It's All About Tea

When you want to make your matcha in the traditional Japanese style, it's essential to invest in a proper Japanese tea set. A basic tea set will include a chawan (matcha bowl), chasen (matcha whisk), and chashaku (matcha scoop). If you want a complete Japanese tea set, however, you should also get a furui (tea sift), and a kusenaoshi (chasen holder). By the way, this is only if you want to enjoy matcha at home, casually. If you're going to make matcha as per the ways of Chado, you need much more equipment. So, if you want to make a proper bowl of frothy green matcha, if nothing else, you should always have quality matcha tea powder and a chasen. So how do we take care of the matcha whisk to ensure its longevity for years of umami-rich tea bowls to come? (Read more)

Balancing our internal energies is crucial for a relaxed and healthy body. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has been around for thousands of years. According to this ancient knowledge, all teas are either cooling or heating. Understanding the properties of tea may help us make more conscious choices when choosing a tea for the soul for our gongfu session. (Read more)

A piece of crucial knowledge for those entering the world of cha — age is everything. We've seen it too many times, picking up a few hundred extra grams of your favorite tea during your travel to China or Japan. Just to find it tasting subpar a year later straight from your cupboard. It's not always the best idea to stock up! Or perhaps the other way around? Completely forgetting about that pu-erh cake your friend gifted you, to find that after years of laying around in the tea drawer, it tastes better than ever! The thing is, age is crucial. Furthermore, when we understand the tea's life cycle, we can use it to our advantage. So how long does tea last? Let's find out! (Read more)

When buying loose leaf tea, many tea enthusiasts wish to go the extra mile and ensure they purchase organic tea. Of course, this means that farmers don't use pesticides or chemicals at the tea farmers. Thus, the tea leaves are clean and pure. It's a great practice to buy certified organic teas. Still, we wish to shine a light on the world of quality tea — many teas are fully organic, even if they aren't officially certified as such. In fact, this happens more than you think! (Read more)

If you are a seasoned tea drinker you’ve certainly had a point in your tea journey where you questioned what dictates the price of tea. If you are just getting into the vast world of tea, this questioning might just be starting. In today’s blog post, we’ll go over the top five signs of tea quality, which in turn may dictate the tea’s price. (Read more)