Podcast appearances and mentions of jeff koehler

Jeff Koehler returns to talk about a challenging topic:  Parents and their role in talking with coaches about playing time, etc.  This is a really thought-provoking episode and we can't thank Coach Koehler for coming back to share some wisdom with us!   Visit TeachHoops.com/816basketball for incredible basketball coaching content and resources from Coach Steve Collins.  Sign up for the two week free trial, learn and grow as a coach and support the show all at the same time.   Share, subscribe and leave us a 5 star review if you enjoy. Follow us on Twitter at @816Basketball.

816 Basketball presents The Greatest Games Podcast. Join us for Episode 15 as Coach Jeff Koehler of Tenafly High School in Tenafly, NJ talks with us about his greatest game.  Follow Coach Koehler's journey from Long Island, to Indiana, Alabama and eventually to North Jersey where he has become a successful girls basketball, volleyball and now boys basketball coach. Listen to how he used a particular strategy to pull off a huge upset in the NJ State Playoffs.  Follow Tenafly Athletics on Twitter:  @GoTigersTHS,  Share, subscribe and leave us a 5 star review if you enjoy! Give us a follow on social media:  @816Basketball on Twitter and Instagram!

World Coffee Research (WCR) and Counter Culture have both independently been working on better more up-to-date reference guides on the coffee varieties and research that has been done, and currently being done, in Ethiopia and East Africa. Counter Culture will present on their newly published material, that for the first time consolidates over 50 in-depth descriptions on the varieties of Ethiopia. In this episode, WCR presents on their newly published African Variety Intelligence Report outlining the varieties and research of coffees from Kenya and other East African countries. This unique collaboration hopes to be for people a much needed missing puzzle piece of information, on some of the most beloved and misunderstood origins in the world. Join moderator Hanna Neuschwander (WCR) as she leads a panel of Dr. Benoît Bertrand (CIRAD), Christophe Montagnon (WCR), Getu Bekele Gedefa (Counter Culture Coffee), Jeff Koehler, and Timothy Hill (Counter Culture Coffee) in this fascinating discussion! Related Links - Read the full transcript on SCA News: https://scanews.coffee/podcast/49/beyond-heirlooms-hybrids-breaking-down-the-coffees-of-ethiopia-east-africa-expo-lectures-2018/ - Listen to other episodes of the SCA Podcast: https://scanews.coffee/category/podcasts/sca-lectures-podcast/ - Learn more about the upcoming 2019 Lecture Series: https://coffeeexpo.org/lectures Subscribe to this podcast on your favorite app: - iTunes: www.apple.co/2sXdmSj - Stitcher: www.bit.ly/2JBJOk8 - Pocket Casts: www.bit.ly/2JBowTT - RadioPublic: www.bit.ly/2JCfeGY Table of Contents 0:00 Introduction 2:00 Introduction to the topic and the panelists 6:00 Jeff Koehler, author of Where Wild Coffee Grows, on the story of Arabica coffee in Ethiopia's forests 12:15 Benoît Georges Bertrand on what is a variety, especially in the context of Ethiopian coffee 20:00 Getu Bekele on what Ethiopian coffee growing looks like today 30:45 Timothy Hill on how he navigates the genetic complexity of Ethiopia's coffees as a green buyer 35:00 Christophe Montagnon on the variety landscape across Africa generally 46:45 Benoît Georges Bertrand on what global breeding work is taking place using coffee trees from Ethiopia 53:00 Timothy Hill on how he, as a green buyer, buys and markets coffees 55:45 Where are we now in understanding coffee's genetic varieties and what we can look forward to in the future? Audience Questions 1:07:40 If a farmer has two stable populations of a particular variety and are close enough to each other to cross, will these varieties cross genetically by themselves naturally? 1:12:00 How confident are we that there are different varieties of coffees in different Ethiopian coffee forests? 1:16:30 How participatory was the Ethiopian government when it came to creating the books on Ethiopian coffee varieties 1:18:20 Outro --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/specialty-coffee-association-podcast/message

Is life without coffee possible? Before you answer, first admit that you know almost nothing about the plant that you depend on to deliver you conscious into your day. You will learn from Jeff Koehler’s wide-ranging history Where the Wild Coffee Grows: The Untold Story of Coffee from the Cloud Forests of Ethiopia to Your Cup (Bloomsbury, 2017) that the true origin of coffee is the cloud forest in the Kafa highlands of southwest Ethiopia, where it is a wild-growing, shade-loving tree. How Caffea arabica migrated first to the Arabian Peninsula (which accounts for its being incorrectly named arabica instead of ethiopica), then traveled further to Brazil, Indonesia, Kenya, and beyond, is a fascinating tale. This local plant becomes a global necessity; a tropical variety evolves into the cash crop of Central America, a monoculture of short plants crowded into straight rows. But on its home ground, coffee doesn’t play by these rules. Ethiopians consume 50 percent of their production domestically. “Coffee is our bread.” As it was embraced in the West in the early 1600s, it was regularly condemned by religious leaders in every country. Coffee houses brought people of different classes together, creating conversation and the exchange of ideas. This was dangerous. Not in Ethiopia. The coffee-drinking habit defines Ethiopian culture. Everyone drinks it, all day in small clay cups, and always with others, never alone. It is the definition of community. “Coffee is our bread.” By contrast, the North American bond with the morning cup of joe (Chock Full o’Nuts, Maxwell House) is undergoing a evolution into a pricey “boutique drink” (started by Seattle’s Starbucks and Berkeley’s Peet’s). Four or five dollars for a cup of coffee? But coffee is first a plant, so agriculture is destiny. Due to its genetic vulnerability (Koehler reveals a historical lack of coordination in international research among the coffee-growing nations), it could too easily become the Irish potato of the twenty-first century. Coffee leaf rust, caused by a fungus, is one of its greatest threats. This fungus brought the discovery of the variety Robusta (Caffea canephora) by Dutch growers in Java in the late nineteenth century. Robusta is the wunderkind of instant coffee due to its stronger flavor and higher caffeine content compared to Arabica. Robusta’s tropical durability made it the crop of choice in Central America, but coffee leaf rust has followed it there. When a crop fails, the grower is ruined. Sometimes the only option is to migrate elsewhere. The other enemy is climate change. Increase the growing temperatures by two degrees and production is affected. This also hits water availability for crop irrigation. And then there is man. Will UNESCO’s designation of World Heritage Site protect the Kafa Forest from rampant deforestation? And why did the poet Arthur Rimbaud end his days as a coffee planter in Yemen? Will you now ponder these uncertainties as you sip your doubleshot iced latte macchiato? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is life without coffee possible? Before you answer, first admit that you know almost nothing about the plant that you depend on to deliver you conscious into your day. You will learn from Jeff Koehler’s wide-ranging history Where the Wild Coffee Grows: The Untold Story of Coffee from the Cloud Forests of Ethiopia to Your Cup (Bloomsbury, 2017) that the true origin of coffee is the cloud forest in the Kafa highlands of southwest Ethiopia, where it is a wild-growing, shade-loving tree. How Caffea arabica migrated first to the Arabian Peninsula (which accounts for its being incorrectly named arabica instead of ethiopica), then traveled further to Brazil, Indonesia, Kenya, and beyond, is a fascinating tale. This local plant becomes a global necessity; a tropical variety evolves into the cash crop of Central America, a monoculture of short plants crowded into straight rows. But on its home ground, coffee doesn’t play by these rules. Ethiopians consume 50 percent of their production domestically. “Coffee is our bread.” As it was embraced in the West in the early 1600s, it was regularly condemned by religious leaders in every country. Coffee houses brought people of different classes together, creating conversation and the exchange of ideas. This was dangerous. Not in Ethiopia. The coffee-drinking habit defines Ethiopian culture. Everyone drinks it, all day in small clay cups, and always with others, never alone. It is the definition of community. “Coffee is our bread.” By contrast, the North American bond with the morning cup of joe (Chock Full o’Nuts, Maxwell House) is undergoing a evolution into a pricey “boutique drink” (started by Seattle’s Starbucks and Berkeley’s Peet’s). Four or five dollars for a cup of coffee? But coffee is first a plant, so agriculture is destiny. Due to its genetic vulnerability (Koehler reveals a historical lack of coordination in international research among the coffee-growing nations), it could too easily become the Irish potato of the twenty-first century. Coffee leaf rust, caused by a fungus, is one of its greatest threats. This fungus brought the discovery of the variety Robusta (Caffea canephora) by Dutch growers in Java in the late nineteenth century. Robusta is the wunderkind of instant coffee due to its stronger flavor and higher caffeine content compared to Arabica. Robusta’s tropical durability made it the crop of choice in Central America, but coffee leaf rust has followed it there. When a crop fails, the grower is ruined. Sometimes the only option is to migrate elsewhere. The other enemy is climate change. Increase the growing temperatures by two degrees and production is affected. This also hits water availability for crop irrigation. And then there is man. Will UNESCO’s designation of World Heritage Site protect the Kafa Forest from rampant deforestation? And why did the poet Arthur Rimbaud end his days as a coffee planter in Yemen? Will you now ponder these uncertainties as you sip your doubleshot iced latte macchiato? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is life without coffee possible? Before you answer, first admit that you know almost nothing about the plant that you depend on to deliver you conscious into your day. You will learn from Jeff Koehler’s wide-ranging history Where the Wild Coffee Grows: The Untold Story of Coffee from the Cloud Forests of Ethiopia to Your Cup (Bloomsbury, 2017) that the true origin of coffee is the cloud forest in the Kafa highlands of southwest Ethiopia, where it is a wild-growing, shade-loving tree. How Caffea arabica migrated first to the Arabian Peninsula (which accounts for its being incorrectly named arabica instead of ethiopica), then traveled further to Brazil, Indonesia, Kenya, and beyond, is a fascinating tale. This local plant becomes a global necessity; a tropical variety evolves into the cash crop of Central America, a monoculture of short plants crowded into straight rows. But on its home ground, coffee doesn’t play by these rules. Ethiopians consume 50 percent of their production domestically. “Coffee is our bread.” As it was embraced in the West in the early 1600s, it was regularly condemned by religious leaders in every country. Coffee houses brought people of different classes together, creating conversation and the exchange of ideas. This was dangerous. Not in Ethiopia. The coffee-drinking habit defines Ethiopian culture. Everyone drinks it, all day in small clay cups, and always with others, never alone. It is the definition of community. “Coffee is our bread.” By contrast, the North American bond with the morning cup of joe (Chock Full o’Nuts, Maxwell House) is undergoing a evolution into a pricey “boutique drink” (started by Seattle’s Starbucks and Berkeley’s Peet’s). Four or five dollars for a cup of coffee? But coffee is first a plant, so agriculture is destiny. Due to its genetic vulnerability (Koehler reveals a historical lack of coordination in international research among the coffee-growing nations), it could too easily become the Irish potato of the twenty-first century. Coffee leaf rust, caused by a fungus, is one of its greatest threats. This fungus brought the discovery of the variety Robusta (Caffea canephora) by Dutch growers in Java in the late nineteenth century. Robusta is the wunderkind of instant coffee due to its stronger flavor and higher caffeine content compared to Arabica. Robusta’s tropical durability made it the crop of choice in Central America, but coffee leaf rust has followed it there. When a crop fails, the grower is ruined. Sometimes the only option is to migrate elsewhere. The other enemy is climate change. Increase the growing temperatures by two degrees and production is affected. This also hits water availability for crop irrigation. And then there is man. Will UNESCO’s designation of World Heritage Site protect the Kafa Forest from rampant deforestation? And why did the poet Arthur Rimbaud end his days as a coffee planter in Yemen? Will you now ponder these uncertainties as you sip your doubleshot iced latte macchiato? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is life without coffee possible? Before you answer, first admit that you know almost nothing about the plant that you depend on to deliver you conscious into your day. You will learn from Jeff Koehler’s wide-ranging history Where the Wild Coffee Grows: The Untold Story of Coffee from the Cloud Forests of Ethiopia to Your Cup (Bloomsbury, 2017) that the true origin of coffee is the cloud forest in the Kafa highlands of southwest Ethiopia, where it is a wild-growing, shade-loving tree. How Caffea arabica migrated first to the Arabian Peninsula (which accounts for its being incorrectly named arabica instead of ethiopica), then traveled further to Brazil, Indonesia, Kenya, and beyond, is a fascinating tale. This local plant becomes a global necessity; a tropical variety evolves into the cash crop of Central America, a monoculture of short plants crowded into straight rows. But on its home ground, coffee doesn’t play by these rules. Ethiopians consume 50 percent of their production domestically. “Coffee is our bread.” As it was embraced in the West in the early 1600s, it was regularly condemned by religious leaders in every country. Coffee houses brought people of different classes together, creating conversation and the exchange of ideas. This was dangerous. Not in Ethiopia. The coffee-drinking habit defines Ethiopian culture. Everyone drinks it, all day in small clay cups, and always with others, never alone. It is the definition of community. “Coffee is our bread.” By contrast, the North American bond with the morning cup of joe (Chock Full o’Nuts, Maxwell House) is undergoing a evolution into a pricey “boutique drink” (started by Seattle’s Starbucks and Berkeley’s Peet’s). Four or five dollars for a cup of coffee? But coffee is first a plant, so agriculture is destiny. Due to its genetic vulnerability (Koehler reveals a historical lack of coordination in international research among the coffee-growing nations), it could too easily become the Irish potato of the twenty-first century. Coffee leaf rust, caused by a fungus, is one of its greatest threats. This fungus brought the discovery of the variety Robusta (Caffea canephora) by Dutch growers in Java in the late nineteenth century. Robusta is the wunderkind of instant coffee due to its stronger flavor and higher caffeine content compared to Arabica. Robusta’s tropical durability made it the crop of choice in Central America, but coffee leaf rust has followed it there. When a crop fails, the grower is ruined. Sometimes the only option is to migrate elsewhere. The other enemy is climate change. Increase the growing temperatures by two degrees and production is affected. This also hits water availability for crop irrigation. And then there is man. Will UNESCO’s designation of World Heritage Site protect the Kafa Forest from rampant deforestation? And why did the poet Arthur Rimbaud end his days as a coffee planter in Yemen? Will you now ponder these uncertainties as you sip your doubleshot iced latte macchiato? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is life without coffee possible? Before you answer, first admit that you know almost nothing about the plant that you depend on to deliver you conscious into your day. You will learn from Jeff Koehler’s wide-ranging history Where the Wild Coffee Grows: The Untold Story of Coffee from the Cloud Forests of Ethiopia to Your Cup (Bloomsbury, 2017) that the true origin of coffee is the cloud forest in the Kafa highlands of southwest Ethiopia, where it is a wild-growing, shade-loving tree. How Caffea arabica migrated first to the Arabian Peninsula (which accounts for its being incorrectly named arabica instead of ethiopica), then traveled further to Brazil, Indonesia, Kenya, and beyond, is a fascinating tale. This local plant becomes a global necessity; a tropical variety evolves into the cash crop of Central America, a monoculture of short plants crowded into straight rows. But on its home ground, coffee doesn’t play by these rules. Ethiopians consume 50 percent of their production domestically. “Coffee is our bread.” As it was embraced in the West in the early 1600s, it was regularly condemned by religious leaders in every country. Coffee houses brought people of different classes together, creating conversation and the exchange of ideas. This was dangerous. Not in Ethiopia. The coffee-drinking habit defines Ethiopian culture. Everyone drinks it, all day in small clay cups, and always with others, never alone. It is the definition of community. “Coffee is our bread.” By contrast, the North American bond with the morning cup of joe (Chock Full o’Nuts, Maxwell House) is undergoing a evolution into a pricey “boutique drink” (started by Seattle’s Starbucks and Berkeley’s Peet’s). Four or five dollars for a cup of coffee? But coffee is first a plant, so agriculture is destiny. Due to its genetic vulnerability (Koehler reveals a historical lack of coordination in international research among the coffee-growing nations), it could too easily become the Irish potato of the twenty-first century. Coffee leaf rust, caused by a fungus, is one of its greatest threats. This fungus brought the discovery of the variety Robusta (Caffea canephora) by Dutch growers in Java in the late nineteenth century. Robusta is the wunderkind of instant coffee due to its stronger flavor and higher caffeine content compared to Arabica. Robusta’s tropical durability made it the crop of choice in Central America, but coffee leaf rust has followed it there. When a crop fails, the grower is ruined. Sometimes the only option is to migrate elsewhere. The other enemy is climate change. Increase the growing temperatures by two degrees and production is affected. This also hits water availability for crop irrigation. And then there is man. Will UNESCO’s designation of World Heritage Site protect the Kafa Forest from rampant deforestation? And why did the poet Arthur Rimbaud end his days as a coffee planter in Yemen? Will you now ponder these uncertainties as you sip your doubleshot iced latte macchiato? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is life without coffee possible? Before you answer, first admit that you know almost nothing about the plant that you depend on to deliver you conscious into your day. You will learn from Jeff Koehler’s wide-ranging history Where the Wild Coffee Grows: The Untold Story of Coffee from the Cloud Forests of Ethiopia to Your Cup (Bloomsbury, 2017) that the true origin of coffee is the cloud forest in the Kafa highlands of southwest Ethiopia, where it is a wild-growing, shade-loving tree. How Caffea arabica migrated first to the Arabian Peninsula (which accounts for its being incorrectly named arabica instead of ethiopica), then traveled further to Brazil, Indonesia, Kenya, and beyond, is a fascinating tale. This local plant becomes a global necessity; a tropical variety evolves into the cash crop of Central America, a monoculture of short plants crowded into straight rows. But on its home ground, coffee doesn’t play by these rules. Ethiopians consume 50 percent of their production domestically. “Coffee is our bread.” As it was embraced in the West in the early 1600s, it was regularly condemned by religious leaders in every country. Coffee houses brought people of different classes together, creating conversation and the exchange of ideas. This was dangerous. Not in Ethiopia. The coffee-drinking habit defines Ethiopian culture. Everyone drinks it, all day in small clay cups, and always with others, never alone. It is the definition of community. “Coffee is our bread.” By contrast, the North American bond with the morning cup of joe (Chock Full o’Nuts, Maxwell House) is undergoing a evolution into a pricey “boutique drink” (started by Seattle’s Starbucks and Berkeley’s Peet’s). Four or five dollars for a cup of coffee? But coffee is first a plant, so agriculture is destiny. Due to its genetic vulnerability (Koehler reveals a historical lack of coordination in international research among the coffee-growing nations), it could too easily become the Irish potato of the twenty-first century. Coffee leaf rust, caused by a fungus, is one of its greatest threats. This fungus brought the discovery of the variety Robusta (Caffea canephora) by Dutch growers in Java in the late nineteenth century. Robusta is the wunderkind of instant coffee due to its stronger flavor and higher caffeine content compared to Arabica. Robusta’s tropical durability made it the crop of choice in Central America, but coffee leaf rust has followed it there. When a crop fails, the grower is ruined. Sometimes the only option is to migrate elsewhere. The other enemy is climate change. Increase the growing temperatures by two degrees and production is affected. This also hits water availability for crop irrigation. And then there is man. Will UNESCO’s designation of World Heritage Site protect the Kafa Forest from rampant deforestation? And why did the poet Arthur Rimbaud end his days as a coffee planter in Yemen? Will you now ponder these uncertainties as you sip your doubleshot iced latte macchiato? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Darjeeling tea, like other members of its artisanal tribe serrano peppers, Champagne, and grana padano,exists through a combination of intimate understanding of natural forces, intensive labor, and lifelong dedication. The result is a small output of unparalleled quality. The town where Darjeeling tea grows, in West Bengal, India, in the foothills of the Himalayas, is a setting of immense beauty, complicated history, and environmental fragility. Even transporting this precious tea to Kolkata, where it is traded 400 miles away down on the Indian plains, is subject to the whims of climate: monsoons and narrow mountain roads, often washed out by mudslides. Does a tea warrant such efforts? In Darjeeling (Bloomsbury, 2015), Jeff Koehler explains why the answer is “yes.” There is nothing simple about Darjeeling, this single estate agricultural product. He weaves a web of stories: how this non-native plant came to India, how a tea garden functions, what the role of tea taster is (there’s lots of spitting, as in wine tasting), how many different colors a cup of Darjeeling may have (depends on the pour and the season), how many “plucks”–two young leaves with a bud–make one pound (10,000), and why it continues to hold the highest price paid at auction. For its success, everything depends on the deepest knowledge of unknowable factors. Some of these factors threaten the future of Darjeeling: worker absenteeism, regional political unrest, erosion, climate change, balancing agricultural methods with its Western market’s obsession for “organic.” There are 85 tea gardens in Darjeeling. Glenburn, from which the Himalayan peak Kanchenjunga is visible on a clear day, is one of them. Its manager, Sanjay Bansal, says this about his work: “Tea planting is unrivaled in scope for creativity. It’s endless.” The book is illustrated with maps, archival images, and the author’s evocative photographs. And he has not forgotten to include several recipes for foods to accompany our cup of Darjeeling. Darjeeling has been nominated for the 2016 International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) award in the Literary Food Writing category. Jeff Koehler is a writer and photographer whose four earlier books have focused on the foods and cultures of Spain and Morocco. Valerie Saint-Rossy is a freelance editor, translator, and writer. She is copy chief of The Explorers Journal. Her literary translations from Spanish and her book reviews can be found online. Raised in a UNESCO family, she has broad international experience and works in four languages. Her editorial specialization is world cuisines. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Darjeeling tea, like other members of its artisanal tribe serrano peppers, Champagne, and grana padano,exists through a combination of intimate understanding of natural forces, intensive labor, and lifelong dedication. The result is a small output of unparalleled quality. The town where Darjeeling tea grows, in West Bengal, India, in the foothills of the Himalayas, is a setting of immense beauty, complicated history, and environmental fragility. Even transporting this precious tea to Kolkata, where it is traded 400 miles away down on the Indian plains, is subject to the whims of climate: monsoons and narrow mountain roads, often washed out by mudslides. Does a tea warrant such efforts? In Darjeeling (Bloomsbury, 2015), Jeff Koehler explains why the answer is “yes.” There is nothing simple about Darjeeling, this single estate agricultural product. He weaves a web of stories: how this non-native plant came to India, how a tea garden functions, what the role of tea taster is (there’s lots of spitting, as in wine tasting), how many different colors a cup of Darjeeling may have (depends on the pour and the season), how many “plucks”–two young leaves with a bud–make one pound (10,000), and why it continues to hold the highest price paid at auction. For its success, everything depends on the deepest knowledge of unknowable factors. Some of these factors threaten the future of Darjeeling: worker absenteeism, regional political unrest, erosion, climate change, balancing agricultural methods with its Western market’s obsession for “organic.” There are 85 tea gardens in Darjeeling. Glenburn, from which the Himalayan peak Kanchenjunga is visible on a clear day, is one of them. Its manager, Sanjay Bansal, says this about his work: “Tea planting is unrivaled in scope for creativity. It’s endless.” The book is illustrated with maps, archival images, and the author’s evocative photographs. And he has not forgotten to include several recipes for foods to accompany our cup of Darjeeling. Darjeeling has been nominated for the 2016 International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) award in the Literary Food Writing category. Jeff Koehler is a writer and photographer whose four earlier books have focused on the foods and cultures of Spain and Morocco. Valerie Saint-Rossy is a freelance editor, translator, and writer. She is copy chief of The Explorers Journal. Her literary translations from Spanish and her book reviews can be found online. Raised in a UNESCO family, she has broad international experience and works in four languages. Her editorial specialization is world cuisines. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Darjeeling tea, like other members of its artisanal tribe serrano peppers, Champagne, and grana padano,exists through a combination of intimate understanding of natural forces, intensive labor, and lifelong dedication. The result is a small output of unparalleled quality. The town where Darjeeling tea grows, in West Bengal, India, in the foothills of the Himalayas, is a setting of immense beauty, complicated history, and environmental fragility. Even transporting this precious tea to Kolkata, where it is traded 400 miles away down on the Indian plains, is subject to the whims of climate: monsoons and narrow mountain roads, often washed out by mudslides. Does a tea warrant such efforts? In Darjeeling (Bloomsbury, 2015), Jeff Koehler explains why the answer is “yes.” There is nothing simple about Darjeeling, this single estate agricultural product. He weaves a web of stories: how this non-native plant came to India, how a tea garden functions, what the role of tea taster is (there’s lots of spitting, as in wine tasting), how many different colors a cup of Darjeeling may have (depends on the pour and the season), how many “plucks”–two young leaves with a bud–make one pound (10,000), and why it continues to hold the highest price paid at auction. For its success, everything depends on the deepest knowledge of unknowable factors. Some of these factors threaten the future of Darjeeling: worker absenteeism, regional political unrest, erosion, climate change, balancing agricultural methods with its Western market’s obsession for “organic.” There are 85 tea gardens in Darjeeling. Glenburn, from which the Himalayan peak Kanchenjunga is visible on a clear day, is one of them. Its manager, Sanjay Bansal, says this about his work: “Tea planting is unrivaled in scope for creativity. It’s endless.” The book is illustrated with maps, archival images, and the author’s evocative photographs. And he has not forgotten to include several recipes for foods to accompany our cup of Darjeeling. Darjeeling has been nominated for the 2016 International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) award in the Literary Food Writing category. Jeff Koehler is a writer and photographer whose four earlier books have focused on the foods and cultures of Spain and Morocco. Valerie Saint-Rossy is a freelance editor, translator, and writer. She is copy chief of The Explorers Journal. Her literary translations from Spanish and her book reviews can be found online. Raised in a UNESCO family, she has broad international experience and works in four languages. Her editorial specialization is world cuisines. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Darjeeling tea, like other members of its artisanal tribe serrano peppers, Champagne, and grana padano,exists through a combination of intimate understanding of natural forces, intensive labor, and lifelong dedication. The result is a small output of unparalleled quality. The town where Darjeeling tea grows, in West Bengal, India, in the foothills of the Himalayas, is a setting of immense beauty, complicated history, and environmental fragility. Even transporting this precious tea to Kolkata, where it is traded 400 miles away down on the Indian plains, is subject to the whims of climate: monsoons and narrow mountain roads, often washed out by mudslides. Does a tea warrant such efforts? In Darjeeling (Bloomsbury, 2015), Jeff Koehler explains why the answer is “yes.” There is nothing simple about Darjeeling, this single estate agricultural product. He weaves a web of stories: how this non-native plant came to India, how a tea garden functions, what the role of tea taster is (there’s lots of spitting, as in wine tasting), how many different colors a cup of Darjeeling may have (depends on the pour and the season), how many “plucks”–two young leaves with a bud–make one pound (10,000), and why it continues to hold the highest price paid at auction. For its success, everything depends on the deepest knowledge of unknowable factors. Some of these factors threaten the future of Darjeeling: worker absenteeism, regional political unrest, erosion, climate change, balancing agricultural methods with its Western market’s obsession for “organic.” There are 85 tea gardens in Darjeeling. Glenburn, from which the Himalayan peak Kanchenjunga is visible on a clear day, is one of them. Its manager, Sanjay Bansal, says this about his work: “Tea planting is unrivaled in scope for creativity. It’s endless.” The book is illustrated with maps, archival images, and the author’s evocative photographs. And he has not forgotten to include several recipes for foods to accompany our cup of Darjeeling. Darjeeling has been nominated for the 2016 International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) award in the Literary Food Writing category. Jeff Koehler is a writer and photographer whose four earlier books have focused on the foods and cultures of Spain and Morocco. Valerie Saint-Rossy is a freelance editor, translator, and writer. She is copy chief of The Explorers Journal. Her literary translations from Spanish and her book reviews can be found online. Raised in a UNESCO family, she has broad international experience and works in four languages. Her editorial specialization is world cuisines. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices