Basics & Tips
Loose Leaf Tea Chai Latte at Home
Here at T Ching, we are proud to be featuring these delightful and informative videos by Diane Walden of Cal Teas. Up next is this video where she demonstrates how to make a hot chai latte using loose leaf tea at home. Watch Diane make a delicious hot chai latte in...
The Essential Guide to Matcha: Japanese Matcha Versus Imposters
A Blog Series for Serious Sippers! In this blog series, I will answer the question “what is Matcha green tea?” and help you discover how to find genuine matcha, how best to store it, and the ways to prepare this vivid green health elixir from Japan. The Essential...
Five Tips for Sharing Tea with Kids
Guest contribution by: Mercedes WadkinsI get it - you're looking at your children and thinking, “I am sooo not adding caffeine to this hot mess.” I agree, that's the first thing I thought when my daughter told me she wanted to stop pretending in her imaginary tea...
The Essential Guide to Matcha: Matcha Processing
A Blog Series for Serious Sippers! In this blog series, I will answer the question “what is Matcha green tea?” and help you discover how to find genuine matcha, how best to store it, and the ways to prepare this vivid green health elixir from Japan.What is Tencha?In...
How to Brew Loose Leaf Tea: Tea or Herbal?
Here at T Ching, we are proud to begin featuring these delightful and informative videos by Diane Walden of Cal Teas. We decided to start from the beginning, so up next is this video starting in her garden and discussing various herbs that can be added to teas and...
The Essential Guide to Matcha: What Is Matcha?
A Blog Series for Serious Sippers! In this blog series, I will answer the question “what is Matcha green tea?” and help you discover how to find genuine matcha, how best to store it, and the ways to prepare this vivid green health elixir from Japan. The recent boom in...
Beyond the Basics
Wild Organic Tea – Third Installment
This is the final part of the WILD Organic Tamaryokucha review from tea that has been hunted and processed by the lovely folks at Country Friend Farms on the Japanese island of Shikoku. ( Previous in series: Wild Organic Tea From Shikoku and Wild Organic Tea – Second...
Wild Organic Tea – Second Installment
My last post ( Wild Organic Tea From Shikoku ) was the first of this series on wild organic tamaryokucha from Shikoku. Just to recap, tamaryokucha -- also called guricha for its distinct curled leaf -- is a processed tea that is hand-tossed in a large wok-like iron...
Wild Organic Tea From Shikoku – Part 2
Continued from: Wild Organic Tea From Shikoku – Part 1 RYU is grown wild in rocky soil without compost and is so rare that it only produces 10 kilos per year. This tea is not wilted after being plucked and is a classic tamaryokucha that has been steamed immediately...
Wild Organic Tea From Shikoku – Part 1
Tamaryokucha, also called guricha for its distinct curled leaf, is a processed tea that is hand-tossed in a large wok-like iron pan under a gentle heat to give it a deeper taste and fragrance. After a few years of searching, Chiki Tea started carrying a tamaryokucha...
Chanoyu: Tea and Ritual – Part 2
Continued from Chanoyu: Tea and Ritual - Part 1 Some Japanese Tea Ceremony Trivia Facts Chanoyu is literally translated “hot water for tea”. Only green tea matcha is used during a tea ceremony. The tradition of drinking matcha first began with temple monks to keep...
Chanoyu: Tea and Ritual – Part 1
There are Two Types of Green Tea Used – Usucha and Koicha Two types of green tea matcha can be used in a tea ceremony. There are also two ways the matcha is prepared, depending on the formality of the gathering. There is a thin tea that is called “usucha”, and a...
Travel
Tea on the Sea – Part 2
To recap our hero's adventure, start with Tea on the Sea - Part 1 It seems a bit obsessive, but I often bring a secret stash of tea and a tiny travel tea set when I’m on the road. This time, I had tried with all my strength to not let my tea addiction show, but I...
Tea on the Sea – Part 1
Those who know me know my wanderlust as well as my affinity for tea. Some also know I love a good story. While on a recent Caribbean cruise (not a tea tour this time), I began to suffer from a prolonged period without some good tea. Oh, there were teabags. Lipton...
Following the Harvest, Second Installment – Highlights of the Tea Tour of Japan 2019
Continued from Following the Harvest, First Installment – Highlights of the Tea Tour of Japan 2019 – Part 2 Happoen Garden In Okabe, we visited legendary Gyokuro tea maker Tohei Maejima where we learned the effects of shading on the leaves. He welcomed us to his home...
Following the Harvest, First Installment – Highlights of the Tea Tour of Japan 2019 – Part 2
Continued from Following the Harvest, First Installment – Highlights of the Tea Tour of Japan 2019 – Part 1 Wisteria garden Oldest tea garden in Japan with the abbot from Kozanji Temple At the Kawachi Wisteria garden, we were advised that the peak of the season had...
Following the Harvest, First Installment – Highlights of the Tea Tour of Japan 2019 – Part 1
Ancient Tea TreeSpring comes in its own good time. But for tea lovers, it can never come too soon. This is the season of New Tea. Some places call it First Flush. For some regions it is their “flavor season”. In Japan it is Shin Cha. Tea farmers, producers, traders,...
Tea on the High Seas
Cruise ships are floating cities offering shopping opportunities, a casino, library, full-service medical clinic, swimming pool, fitness center, restaurants serving the cuisine of six continents and . . . Afternoon tea. Exploring the ship -- 800+ feet...
History
Tea, In a Big Way!
The Little Tea Book by Arthur Gray was written at the beginning of the previous century. Witness for yourself with this excerpt the deep admiration given to tea, the musing and mulling generated by tea, along with the expressions and thoughts of the day back in 1903....
Swadeshi
My first exposure to Indian culture and history was in a modern Indian history class in college. One of the most impressionable terms I learned from this class was Swadeshi. Swadeshi is an important part of the independence movement of India where people encouraged...
A Sip of Ceylon
150 years of tea! This year (2017) Ceylon celebrates a century and a half of growing world-class tea, and the planet sipped along with jubilee in a Global Tea Party on July 6th at 5:00 pm in every time zone. Nothing quite like having the world champion Cricket player...
Japan’s Greatest Culinary Combo: Green Tea With Rice
Nowadays, people put Japanese green tea into almost everything. Just a few of the more unique green tea combos include green tea alcoholic beverages, green tea fudge bars, and, of course, the ever popular green tea Kit Kats. However, there's one green tea combination...
The Legend of Darjeeling
Legend says winter comes from the hands of Chys Khan, the master of the cold. It is passed from his hands to those of Father Christmas, who is responsible for distributing it throughout the rest of Europe. Both have a white beard, but Chys Khan is wrapped up even...
Illustrated History: Tea Pets
What better way to adorn your tea experience than with a tea pet! These gentle, artful creations are crafted with purple sands or clay, in addition to red and green clay. Historically dating back to the Yuan Dynasty (1206 - 1368) from Jiangsu province, tea pets come...