In the year 804 two Japanese Scholars and Buddhist-monks, Kūkai and Saichō, brought tea to Japan after they returned from China on an official royal embassy. They returned with deepened knowledge of Buddhism, with accounts of Chinese tea culture, actual powdered tea cakes and even tea seeds! Though the aristocracy took to serving this amazing […]
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Exploring the basics and some of the mysteries around fermented teas. The esteemed John Wetzel, creator and founder of Stone Leaf Teahouse, pronounces Pu’er 普洱 as something that sounds to me like pour. Though with an open and elongated “ou” and a soft shortened “r“. John is the most expert in our shop so I […]
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This past weekend, I attended my coworker Casey’s workshop on teaware. Casey is a fount of knowledge about the science and history behind tea, partly thanks to a book she loves, The True History of Tea. Casey has worked at Stone Leaf for about three years and leads most of the workshops we hold. On […]
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Springtime is the most exciting season at the teahouse because fresh teas are coming in from all over the world. We have new harvests of everything from Taiwanese oolongs to Darjeeling to Bi Luo Chun, not to mention a couple of brand new teas: Sanxia Honey Hong Cha and Jing Shan Hong Cha. Click on […]
Continue Reading...Halfway across the world, the early spring harvest of tea in Yunnan, China, is in full swing. Also known as the first flush, (summer and autumn being the second and third flush, respectively), the spring harvest is often the most prized. Coming off a long winter’s rest, both the plant and tea drinkers alike are […]
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Some people love bitterness, some distain it. While the tea plant naturally has components that add bitterness, no tea has to taste bitter. It all comes down to how you make your pot of tea. This posting assumes one thing you can always assume with us…it’s loose leaf tea. (Nothing against tea bag tea, just […]
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