Talking Tea
63 episodes - English - Latest episode: 5 months ago - ★★★★★ - 44 ratingsConversations on tea and tea culture.
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Episodes
Balhyocha, A Uniquely Korean Tea
December 14, 2023 16:52 - 33 minutes - 47.1 MBBalhyocha is a tea unique to Korea - it's not produced anywhere else - and its rich and varied flavor profiles are also unique, not quite like any other teas we've tasted here at Talking Tea. But for many tea drinkers, even afficianados of balhyocha, it's also rather mysterious. What exactly is balhyocha? How is it processed? What gives it its unique, lovely complexity? To explore these questions we're chatting with Eric Glass, who, with Arthur Park, runs the annual TeaBuy Korea at Morning...
Turkish Tea: An Introduction
May 24, 2022 23:30 - 47 minutes - 54.2 MBToday on Talking Tea we're exploring a tea origin and tea culture we haven't yet visited on the show. Turkish tea isn't widely known outside of Turkey, even though Turkey is a significant tea producer and has one of the largest per capita tea consumption rates in the world. To introduce us to this unique tea and tea culture, we're joined by Aimée Lévesque, owner and founder of Le bruit de l'eau, an online and brick-and-mortar tea house located in Rimouski, Quebec. Aimée tells us about her ...
Tea as Daoist Meditation, with Robert Coons
March 18, 2022 22:40 - 1 hour - 69.9 MBAfter nearly a year hiatus from releasing new episodes, and nearing what’s hopefully the end of a worldwide pandemic, we’re very happy to welcome back Robert Coons to talk with us about tea as a medium for meditation and health, from a Daoist viewpoint. Robert is a well-known teacher and writer on Daoist meditation, a tea vendor, an acupuncturist and practitioner of qigong and martial arts, and was our guest two years ago in our episode “Tea & Daoism: Adjacent Connections”. He’s about to lau...
Lakyrsiew: Unlocking the Magic of the Leaf
March 04, 2021 21:24 - 17 minutes - 24.9 MBToday we're continuing with our periodic series of shorter episodes focusing on one tea, one producer or one region that may be new to the tea stage or that we're excited about and want to explore further. We're joined by our frequent guest Kevin Gascoyne, co-owner of Montreal's Camellia Sinensis Tea House and one of the world's leading experts on Indian tea, to explore Lakyrsiew, a young boutique tea garden in India's very wet Meghalaya state. Kevin chats with us about the history of tea...
Emptiness in Tea Practice
January 29, 2021 22:58 - 44 minutes - 60.8 MBWhen a friend who's a longtime Buddhist meditation teacher asked me recently if "emptiness" comes into our study and practice of chado, the Japanese way of tea, I didn't quite know how to answer. On Talking Tea we had chatted a bit about emptiness in a Daoist context, and its relation to tea, in our episode Tea & Daoism: Adjacent Connections, and we touched on some of the connections between tea and Buddhism in a few of our earlier episodes. But I hadn't thought about how, or if, emptiness ...
Bamboo Pu'er, Beyond the Novelty
December 17, 2020 14:56 - 21 minutes - 29.1 MBThere's a certain novelty factor to bamboo pu'er - sheng or shou pu'er packed and (usually) aged in a bamboo tube. It's not the way we usually acquire our pu'er, and it can be both challenging and fun to crack open the bamboo log and see what's inside. But aside from the novelty, are bamboo pu'ers worth exploring for serious tea drinkers? To look inside the bamboo log a little more deeply, we're joined once again today on Talking Tea by John Wetzel, founder and owner of Stone Leaf Teahouse...
The Korean Way of Tea, with Brother Anthony of Taizé
September 07, 2020 23:07 - 44 minutes - 61.7 MBFor quite some time we've been wanting to explore Korean tea culture on Talking Tea, so we're very happy to be joined in this episode by Brother Anthony of Taizé, a prolific writer, translator and teacher and co-author of two notable books on Korean tea, The Korean Way of Tea and Korean Tea Classics. Brother Anthony chats with us about the roots of his own passion for tea and his connections with the modern revival of Korean tea culture, and how that revival was spurred on in large part...
Tea & Daoism: Adjacent Connections
May 15, 2020 19:36 - 58 minutes - 80.4 MBToday we're exploring connections between tea and Daoism, the millenia-old Chinese religious and philosophical tradition that has had such a profound influence on culture and history in and beyond China. We're joined by Robert Coons, who straddles both the tea world and the world of Daoism. Robert is a well-known tea vendor based in Canada and China and is also a writer, teacher and podcaster on Daoism, qigong and Daoist meditation. Robert tells us a little about his own journey from mart...
Sensory Immersion Into Tea
February 25, 2020 22:55 - 31 minutes - 45 MBIn this episode we're at the 2020 Toronto Tea Festival and its kick-off event, Kevin Gascoyne's Rare Tea Tasting. Kevin is an internationally recognized leader and innovator in the tea industry, a co-owner of the Montreal-based Camellia Sinensis Teahouse and a frequent guest on Talking Tea, and this is just the second time Kevin has presented a tasting in this format. Kevin's Rare Tea Tasting was the most unique tea tasting experience we've ever had, and we think it's safe to say, probabl...
Talking Teapots, In-Depth with Scott Norton
January 07, 2020 21:54 - 1 hour - 85.8 MBWhen a listener requested an episode about teapots. we realized that this was a topic we haven't really delved into on Talking Tea. And having attended one of tea blogger, writer and teacher Scott Norton's incredibly comprehensive seminars on yixing teaware, we invited Scott to join us for an in-depth overview of teapots, their design elements, their history and how to best match your teapots with your teas. You may remember Scott from our episode Glimpsing Tea's Past, Finding Tea's Presen...
Chemistry, Climate Change, Bugs & Tea
November 08, 2019 22:39 - 47 minutes - 66.6 MBToday we're exploring a bit of tea science on Talking Tea. We're joined by Eric Scott, a a tea scientist and researcher at Tufts University, to chat about some of the many ways a basic understanding of the science of tea can benefit us as tea consumers and tea professionals. Eric tells us a bit about his own tea journey and the work he's doing in tea chemistry, the chemical ecology of tea and the effects of climate change on tea. We chat with Eric about how even a little knowledge of tea c...
Gender, Empire and the Making of the Western Tea Market
September 20, 2019 12:04 - 44 minutes - 61.6 MBWe're delving into some sticky topics today on Talking Tea as we look at the roles mass marketing, gender, racism and modern British history have played in shaping tea markets and tea culture in the West. Joining us is historian Erika Rappaport, author of the recently published book A Thirst For Empire: How Tea Shaped the Modern World. Erika's work as a historian focuses in the areas of gender, consumer culture and British history, and "A Thirst for Empire" delves into all of these areas in ...
A "Tea Cave" in Vermont
August 06, 2019 19:25 - 38 minutes - 53.2 MBToday Talking Tea is in Middlebury, Vermont, at Stone Leaf Teahouse, a unique tea space in this bucolic town. Joining us is John Wetzel, founder and owner of Stone Leaf. The town of Middlebury may be best known for being the home of Middlebury College, but since its founding 10 years ago Stone Leaf has also become well-known in and beyond Middlebury for the quality of its teas and for the warmth and tranquility of its teahouse. We chat with John about Stone Leaf's origins, how he developed...
Pairing Tea and...Cheese?
June 09, 2019 23:32 - 46 minutes - 64.1 MBMost everyone is familiar with pairing wine and cheese, but pairing tea and cheese is much less well known and less understood. (By the way, that's tea in the glass in the photo above, not wine.) Some tea drinkers may even find the idea of tea and cheese pairing a bit counterintuitive, if not a bit, well, odd. But at Talking Tea we've experienced some delicious pairings of tea with cheese, so we wanted to explore the issue more in depth. Joining us today to talk about pairing tea with chee...
Chaxi: Harmony, Art & Expression in Tea
May 02, 2019 01:15 - 51 minutes - 72.8 MBWe've been wanting to explore chaxi on Talking Tea ever since we visited the Tea Institute at Penn State University back in 2016. Tea was prepared and served to us by students in the Chinese tea track at the Institute with a degree of artistry and calm precision we had never quite witnessed anywhere else, and when we asked some of the students where they learned to prepare tea in this way, they suggested we speak with one of their teachers and mentors, Stéphane Erler, to learn more about cha...
Dark Tea Comes Out of the Shadows
March 12, 2019 22:50 - 49 minutes - 67.8 MBToday we're chatting with Zhen Lu and Phil Rushworth of Zhen Tea about a category of tea that's not widely understood outside of China or even within China, and that's heicha, or "dark tea", hailing from outside the pu erh region. You may remember Zhen and Phil from our earlier episode "Lapsang Souchong - Beyond the Smoke", and today we're chatting at the Zhen Tea headquarters in Ottawa, Canada. Now pu erh (at least shu pu erh) is a dark tea, and plenty of people know plenty about pu erh. ...
Choosing Teaware for Flavor, Aroma & Experience
February 01, 2019 00:06 - 42 minutes - 58 MBToday we welcome back to the show Kevin Gascoyne, of Montreal's Camellia Sinensis Tea House, to chat with us in depth about how our choices of teaware impact the flavors, aromas and overall experience of the teas we drink. Kevin is often seen sporting his signature Royal Albert teacup, and that prompted us to ask Kevin what's the deal with this oh-so-English-looking cup. His initial answer inspired us to want to explore more fully how our choice of cup and brewing vessel affect our enjoyment...
Chabana: Flowers for Tea
December 31, 2018 20:18 - 40 minutes - 56.1 MBAs December comes to a close and winter deepens here in the northern hemisphere, we're continuing our turn inward as we conclude our two-part series on the spirit of tea as reflected in chado, the Japanese way of tea. Today we're focusing on chabana, the art of flowers so integral to Japanese tea ceremony. To chat with us about chabana we're welcoming back Drew Hanson, an instructor in the Urasenke school of chado and founder/owner of the Boukakuan Japanese Tea House in New Jersey. (You ma...
Okakura and the Spirit of Tea
December 12, 2018 19:53 - 31 minutes - 43.9 MBWe're getting a bit contemplative this time of year here at Talking Tea, as the weather turns cooler and our bodies and minds begin to turn inward. So this December we're offering two episodes exploring the spirit of tea as reflected in chado, the Japanese way of tea. To kick off this two-part series we're looking at the life, work and influence of Kakuzo Okakura, best known for his modern classic The Book of Tea. As some of you may know, Talking Tea host Ken Cohen narrated and produced an...
Tea Cocktail Experiments
October 11, 2018 21:17 - 47 minutes - 65.4 MBToday on Talking Tea we're doing something a little different from our usual format. A few weeks back we were invited by the folks at Tea Dealers and the 29b Tea House (featured in our prior episode Ambassadors of Tea) to join them in conversation at an evening of tea and alcohol experiments they were planning and record the event for Talking Tea. We did just that, and we're pleased to bring you the event as a Talking Tea episode. We join Andreas Vagelatos and Graham Pirtle of Tea Dealers,...
Glimpsing Tea's Past, Finding Tea's Presence, at New York's Floating Mountain
August 27, 2018 18:10 - 48 minutes - 67.1 MBToday on Talking Tea we're witnessing tea history brought into the present at the serenely beautiful Floating Mountain teahouse in New York City, where ongoing programs on tea history and tea meditation are opening fresh perspectives on tea preparation and on tea as a contemplative practice. We're chatting with Lina Medvedeva, owner of Floating Mountain, and with Scott Norton, who runs Floating Mountain's tea history workshops and, with Lina, leads the tea meditation sessions at Floating M...
Dong Ding: Everything Taiwanese Tea Has to Offer
July 13, 2018 04:28 - 53 minutes - 73.8 MBToday we welcome back to Talking Tea Shiuwen Tai of Seattle’s Floating Leaves tea to chat about one of our favorite teas, Taiwan’s celebrated Dong Ding oolong. Shiuwen believes that Dong Ding represents everything that Taiwan has to offer in terms of producing tea, and we chat about the qualities that make Dong Ding unique in this capacity. We discuss three basic styles of Dong Ding – traditional, fragrant and charcoal roasted – and together we taste and compare both a traditional and a ch...
Bridging the Gap Between Tea and Coffee
June 01, 2018 00:32 - 52 minutes - 71.7 MBAt Talking Tea we've long wanted to explore the seemingly deep divide between tea and coffee, and between tea drinkers and coffee drinkers. But lately we've come to realize that the divide might not be very deep at all, and that there might be more similarities between the two beverages, and the two communities, than we ever imagined. To help us look at how the gap between coffee and tea is already being bridged, we're chatting with Nate Cochran of Spirit Tea. Part of Spirit's focus is the...
Innovation in Indian Tea
March 30, 2018 18:57 - 48 minutes - 66.2 MBToday on Talking Tea we welcome back Kevin Gascoyne of Montreal's Camellia Sinensis Tea House. If you've heard any of our earlier episodes with Kevin, you'll know that Kevin is a specialist, and one of the world's leading authorities, on Indian tea. Kevin returns to the show today to chat with us about some of the challenges currently facing Indian tea production, and how an innovative new project in south India called the Tea Studio is attempting to address these challenges. Before we div...
Ambassadors of Tea
February 19, 2018 11:18 - 41 minutes - 58.2 MBThere is an amazement of tea that's hard to capture in words. It can happen when we experience a tea for the first time and are astounded by flavors and aromas unlike anything we've experienced before. Or when we revisit one of our favorite teas and find elements we never noticed before. Or when we find ourselves drinking a tea that's been expertly prepared and artfully presented in a way that awakens all of our senses. Today we're at 29b Teahouse in New York City, where the owners and st...
Talking Tea Live Event - Join Us on 2/22 in Philadelphia
February 06, 2018 20:12Tea Process and Transformation: A Tasting Workshop Join us in Philadelphia on February 22 for Talking Tea’s second live event! We’ll be joined by Nate Cochran of Spirit Tea to delve into tea processes and cultivars from a tasting perspective. If you’ve been drinking tea for a while, or even if you’re a tea newbie but you’re familiar with coffee, wine or beer, you’ve probably heard something about cultivars or varietals. You may be aware of the crucial roles cultivar and process pl...
Growing a Tea Meetup
January 19, 2018 12:00 - 38 minutes - 52.3 MBOne of our guiding principles here at Talking Tea is that conversations about tea and tea culture have the power to deepen our understanding and enhance our experience of tea. Today on Talking Tea we're exploring one of the ways people are increasingly coming together to share and talk about tea: tea meetup groups. We're joined by Roy Lamberty, founder and organizer of the New York Tea Society, a popular tea meetup in New York City. Roy tells us a bit about his own tea journey, how and why...
Pairing Tea With Scotch
December 15, 2017 21:01 - 30 minutes - 42.8 MBToday we welcome back Kevin Gascoyne of Montreal's famed Camellia Sinensis Tea House to explore tea pairings, and specifically pairing tea with scotch. We begin our chat by looking at some current developments in tea innovation and sophistication, and then begin to look directly at pairing and explore how two different flavor profiles can play against each other. Kevin gives us the how and why of "sandwich" pairing - tasting a scotch sandwiched between two tastings of tea - and we discuss ...
Talking Tea Live Event with Zhen Tea - Join Us on 12/1/2017
November 01, 2017 12:00Listeners have been asking if we could do live Talking Tea events, so as we begin our 4th season at Talking Tea we're partnering with Zhen Tea for our first live, interactive event: Exploring the World of Chinese Tea In the Talking Tea tradition, we'll be in conversation with Zhen Lu and Phil Rushworth of Zhen Tea, a Chinese tea company based in Ottawa and past guests on Talking Tea, to look at the full spectrum of Chinese teas. You'll enjoy 6 different teas with us, explore th...
Bitten by the Bug: Oriental Beauty, with Té Company
October 26, 2017 16:46 - 43 minutes - 64 MBTo kick off Talking Tea's fourth season, we're at Té Company, an exquisite teahouse in New York's West Village, talking about an exquisite tea - the aptly named Oriental Beauty. We chat with Elena Liao and Frederico Ribeiro, owners and founders of Té Company, about the origins of their teahouse, how they've created a cohesive whole between tea and food, and the unique ways they help their customers gain an understanding and knowledge of tea in an easily accessible way. The uniqueness of...
An Intro to Cultivar and Origin
May 25, 2017 18:51 - 49 minutes - 33.7 MBWhen we serious tea drinkers start to broaden our knowledge of tea, we often encounter two terms that can seem mysterious or confusing: cultivar and origin. What is a tea cultivar, and why is it important? And what exactly does the origin of the tea refer to, and why should we care? To begin looking in depth at cultivar and origin, we're joined today by Austin Hodge of Seven Cups Fine Chinese Teas. Austin is a prolific tea writer and blogger in addition to being a seller, and he's also the...
Two Tea Podcasters Walk Into a Bar...
March 31, 2017 22:50 - 23 minutes - 16.1 MBEarlier this year, TJ Williamson of the World Tea Podcast invited us to join him in leading a session on industry-specific podcasting at Podcamp Toronto. And when the nice folks at Podcamp also gave us the opportunity to record a Talking Tea episode in front of a live audience at Toronto's Imperial Pub, TJ graciously agreed to join us as a guest on Talking Tea, to chat about the backgrounds of our two podcasts, why we do what we do, and about TJ's work in tea outside of his show. TJ tells...
Learning Tea With Babelcarp
March 08, 2017 13:57 - 28 minutes - 19.4 MBWe're calling this episode "learning tea" because learning about tea can be like learning a language - like learning English, or French, or Chinese, or any other language. There's a vocabulary to tea, and the world of tea is so vast, with so many words, facts and concepts to learn and keep track of, that it's easy to get overwhelmed. Compounding this in the English-speaking world is the fact that tea terms are often actually in another language - most commonly Chinese or Japanese. So what's ...
Arriving At The Source
February 03, 2017 01:26 - 28 minutes - 19.4 MBMost tea consumers never have the opportunity to visit the source of the teas we drink - the tea growers and tea makers in the various tea-producing regions around the world. So here at Talking Tea we've been wanting to hear an insider's take on sourcing trips, to get an idea of what sourcing trips are like and what tea retailers look for when they source their teas. Today we welcome back Shiho Kanamaru of Montreal's Cha Do Raku, to get that insider's look at sourcing. Shiho tells us how s...
Lapsang Souchong - Beyond the Smoke
December 18, 2016 21:13 - 32 minutes - 22.5 MBAs temperatures begin to drop outdoors and autumn settles into early winter, the scent of smoke rising from chimneys fills the evening air in just about every place we visit in the cooler climates. But the unmistakable aroma and taste of smoke is not something many of us actively seek out in our teas, and the famously smokey Lapsang Souchong is often overlooked by serious tea drinkers. So it's been quite a pleasant surprise discovering that high quality Lapsang Souchongs can have great lev...
Focusing on Taste
November 06, 2016 22:58 - 53 minutes - 36.6 MBToday on Talking Tea we focus on the nuances of flavor, and how to fully appreciate the taste of tea by engaging all of our senses. Guiding us through this exploration of tasting is Billy Dietz, a tea development specialist based in Montreal. We chat with Billy via Skype as he shares a little of his own remarkable tea journey and then takes us through two methods of preparing a tea he selected for this episode, a Muzha Tie Kwan Yin oolong from Taiwan provided by Naivetea. We compare the pre...
Montreal's Tea School
September 16, 2016 22:52 - 1 hour - 44.6 MBWhat did Talking Tea do this summer? We went to summer school, of course. Tea summer school, that is. In August we attended one of the English-language Summer School workshops offered through the tea school at Montreal's Camellia Sinensis. After the workshop we sat down with Kevin Gascoyne of Camellia Sinensis to chat about current and emerging trends in tea education. Kevin talks with us about Camellia Sinensis' model for tea education, how its tea school began with a goal of giving consu...
The Sencha Episode
August 04, 2016 04:49 - 42 minutes - 29.2 MBThis week on Talking Tea we're exploring the intricacies of sencha, the most ubiquitous of Japanese green teas. Sencha? Intricate? Many tea drinkers don't think of those two words in the same context, but we sit down with Zach Mangan of Kettl, a Japanese tea seller based in Fukuoka, Japan and Brooklyn, New York, to sample some senchas and to look at how multifaceted this tea can be. Kettl has developed a reputation for being a purveyor of tea to some of the most acclaimed restaurants in Ne...
Creating Forest-Grown Tea in Hawaii
June 30, 2016 14:05 - 44 minutes - 30.5 MBSince we launched Talking Tea in 2014, one of our main areas of focus has been the continuing growth of tea enthusiasm in North America. We've chatted with tea sellers, educators and writers, but we haven't had the chance to talk with anyone actually farming tea in the US or Canada. Until now. Today on Talking Tea we welcome Eliah Halpeny and Cam Muir of Big Island Tea, a pioneering tea farm and producer on the (you guessed it) big island of Hawaii. Eliah and Cam have created an ecological...
Tea, Heart to Heart
June 03, 2016 16:23 - 40 minutes - 27.7 MBThis week on Talking Tea we return to the Tea Institute at Penn State University to explore the evolution and burgeoning growth of interest in Japanese tea ceremony study at the Institute and beyond, and the transformative nature of tea ceremony practice. We first chat with Drew Hanson, founding instructor of the Urasenke program at the Institute. Drew talks with us about his own journey from art to tea, the history and development of the Japanese track at the Institute, and changing demogra...
New Visions in Japanese Tea
May 02, 2016 01:57 - 36 minutes - 25.5 MBIf you've listened to our Talkin' Matcha episodes you'll recognize the name of Tyas Huybrechts. Tyas has been a blogger and tea ceremony instructor based in Osaka and Kyoto, Japan, and we're delighted to welcome Tyas back to Talking Tea to chat about his new venture, The Tea Crane, a company focused on chemical-free Japanese tea. Tyas shares his views on how the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides has impacted the taste and aroma of Japanese teas and influenced the preferences of te...
Tea Goes to College
March 30, 2016 22:44 - 51 minutes - 35.6 MBAn institute dedicated to intensive, interdisciplinary tea education and research is not something you'll typically see at a college or university in North America - or anywhere else, for that matter. But it's exactly what you'll find at Penn State University in State College, Pennsylvania, where an initiative originally undertaken by students has resulted in the groundbreaking, university-funded Tea Institute at Penn State. This week on Talking Tea we visit the Penn State Tea Institute and ...
Tea Culture/Youth Culture
February 25, 2016 14:18 - 36 minutes - 25.2 MBThis week on Talking Tea we look at the growing popularity of tea and tea culture among youth and teens. Chatting with us (via Skype) is Connor Adlam of Tching.com, the well-known blog and online forum for tea information. Connor, the intern social media editor at Tching and also a member of this demographic, shares his perspectives both from a personal standpoint and from his work at Tching. We chat about what makes tea and tea culture attractive to younger drinkers, the role of social me...
Tea, Zen, Awareness
January 27, 2016 04:18 - 29 minutes - 20.4 MBWe're releasing this episode in between the Western new year and the Asian lunar new year, and we took this opportunity to quiet our minds, turn inward a bit, and look again at tea as a contemplative practice. Chatting with us in this exploration is Ven. Hyeonmin Prajna, a Zen teacher in the Five Mountain Zen Order based in New York City, and a student and practitioner of Japanese tea ceremony in the Dai Nihon Chado Gakkai school of tea. The history of tea culture is so intertwined with Zen...
How To Spot a Quality Tea - Part 2: Silver Needles
December 24, 2015 00:17 - 20 minutes - 28.4 MBIn our last episode of Talking Tea we began to explore the elements of a quality tea with Shunan Teng of New York City's Tea Drunk. As examples of what to look for in choosing tea, Shunan selected two historically famous teas from China. We began in our last episode by looking at Gua Pian, a green tea, and now we chat with Shunan about Bai Hao Yin Zhen, also known as Silver Needles, as we continue discussing how to spot a quality tea. Shunan chats with us about some of the unique characteri...
How To Spot A Quality Tea - Part 1: Gua Pian
November 25, 2015 00:11 - 38 minutes - 52.8 MBThis week on Talking Tea we return to Tea Drunk in New York City to chat with Shunan Teng, founder and owner of Tea Drunk, about tips and tricks for identifying quality teas. As an example of what to look for in choosing tea, Shunan selects a Gua Pian, a historically famous green tea from China. Shunan uses our exploration of Gua Pian to break some myths about tea quality, and tells us what to look for in appearance, aroma and taste. We chat about how different methods of plucking, shap...
Baozhong: Born in China, Rooted in Taiwan
October 28, 2015 12:54 - 38 minutes - 53.3 MBWe're continuing our exploration of Taiwanese oolongs this week with a focus on one of the most celebrated of Taiwanese teas, Baozhong. Shiuwen Tai, of Seattle's Floating Leaves Tea, gave us such a fantastic and comprehensive intro to Taiwanese oolongs in our last episode that we had to invite her back to give us some more in-depth knowledge, and we asked Shiuwen to talk about Baozhong because, well, it's one of our favorite oolongs. Shiuwen chats with us about Baozhong's history, from its ...
The World of Taiwanese Oolongs
September 22, 2015 02:38 - 54 minutes - 74.8 MBThis week on Talking Tea we begin exploring the spectrum of Taiwanese oolongs with Shiuwen Tai of Seattle's Floating Leaves Tea. Shiuwen chats with us via Skype about the history of tea in Taiwan, and how Taiwan's tea production has been influenced by its relationships with both China and Japan. We discuss some of the factors that go into forming the unique flavor profiles of oolong teas from Taiwan, including aged oolongs, why mouthfeel and texture are important in evaluating tea, and then ...
Kevin Gascoyne on Darjeelings, Fair trade and the Future of Tea
August 28, 2015 23:35 - 52 minutes - 71.6 MBWe’re back in Montreal this week on Talking Tea chatting with Kevin Gascoyne of Montreal’s famed Camellia Sinensis Tea House. Kevin, a co-owner of Camellia Sinensis, is known around the world as a prominent tea taster, educator and author. We talk with Kevin about his passion for Darjeeling teas, how classically grown Darjeelings compare with newer clonal teas, and current trends in tea processing. Kevin also discusses fair trade and labor conditions at tea gardens in India and elsewhere, a...
A Relaxed Approach To Tea & "Tea Decadence" At Montreal's Cha Do Raku
August 13, 2015 20:10 - 32 minutes - 30.2 MBToday at Talking Tea we’re in Montreal beginning our exploration of this city’s vibrant tea scene. Our first stop is Cha Do Raku, a new tea house and shop in Montreal’s Plateau district. Cha Do Raku (it means “decadence of tea” in Japanese) and its owner and founder, Shiho Kanamaru, have already made a name for themselves through the highly regarded teas offered through Cha Do Raku’s online store. Today we visit Shiho in her new shop and chat about how she realized her dream of a tea space t...