It's All About Tea

Tea leaves actually contain more caffeine than coffee beans – yet a cup of tea almost always has less caffeine than a cup of coffee. Why? And what else makes the caffeine in tea feel different from the caffeine in coffee? (Read more)

Duck Shit Oolong (鸭屎香 – Ya Shi Xiang) – is one of the most fragrant oolongs in the world: honey-sweet, gardenia-floral, and named by a farmer trying to protect his prized tea trees from thieves. This is the story behind the name, the tea, and what makes Phoenix Dan Cong so special. (Read more)

Globally, the popularity of Matcha has seen constant growth to the point where it is now considered a formal ingredient. It takes beverage form, dessert form, and all forms in between with a variety of temperatures, techniques, and tastes. But here, we'll focus on the most traditional way of preparing matcha, in it's most traditional form: served as a cup of hot tea. (Read More).

Tea bags account for close to 95% of all tea sold in the U.S., but they usually contain the cheapest material possible, delivering little more than a brown liquid. Here's a brief history of how tea bags came to dominate the market, and why high-quality loose-leaf tea is worth the switch. (Read more)

"Ichi-go, Ichi-e". This Zen phrase meaning 'once in a lifetime' or literally "one time, one meeting"epitomizes the simplest reminder for the necessary state of mind when conducting any tea ceremony. It stamps out the meditative quality inseparable from the roots of true tea ceremony: Remaining present in the beauty of the infinite moment, with all its transparency and impermanence. This essence holds true today just as much as it did when these words were first spoken. (Read more).