to go to China…
Tie Guan Yin – Anxi, Fujian Province
The Legendary Anxi Tie Guan Yin The Legends Tie Guan Yin is so popular that for many, it was their…
Fenghuang Dan Cong – Wudong Mountain, Guangdong Province
My experience with good tea, and I mean pinnacle tea - top notch stuff, usually goes one of two ways.…
Dan Cong From A Bio-dynamic Farm – Chaoshan, Guangdong Province
Against All Odds Affected by the coffee culture in North America, individual farmers are often preferred by tea drinkers. However, I…
The Perils of Fancy Pu’er
This post was inspired by one of the tastings we had in Menghai, Yunnan Province. A friend of ours brought…
Sheng Pu’er — The Evolution Of The Process
Testing a Hypothesis One thing we were to eager to do during this visit to Yunnan was to experiment with sheng…
The Odd Economy Of Pu’er
An Interesting Twist of Fate The story of Yunnan Pu’er reminds me of an old Chinese saying, “Thirty years on…
Ancient Pu’er Tea Garden – Hekai, Yunnan Province
Hekai, located in the Bulang Mountains, is one of the biggest ancient tea gardens planted by humans. Almost one third of…
Zi Sun & Bai Cha – Xiamu Shan
Constant Innovation in Chinese Tea Xiamu Shan is located in the Changxing/Anji area. Strictly speaking, it's an area for Zi…
Guzhu Zi Sun – Zhejiang Province
A Glimpse of Royal Tea Garden in Tang Dynasty This visit was a Museum / shrine to Lu Yu and…
The Mysterious and Confusing Chinese Tea Names (Part 2)
What are the naming conventions for Chinese tea? Despite the new tea names that are given by the inventors or…
The Mysterious and Confusing Chinese Tea Names (Part 1)
Before I even started my own tea business, I noticed that the western naming of Chinese teas can be fairly…
How to Brew Chinese Tea – Water Temperature
Brewing a perfect cup of tea can be quite challenging. The amount of loose tea leaves, the temperature of the…