Let’s talk about tea, oversharing, and consent.

Of course, in order to do this I will have to—y’know—overshare. So, continuing past this point, or clicking the “Read More” button, will be considered […]

In the not-too-distant past, I was reading one of my fictional stories to a friend. He stopped me within the first paragraph and asked a very simple question, “What are you trying to say?”

Not as in, what was […]

I’ll make this quick, I swear. Well, quicker than usual. I know you all have Christmas/holiday shopping to do, or something equally as holiday-y. But I have a cute li’l holiday blurb to get off my chest . . . so […]

In the summer of 2015, the unthinkable happened. I scheduled an interview with an honest-to-Lu-Yu newspaper. Our local rag, The Oregonian, to be precise. They wanted to talk to me in my natural habitat, as a tea d […]

Australian Tea Week, Day 3: “Japanese Style Green Tea . . . From Australia”
I received the subject of today’s blog from this fingergun-toting, doughnut-destroying badass.

This is Naomi Rosen; no, she’s n […]

Australian Tea Week, Day 2: “Effie’s Tea Offerings”
This is Effie Gidakos . . .

She’s a tea nerd, like I am. She even takes to social media (and local radio) about her love of tea. She’s also obsessed w […]

Australian Tea Week! Day 1: “The Arakai Estate”
Australia.

The Land Down Under. Oz. Or whatever other people (including the locals) call it. Our southernmost Pacific neighbor is known for many things: wei […]

Well . . . I guess it’s time to put a certain theory to pasture.

And it’s all because of these two.

Who are they? I’ll get to that.

What theory? Oh, I had this hypothesis that tea and dating (or court […]

Two weeks back, I received an invite to go here:

Okay, I go to both Smith Tea locations quite a bit on my own, but this was a special occasion. Like last year, this was their media-only holiday pre-release […]

A couple of years ago—on a visit to the Jasmine Pearl Tea Merchants shop— I tried a Japanese tea (that wasn’t sencha) that just . . . blew me away.

It was a black tea blended with yuzu rind. Yes, the Japan […]

This is a white tea called Doke Silver Needle.

I . . . may have written about it several times.

I know exactly where it comes from. (The Doke tea estate in Bihar, India.) I know who owns the estate. […]

Shou (or cooked/ripe) puerh is difficult to market. Hell, puerh in general is difficult to spin. How do you convince people that something that’s fermented is something they want? Fermented leaves, no less; in c […]