It’s typhoon time in Japan, which I actually don’t mind, because it gives us some relief from the suffocating heat! So for the next several weeks, green tea addicts over here will be toggling between putting on the kettle and getting their cold brew on. So what does this have … Continue reading
Part One: Shincha “New Tea” It’s Golden Week in Japan – the longest holiday time of the year. The country is buzzing with people going everywhere, stores having mega sales, and of course, the tea fields humming with swarms of activity. I was going to write about Shincha, literally “new … Continue reading
I have bashed the tea bag for years. “Let your leaves dance,” I say…but I may have just met my match. Chiki Tea has agreed to a licensing deal to open in Connecticut, and our partner rocked up with a box full of handmade organic muslin reusable teabags. My first thought … Continue reading
One of the many rewards of running a foreign tea shop out here, deep in the Kyushu countryside, is that farmers get wind , and bring us their tea to try. Once in a while, a ROCKSTAR producer emerges such as our latest visitor from Yame in northwest Kyushu, whom I first met … Continue reading
Earlier this month I had the privilege of being invited to the members-only Kyushu Tea Auction in Oita city. This is where qualified tea merchants and producers gather to bid for tea leaves, mostly aracha (unprocessed tea), so they can add their special kind of magic during the processing phase, … Continue reading
Japan boasts a tapestry of some of the most beautiful seasonal landscapes in the world. Imagine the snow covered pagodas of Kyoto in winter, then the entire country turning pink with cherry blossoms, to water cascading down the mountains after the rains in June, to a canvas splashed with burgundy, … Continue reading