Tea: A Shared Discovery
Having a Tea Studio is very different from having a tea shop—Experience Tea is focused on classes and sale of tea and teaware–not table service of steeped tea. This…Read More
Having a Tea Studio is very different from having a tea shop—Experience Tea is focused on classes and sale of tea and teaware–not table service of steeped tea. This…Read More
The hardest thing about teaching Tea Discovery, as with all my classes, is choosing which teas to steep for the class—there are so many wonderful teas and only so…Read More
Cramping, stuffing, inhibiting expression…these are the words I might use to describe tea balls and their effect on quality tea leaves. Many (many) years ago, I used tea balls…Read More
In my last blog I told you I’ve committed to going to China again—this time to Fujian Province—on another tea tour. For me this is a professional trip to…Read More
The 2012 World Tea Expo just happened in Las Vegas. Not being a fan of Las Vegas I decided to just go for the day to primarily connect with…Read More
One of my customers brought in her latest issue of Women’s World Magazine (May 28, 2012) and asked to buy pu’erh because in an article on page 18, Dr.…Read More
What do all of these have in common? Well, we are all tenants in one small building here on Front Street in Issaquah. This is such a creative, reciprocal,…Read More
You are probably thinking an iced beverage is about the only thing related to tea that most people want in the summer. Well, in my case it will be all…Read More
The other night I watched yet another program giving the gloomy statistics on obesity in America—how it has risen dramatically in the last 20 years. There are news reports…Read More
I went to Manhattan last weekend to complete my final tea class—Professional Cupping—and graduate from The Specialty Tea Institute as a Certified Tea Specialist. I am very happy to…Read More
In my last posting I shared my experience with making tea—from tea leaves flown in from Hawaii. Often, participants in my tea classes ask if there is any tea…Read More
…and it was done in a hotel conference room!! Two weeks ago I attended The Specialty Tea Institute’s Level 4 course: Technology of Tea, held in San Francisco. This course is…Read More
This past week I had an amazing experience: giving a tea class/tasting to 15 teenage boys at the Friends of Youth residential facility in Renton. I contacted them because…Read More
I am so excited to add a tea class for young people—ages 10 to 14. When I first contemplated the Studio I didn’t imagine tea would appeal so much…Read More
People’s taste buds really are different. And I guess that is one reason why I do what I do at the Studio—let people taste a lot of tea to…Read More
What an underrated tea. And I am the worst culprit. For years, I avoided this tea because of its overpowering smokey scent—I just couldn’t bring myself to buy it…Read More
What? Why would anyone do that? For some people it makes perfect sense and as the owner of a Tea Studio, I am hearing this sentiment from my customers…Read More
This is one of the most flavorful and interesting teas I have ever tasted. As with all oolong teas, the tea leaves are partially oxidized during processing. An aged oolong may be fired…Read More
So now you should have an idea of the two types of pu’erh tea: sheng/ raw; and shou /cooked. As you shop, you will find these teas in various…Read More
There is much history around tea evolution and production techniques in China—the following discussion represents just a small part of historical tea production. In ancient times within Yunnan Province,…Read More