It's All About Tea

Centuries ago Chinese black tea steadily paved its way to popularity in the west. This wasn't the case in China, where people preferred freshly processed green teas. Black tea was no more than an export, something locals dare not drink themselves. It wasn't until quite recently that Chinese farmers began rediscovering the beauty of a well-executed black tea. Dian Hong Black Tea is one of those teas that is highly honored today. Originating in Yunnan province, it is made from wild ancient tea trees. The final taste is full of Qi and sure to get any tea connoisseur tea drunk in no time. (Read more)

If you go to our “About Tea” section on Path of Cha, you’ll find our trusty-dusty tea glossary. It’s filled with terms from the vast worlds of Chinese and Japanese tea, so you’ll never have to question what tea heads are talking about. But the problem is pronunciation. While Japanese pronunciation is more or less straightforward, Chinese pronunciation can get tricky. With many words having the same compounds, it would certainly be frustrating to receive something other than what you asked for. In today’s blog post, we’ll go over common Chinese tea spelling and pronunciation. (Read more)

In our recent blog post, we talked about the history of the Japanese tea sage — Sen no Rikyu. Without a doubt, he had a significant effect on The Way of Tea in Japan, and his legacy continues to this day. Ultimately, there are three separate schools of Chanoyu (Japanese tea ceremony) that follow his teachings to this day, though they differ slightly. These schools are referred to as "San Senke" — Three Sen Families. (Read more)

Our fermented friend pu-erh… The tea world seems to split in half when the conversation centers on this tea. Some pu-erh enthusiasts don't venture much into other tea varieties. Some have had it and don't particularly take to it. And, there are those who have been treated to good pu-erh, liked it, but don't necessarily know how to take the next step in the journey. In today's post, we'll talk about doing a pu-erh tasting and choosing the right one. (Read more)

Sen no Rikyu (1522 – 1591) is known by everyone to have the most profound influence on chanoyu, the Japanese "Way of Tea". Also known as matcha tea ceremony. Rikyu took to tiny grass-hut tea houses for his tea practices and kept promoting the wabi-sabi style of tea ceremony that he and his tea master started. (Read more)