Podcasts about wulong

This week we are covering Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto. Vera Wong enjoys nothing more than sipping a good cup of Wulong and doing some healthy ‘detective' work on the internet and when she finds a dead man in the middle of her tea shop, it's going to take more than a strong Longjing to fix things. Triggers:murder death of a loved one As always, our episodes contain spoilers in our podcast is intended for those 18+ as it does contain mention of mature content. Please listen, like, rate, review and share our episode! Check out our website at www.booktrospective.com. And follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok, and YouTube @ Booktrospective.

We're diving nose-first into the world of Nishane flankers, especially the tantalizing Wulong Cha X, while reliving our love affair with the classic Wulong Cha. Our conversation takes a quirky turn as we dissect an amusing review from Fragrantica, comparing a scent to something you might scrub your floors with. We also share our mixed feelings about the bold and brawny Mephisto by Xerjoff, which left one of us intrigued and the other nursing a pounding headache.Support the showJoin Our Patreon

TEAMCPNZ ADVENTURE RACING – Raceday 4 & Race recap, Wulong As our team of '8' wait it out at the airport for the return journey back to NZ, Team Captian, Richard Greer catches up on Day 4 of racing with the teams, recap of the 4 days of racing in China & the challenges each team member faced. Well done on an awesome 4 days of racing and the journey to get there. CPNZ MEDIA Richard Greer – @ric.greer https://www.teamcp.co.nz @teamcpnz https://www.facebook.com/teamcpnz richard@teamcp.co.nz

TEAMCPNZ ADVENTURE RACING – Raceday 2, Wulong Loving the banter within the TEAMCPNZ teams. Check out the race recap from day 2...Full of teamwork, tactics, tow-ropes....& ice-cream of the day!AWESOME work team(s). CPNZ MEDIA Richard Greer – @ric.greer https://www.teamcp.co.nz @teamcpnz https://www.facebook.com/teamcpnz richard@teamcp.co.nz

TEAMCPNZ ADVENTURE RACING – Raceday 3, Wulong Day 3 - it was a big job! Team Marlborough had their race saved by team FEAR YOUTH, and then it was all smiles and choc banana sandwiches. Team Canterbury lost some skin, broke a bike, nominated Sarah for the annual 'Hard as Nails Award' and are now sitting back with some smiles as they recap their day. It is exciting to see both teams get through three days of racing as they head into a massive final day. Go hard teams! CPNZ MEDIA Richard Greer – @ric.greer https://www.teamcp.co.nz @teamcpnz https://www.facebook.com/teamcpnz richard@teamcp.co.nz

TEAMCPNZ ADVENTURE RACING – EP1 – Meet our teams Team Captain, Richard Greer, introduces you to the team members of TEAMCPNZ Canterbury & Marlborough and how their journey has gone so far to get to the start line of the WULONG MOUNTAIN QUEST Adventure Race. CPNZ MEDIA Richard Greer – @ric.greer https://www.teamcp.co.nz @teamcpnz https://www.facebook.com/teamcpnz richard@teamcp.co.nz

TEAMCPNZ ADVENTURE RACING - Raceday 1, Wulong Race recap with both TEAMPCNZ Canterbury & Marlborough teams after a short and sharp day 1 of racing. Today involved stairs, wife corries, bus transfers, miscounting, corn chasing and a well-earned visit to the buffet! Awesome work team! CPNZ MEDIA Richard Greer – @ric.greer https://www.teamcp.co.nz @teamcpnz https://www.facebook.com/teamcpnz richard@teamcp.co.nz

"Un pequeño paso para el hombre, un gran paso para la humanidad" dijo Neil Armstrong cuando estacionó en Wilde, mientras escuchaba el Ep507 de Café Fandango. Esta semana Edu repasa rápidamente Persona 3, Outer Wilds y Final Fantasy 4, y Seba da algunas opiniones cortitas de Sherlock Holmes The Devil's Daughter y Victor Vran, para inmediatamente después cubrir con completo lujo de detalles TODOS los eventos de la temporada de Showcases de Summer Game Fest. La Pregunta Fandango nos da el cierre preguntandonos qué es lo que más nos gustó de todas las conferencias.

Have you ever been whisked away by a scent so evocative it's like time travel in a bottle? That's exactly where Myke and Ryan take you in our latest olfactory escapade, as we unearth the divisive "clean linen and cheap iced tea" fragrance that once stirred up a storm. Climb aboard our scent time-machine, where we also pay homage to the '90s classic Ralph Lauren Polo, questioning whether its latest rendition stands up to the ol' aromatic giant. And for those who relish the chase, we tease the upcoming segments featuring the elusive vintage Drakkar Noir and much-mourned, discontinued Tom Ford wonders.Imagine a scent so vivaciously citrus it could jolt you out of bed quicker than a triple espresso. That's the centerpiece of our aromatic discussion, a fragrance that has been with us since the early days and yet continues to dazzle and challenge our senses. Myke and Ryan unpack the rollercoaster of memories this scent evokes, interspersed with laughter and the odd hayride anecdote. Plus, we spill the beans on how to get your hands on your favorite fragrances without breaking the bank—because let's face it, smelling great shouldn't cost a fortune.Support the showLeave us a voicemail

Balhyocha is a tea unique to Korea - it's not produced anywhere else - and its rich and varied flavor profiles are also unique, not quite like any other teas we've tasted here at Talking Tea. But for many tea drinkers, even afficianados of balhyocha, it's also rather mysterious. What exactly is balhyocha? How is it processed? What gives it its unique, lovely complexity? To explore these questions we're chatting with Eric Glass, who, with Arthur Park, runs the annual TeaBuy Korea at Morning Crane Tea. Eric talks with us a bit about his own tea journey and how we came to discover Korean tea and in particular balhyocha, and then we delve into what balhyocha is and what it isn't. We discuss what defines balhyocha and what makes it difficult to categorize, we talk about the subcategory of balhyocha known as hwangcha or "yellow" tea (not to be confused with Chinese yellow tea), we discuss flavor profiles of balhyocha and we look at comparisons with oolongs and black tea or hongcha. We look at the origins of Korean tea cultivars and the impact of seed-grown versus clonal bushes, terroirs and processing techniques unique to balhyocha on the flavor profiles and body-feel of the teas. In addition to the TeaBuy Korea, Eric ran Morning Crane's tea tour to Korea in 2023, and we discuss some of the challenges Eric saw tea producers encountering and the uncertain future they're facing. Eric also shares his perspectives on why Korean teas in general and balhyocha in particular aren't widely known outside of Korea, and he makes some recommendations for what kind of cups to use to best enjoy balhyocha.   Morning Crane's website is at morningcranetea.org. In addition to his work with Morning Crane, Eric Glass has his own tea company, The Fragrant Cup. Though The Fragrant Cup's website is currently being redesigned, for info about Fragrant Cup's offerings you can contact Eric directly at Tea@fragrantcup.com. Follow Talking Tea on Instagram at talkingteapodcasts. Talking Tea is produced and hosted by Ken Cohen.  more about Talking Tea    The views and opinions expressed by guests on Talking Tea are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Talking Tea or its staff.   This podcast features music from “Japanese Flowers” (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii/japanese-flowers) by mpgiiiBEATS (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii) available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Adapted from original. Episode image of the Dosim Dawan tea gardens, discussed in the episode, by Eric Glass. Adapted from original. Header image “Raw Puerh mid 1980 Menghai” by Cosmin Dordea, used under a Creative Commons CC By-SA 2.0 license. Adapted from original.

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto https://amzn.to/3MIuQLD A lonely shopkeeper takes it upon herself to solve a murder in the most peculiar way in this captivating mystery by Jesse Q. Sutanto, bestselling author of Dial A for Aunties. Vera Wong is a lonely little old lady—ah, lady of a certain age—who lives above her forgotten tea shop in the middle of San Francisco's Chinatown. Despite living alone, Vera is not needy, oh no. She likes nothing more than sipping on a good cup of Wulong and doing some healthy detective work on the Internet about what her Gen-Z son is up to. Then one morning, Vera trudges downstairs to find a curious thing—a dead man in the middle of her tea shop. In his outstretched hand, a flash drive. Vera doesn't know what comes over her, but after calling the cops like any good citizen would, she sort of . . . swipes the flash drive from the body and tucks it safely into the pocket of her apron. Why? Because Vera is sure she would do a better job than the police possibly could, because nobody sniffs out a wrongdoing quite like a suspicious Chinese mother with time on her hands. Vera knows the killer will be back for the flash drive; all she has to do is watch the increasing number of customers at her shop and figure out which one among them is the killer. What Vera does not expect is to form friendships with her customers and start to care for each and every one of them. As a protective mother hen, will she end up having to give one of her newfound chicks to the police? About the author Jesse Q. Sutanto is the author of adult, YA, and children's middle grade books. She has an MSt in Creative Writing from Oxford University and a BA in English Lit from Berkeley, though she hasn't found a way of saying that without sounding obnoxious. The film rights to her women's fiction, Dial A for Aunties, was bought by Netflix in a competitive bidding war. Her adult books include Dial A for Aunties, its sequel, Four Aunties and a Wedding, and Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers. Her YA books include The Obsession, The New Girl, and Well, That Was Unexpected. Her MG books include Theo Tan and the Fox Spirit and its sequel, Theo Tan and the Iron Fan.

Join us as we chat with Team CP Team Captain, Richard Greer & TopSport's Sam Manson as we get the inside word on the recent WULONG MOUNTAIN QUEST held in CHINA CP MEDIA HOSTS Angus Petrie – @gustric Richard Greer – @ric.greer www.teamcp.co.nz @teamcpnz https://www.facebook.com/teamcpnz richard@teamcp.co.nz

For links to every news story, all of the details we shared about Caudipteryx, and our fun fact check out https://iknowdino.com/Caudipteryx-Episode-458/Join us at www.patreon.com/iknowdino for dinosaur requests, bonus content, ad-free episodes, and more.Dinosaur of the day Caudipteryx, A peacock sized oviraptorosaur known for its tail fan of feathers and flightless-bird-like body.In dinosaur news this week:A new recreation of the color on Wulong's impressive feathersBeetles found in amber munching on cretaceous dinosaur feathers2004 paper about the first ever parasitic louse found in the fossil record (which was eating dinosaur feathers)Most (maybe all) modern birds molt at least once a year, but Mesozoic dinosaurs may have molted less frequently See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

SUMMER GAME FEST - Most wanted Gaul: _____The Plucky Squire___the last case of benedict fox_oxenfree 2_flashback 2_the many pieces of mr coo__(diablo 4, _as dusk falls_cuphead dlc_sf6 snort non credo abbiano fatto quello che volessi_cult of the lamb _ ff tutti asd) Kriz: Diablo IV, Wulong, TMNT, Hollow Edoardo: A Plague Tale Requiem, Starfield, Deliver us Mars, diablo 4 Federico: Starfield - Deliver us Mars - The Plucky Squire - A Plague Tale Requiem - Forever Skies - The entropy centre - The invincible - High on Life - Flintlock: the siege of dawn - Grounded - Ereban Shadow legacy Marco: Sacrifire - Flintlock: the siege of Dawn - Persona 3,4,5 - Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth - Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core: reunion - Final Fantasy XVI - Dragon's Dogma 2 Andrea: — sf6 — re4 remake —- ff16 — the callisto protocol — diablo 4 — village gold — exoprimal — ff7 remake — crisis core — dragon's dogma 2 Codolo: Dragon's Dogma 2, Starfield, A Plague tale Requiem

In Episode 35, Myke and Ryan sample one of Myke's go-to summer fragrances, right now.... Wulong Cha by Nishane. Ryan starts an argument over the smell of hay, and Myke name-drops two of his friends in an attempt to make himself sound popular.One Night Stand Review: Stetson by CotyScent of the Day: Wulong Cha by NishaneEmail us at: TheColognePodcast@gmail.comIf you are enjoying the episode and want to support the podcast, check out: BuyMeACoffee.com/ColognePodcast

NEARLY five years ago in Wulong, Chongqing, China, Maurizio Zavatta achieved a world record for the highest blindfolded tightrope walk at 698 feet and 1.9 inches. Many economies relying on fossil fuel—and companies supplying the power from them—have been doing that since 2015. It was the year more than 70 countries committed to cut greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) to net zero by 2050. For more than a decade, it’s been a tightrope walk between supplying power and keeping fidelity to that goal.

Today we're exploring connections between tea and Daoism, the millenia-old Chinese religious and philosophical tradition that has had such a profound influence on culture and history in and beyond China. We're joined by Robert Coons, who straddles both the tea world and the world of Daoism. Robert is a well-known tea vendor based in Canada and China and is also a writer, teacher and podcaster on Daoism, qigong and Daoist meditation.  Robert tells us a little about his own journey from martial arts and other Daoist-related activities into tea culture, and then we delve into the relationship between Daoism and tea. We begin by looking at some of the definitions, history and relationships of some key practices in tea - chado or sado, chadao and gongfucha - and Robert gives us an overview of Daoism, its core elements, its history and its cultural forms. We explore references to tea in Daoist texts as well as concepts of energy, or qi, in Daoist medicine and traditional Chinese medicine, and Robert explains how both tea and meditation are seen as elixirs in Daoist tradition. We chat about the Daoist role of harmonious energy in chado, chadao and gongfucha, and we look at Daoist concepts of "action", "non-action", "action without action", "knowing sufficiency" and emptiness, and how they can come into play in our tea practice.  Robert is the author of Internal Elixir Cultivation: The Nature of Daoist Medititation, published by Tambuli Media and available on Amazon at this link.  Info on Robert's teas, as well as some of his classes and teachings, is at his websites, chayotea.com and daoistmeditiation.com. Also be sure to check out Robert's new podcast Sinotexts, available on YouTube, and his older podcast, This Daoist Life, on Soundcloud. Note about Robert's classes: In the episode Robert mentions classes he holds in the Toronto area. During the COVID-19 pandemic, please check with Robert on the status of these classes. If you need to know how to contact Robert about his classes during the pandemic, reach out to us and we'll do our best to put you in touch.   Talking Tea is produced and hosted by Ken Cohen. You can follow Ken on Twitter @kensvoiceken.    more about Talking Tea  Sign up for our email list to get updates on new episodes and events.   The views and opinions expressed by guests on Talking Tea are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Talking Tea or its staff.   This podcast features music from “Japanese Flowers” (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii/japanese-flowers) by mpgiiiBEATS (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii) available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Adapted from original. Episode image "Teacup" by Cosmin Dordea, used under a CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 license. Adapted from original. Header image “Raw Puerh mid 1980 Menghai” by Cosmin Dordea, used under a Creative Commons CC By-SA 2.0 license. Adapted from original.

News Items: New Coronavirus, Proxima C, Wulong bohaiensis, Cancer Discovery, Marshmallow test revisited, Stress and Gray Hair; Who's That Noisy; Science or Fiction

News Items: New Coronavirus, Proxima C, Wulong bohaiensis, Cancer Discovery, Marshmallow test revisited, Stress and Gray Hair; Who's That Noisy; Science or Fiction

Before any new drug comes to market, it goes through a time-consuming process. Researchers have to recruit human subjects for a clinical trial, collect all the data, and analyze the results. All of that can take years to complete, but the end result could be worth it: a drug that treats a rare disease or improves patients lives with fewer side effects.  Or the opposite could happen: The drug doesn’t have any effect or makes patients worse. So the question is, how is the public informed of the outcome? One answer is ClinicalTrials.gov, a public-facing website where researchers are required by law to register all currently ongoing clinical trials and report their results. That way, the public is kept informed. However, two recent investigations of ClinicalTrials.gov reporting practices show that many researchers aren’t posting their results online. In fact, up to 25% of studies never seem to have their results reported anywhere. And government agencies aren’t enforcing the rule in ways they’ve promised—with heavy fines and threats to withhold funding from institutions that don’t comply. In a delicate piece of shale from coastal China, paleontologists have identified a new species of feathered dinosaur: Wulong bohaiensis, Chinese for “Dancing Dragon.” The house cat-sized dino has fierce talons, feathered wings, and a long, whip-like tail with feathered plumes at the end. Ashley Poust, who published a description of the dinosaur in The Anatomical Record, says it’s “hard to imagine” the wings being used for flying. But he says the wings could have been used to arrest leaps or falls, or to hold down prey while killing it, as modern-day birds sometimes do. In this conversation with Ira, Poust talks more about the dino’s possible lifestyle, and how it fits in with other feathered reptiles. A cup of coffee first thing in the morning is a ritual—from grinding the beans to boiling the water and brewing your cup. But following those steps won’t always get you a consistent pour. Researchers developed a mathematical model to determine how the size of grind affects water flow and the amount of coffee that gets into the final liquid. Their results were published in the journal Matter. Computational chemist Christopher Hendon, who was an author on that study, talks about how understanding atomic vibration, particle size distribution, and water chemistry can help you brew the perfect cup of coffee.

When a listener requested an episode about teapots. we realized that this was a topic we haven't really delved into on Talking Tea. And having attended one of tea blogger, writer and teacher Scott Norton's incredibly comprehensive seminars on yixing teaware, we invited Scott to join us for an in-depth overview of teapots, their design elements, their history and how to best match your teapots with your teas. You may remember Scott from our episode Glimpsing Tea's Past, Finding Tea's Presence, at New York's Floating Mountain.  Today we begin by chatting a bit about Scott's "teapot journey" and his background collecting, curating and teaching about teapots. And then we begin to explore various styles of Japanese and Chinese teapots. We start by comparing two very different teapots from 19th century Japan, a larger blue and white porcelain teapot and a small lotus-leaf design kyusu, and we discuss the advantages offered by small teapots in control over the brewing process and obtaining more pronounced flavors from our teas.  As we move to Chinese teapots, we compare porcelain, glazed ceramic and unglazed clay teapots and the relative advantages and disadvantages of each. Scott chats with us about how to tell if an unglazed clay teapot is highly fired or low fired, and how the levels of firing and coarseness of the clay can create distinct differences in flavor and the results of our brewing. We also touch on the history of teapots and the influence of the Silk Road trade on teapot design and evolution in China. Scott has some rather large teapots in his collection, and we discuss when we might want to use a larger teapot and how to best use a large-size pot. Finally we chat with Scott about the questions we need to consider in matching our teapots to our teas, and Scott gives us tips on buying teapots and how shopping for a teapot can and should be an extension of our tea practice. Scott Norton's blog is at  scotttea.wordpress.com. You can find Scott on Instagram @cutechajin, and videos of a number of Scott's workshops and seminars are available on his YouTube channel. Talking Tea is produced and hosted by Ken Cohen. You can follow Ken on Twitter @kensvoiceken.    more about Talking Tea  Sign up for our email list to get updates on new episodes and events.   The views and opinions expressed by guests on Talking Tea are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Talking Tea or its staff.   All images on this episode page, other than the header image, are courtesy of Scott Norton. This podcast features music from “Japanese Flowers” (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii/japanese-flowers) by mpgiiiBEATS (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii) available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Adapted from original. Header image “Raw Puerh mid 1980 Menghai” by Cosmin Dordea, used under a Creative Commons CC By-SA 2.0 license. Adapted from original.

Today we're exploring a bit of tea science on Talking Tea. We're joined by Eric Scott, a a tea scientist and researcher at Tufts University, to chat about some of the many ways a basic understanding of the science of tea can benefit us as tea consumers and tea professionals. Eric tells us a bit about his own tea journey and the work he's doing in tea chemistry, the chemical ecology of tea and the effects of climate change on tea. We chat with Eric about how even a little knowledge of tea chemistry adds to the story behind the tea we're drinking, can enhance our enjoyment of tea and our perception of flavors, and, if we're working in the tea industry, can help us educate consumers. We look at tea's relationship with caffeine, the importance of caffeine to the tea plant and how understanding this can bust some myths about caffeine and tea. We touch on two topics relating to shou pu erh and heicha: we look at why you might want to rinse your leaves if you're drinking shou pu erh or heicha, and we look at "fermentation". Most of us in the tea world have probably heard that oolongs and black/red teas are oxidized, not fermented, but we go a little deeper into what "fermentation" actually is and why it's not what actually happens in the processing of dark teas and shou puerh, even though those are often called "fermented" or "post-fermented".  Eric also gives us a peek into his research on the impact of climate change on tea. We chat about the effects of climate change on the monsoon season in Yunnan, and it's potentially game-changing effects on pu erh the pu erh market. We touch on the effects of drought on tea farms in India and Taiwan. And we look at Eric's work on climate change and bug-bitten teas, and how bug-bitten teas may help tea farmers succeed and innovate in the face of climate-change. Eric's Tea Science Tuesdays video series is available on the Tea Geek YouTube channel (and sometimes on Instagram). Eric is on Instagram @leafyeric and on Twitter @leafyericscott. More on Eric and his work is at his website, ericrscott.com. Talking Tea is produced and hosted by Ken Cohen. You can follow Ken on Twitter @kensvoiceken.    more about Talking Tea  Sign up for our email list to get updates on new episodes and events.   The views and opinions expressed by guests on Talking Tea are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Talking Tea or its staff.   Image “Chemistry is Awesome!!!”, by erika.hicks, used under a Creative Commons CC By 2.0 license.  Adapted from original. This podcast features music from “Japanese Flowers” (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii/japanese-flowers) by mpgiiiBEATS (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii) available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Adapted from original. Header image “Raw Puerh mid 1980 Menghai” by Cosmin Dordea, used under a Creative Commons CC By-SA 2.0 license. Adapted from original.  

Today Talking Tea is in Middlebury, Vermont, at Stone Leaf Teahouse, a unique tea space in this bucolic town. Joining us is John Wetzel, founder and owner of Stone Leaf. The town of Middlebury may be best known for being the home of Middlebury College, but since its founding 10 years ago Stone Leaf has also become well-known in and beyond Middlebury for the quality of its teas and for the warmth and tranquility of its teahouse. We chat with John about Stone Leaf's origins, how he developed his vision for the space and for the company, and how he drew on both US coffee culture and tea culture in Asia and Europe as influences for his design. The teahouse sits partially underground (it's built into a slope), and though John half-jokingly calls it a sort of "tea cave", he also explains how he used this feature as part of his design, to create a space well-suited for the storage, preparation and enjoyment of tea, a space that allows for both focus and connection. Stone Leaf carries a wide variety of teas, and we chat about one of their newest teas, a hongcha (red tea, known as black tea in the West) from Alishan in Taiwan. Alishan is usually known for its oolongs, and this tea is in fact made from the oolong Jin Xuan cultivar. We talk about the use of this cultivar in making a hongcha, the influence of cultivar and terroir on the tea's flavor, aroma and appearance, and about emerging trends in making new styles of teas from cultivars and regions traditionally associated with different varieties. More information about Stone Leaf, including the location of the teahouse, its online store and special event info, is at its website, stoneleaftea.com. You can  also find Stone Leaf on Instagram at stoneleafteahouse  and on Facebook at Stone Leaf Teahouse.    Talking Tea is produced and hosted by Ken Cohen. You can follow Ken on Twitter @kensvoiceken.    more about Talking Tea  Sign up for our email list to get updates on new episodes and events.   The views and opinions expressed by guests on Talking Tea are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Talking Tea or its staff.   This podcast features music from “Japanese Flowers” (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii/japanese-flowers) by mpgiiiBEATS (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii) available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Adapted from original.   Image of interior of Stone Leaf Teahouse, courtesy of Stone Leaf Teahouse. Header image “Raw Puerh mid 1980 Menghai” by Cosmin Dordea, used under a Creative Commons CC By-SA 2.0 license. Adapted from original.        

Most everyone is familiar with pairing wine and cheese, but pairing tea and cheese is much less well known and less understood. (By the way, that's tea in the glass in the photo above, not wine.) Some tea drinkers may even find the idea of tea and cheese pairing a bit counterintuitive, if not a bit, well, odd. But at Talking Tea we've experienced some delicious pairings of tea with cheese, so we wanted to explore the issue more in depth. Joining us today to talk about pairing tea with cheese, and to do some pairings with us, is Lisa Boalt Richardson. Lisa is a tea writer and educator who has written and taught on the subject of pairing tea with cheese and other foods, making tea and food pairings accessible and easy to understand. We begin our chat by looking at the basic premises behind tea and food pairings from a common-sense perspective, and then we start to look specifically at pairing cheese with tea. Lisa explains why cheese and tea can pair very well together, and we chat about the importance of identifying levels of fat in cheese and astringency in tea, as well as other elements in the flavor and mouthfeel of each, in order to create excellent pairings. We discuss different goals in creating pairings, as well as different methods of tasting the tea and the cheese we're pairing. And then we do two pairings together: a triple-cream cheese paired with a first flush darjeeling, and then the same cheese with an assam, as we talk about the reasons Lisa suggested these pairings, the results of the pairings and why some pairings are likely to work better than others. More information about Lisa Boalt Richardson, including info on her book Modern Tea: A Fresh Look at an Ancient Beverage (referenced in the episode), is at her website, lisaknowstea.com. You can  also find Lisa on Facebook at lisaknowstea. Lisa is also an instructor at the World Tea Academy; info on their courses and programs is at worldteaacademy.com. The cheese used by Talking Tea was St. Stephen's triple-cream, made by Four Fat Fowl and purchased at DiBruno Brothers in Philadelphia. The teas Talking Tea used in our pairings were purchased at Camellia Sinensis Tea House and at Tea Dealers.   Talking Tea is produced and hosted by Ken Cohen. You can follow Ken on Twitter @kensvoiceken.    more about Talking Tea  Sign up for our email list to get updates on new episodes and events.   The views and opinions expressed by guests on Talking Tea are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Talking Tea or its staff.   This podcast features music from “Japanese Flowers” (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii/japanese-flowers) by mpgiiiBEATS (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii) available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Adapted from original.   Header image “Raw Puerh mid 1980 Menghai” by Cosmin Dordea, used under a Creative Commons CC By-SA 2.0 license. Adapted from original.  

ทริปสำหรับคนอยากลองไปจีนด้วยตนเอง ครั้งนี้ไปเมืองฉงชิ่ง (Chongqing) และอู่หลง (Wulong) เพื่อดูอุทยานหลุมฟ้าสะพานสวรรค์ และหมีแพนด้า

We've been wanting to explore chaxi on Talking Tea ever since we visited the Tea Institute at Penn State University back in 2016. Tea was prepared and served to us by students in the Chinese tea track at the Institute with a degree of artistry and calm precision we had never quite witnessed anywhere else, and when we asked some of the students where they learned to prepare tea in this way, they suggested we speak with one of their teachers and mentors, Stéphane Erler, to learn more about chaxi, an artistic expression of tea originating in Taiwan. It took us a couple of years, but we finally caught up with Stéphane recently on one of his visits to the US, and we're proud to welcome him to Talking Tea. Stéphane is a tea educator, seller and blogger based in Taiwan - he hosts the very well-respected Tea Masters Blog - and, among other things, Stéphane practices, teaches and writes about chaxi. We talk with Stéphane about his own beginnings in tea, his study and work with tea master Teaparker, and about the history of chaxi in Taiwan, and then we delve into the practice and principles of chaxi. Chaxi means "tea play", and Stéphane chats with us about how chaxi is a kind of performance but also a way of creating a tea mandala, a picture of a harmonious world through tea. We discuss the priorities of function and art within chaxi, and we explore the question of how the host can best express the character of the leaves as well as the host's own sentiments and feelings through the chaxi.  In this context we talk about the choice of teaware, the importance of colors and visual harmony, the use of flowers or plants, the addition of music or other background art, and most importantly the skills and mindset needed to prepare the best possible tea in a beautiful setting, finding resonance and harmonious connections between the tea, the teaware, the setting and the participants. Further resources for learning about chaxi are on Stéphane's blog, teamasters.blogspot.com. Stéphane's selection of excellent teas (we've tried several of them, and they were all fantastic), teawares and other items for use in chaxi are available at his online boutique, tea-masters.com.  You can  also find Stéphane on Twitter at @TeaMastersBlog and on Instagram at @stephane_erler.   Talking Tea is produced and hosted by Ken Cohen. You can follow Ken on Twitter @kensvoiceken.    more about Talking Tea  Sign up for our email list to get updates on new episodes and events. Talking Tea's 2016 coverage of the Penn State Tea Institute is in our episodes Tea Goes to College and Tea, Heart to Heart.    The views and opinions expressed by guests on Talking Tea are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Talking Tea or its staff.   This podcast features music from “Japanese Flowers” (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii/japanese-flowers) by mpgiiiBEATS (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii) available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Adapted from original. Photo of a chaxi by Stéphane Erler, courtesy of Stéphane Erler. Header image “Raw Puerh mid 1980 Menghai” by Cosmin Dordea, used under a Creative Commons CC By-SA 2.0 license. Adapted from original.  

Today we're chatting with Zhen Lu and Phil Rushworth of Zhen Tea about a category of tea that's not widely understood outside of China or even within China, and that's heicha, or "dark tea", hailing from outside the pu erh region. You may remember Zhen and Phil from our earlier episode "Lapsang Souchong - Beyond the Smoke", and today we're chatting at the Zhen Tea headquarters in Ottawa, Canada. Now pu erh (at least shu pu erh) is a dark tea, and plenty of people know plenty about pu erh. But the many wonderful non-pu erh dark teas don't enjoy the same celebrity status as pu erh, and those teas are what we're focusing on in this episode. (We're intentionally avoiding the highly controversial issue of whether sheng pu erh is properly called heicha, which could be a topic for an entire episode on its own.) Zhen and Phil carry a varied selection of dark teas, and they chat with us about the sometimes confusing nomenclature of heicha, its somewhat murky history, its regions of origin and terroir, and "wet piling", the fermentation process that makes heicha unique among all teas. We sample and discuss two dark teas - an aged Fu Zhuan from 2013, and a new experimental take on traditional Tibetan tea - as we talk about the variations of flavor and mouthfeel in non-pu erh dark teas, how the flavors differ from typical shu pu erh flavor profiles, and how these variations are influenced by terroir and growing conditions. Zhen and Phil also brief us on some of the innovations we're beginning to see in heicha and the delicacy and difficulty of the wet-piling process, and we talk about the relaxing, almost meditative, physical and mental sensations many of us experience with heicha. Zhen also gives us some tips on storing dark teas at home. More on Zhen Tea, including its teas, teaware, online store and new online magazine Charen, is at zhentea.ca. Talking Tea is produced and hosted by Ken Cohen. You can follow Ken on Twitter @kensvoiceken.    more about Talking Tea  Sign up for our email list to get updates on new episodes and events.   The views and opinions expressed by guests on Talking Tea are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Talking Tea or its staff.   This podcast features music from “Japanese Flowers” (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii/japanese-flowers) by mpgiiiBEATS (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii) available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Adapted from original. Photo of Zang Cha-Gan Hong courtesy of Zhen Tea. Header image “Raw Puerh mid 1980 Menghai” by Cosmin Dordea, used under a Creative Commons CC By-SA 2.0 license. Adapted from original.        

Today we welcome back to the show Kevin Gascoyne, of Montreal's Camellia Sinensis Tea House, to chat with us in depth about how our choices of teaware impact the flavors, aromas and overall experience of the teas we drink. Kevin is often seen sporting his signature Royal Albert teacup, and that prompted us to ask Kevin what's the deal with this oh-so-English-looking cup. His initial answer inspired us to want to explore more fully how our choice of cup and brewing vessel affect our enjoyment of tea. In our chat we focus mostly on the effects of the cup on our tea experience (though we also touch on some elements of teapots). Kevin talks with us about how the shape of the cup controls the delivery of the tea to the mouth and the placement of the tea on the tongue, how the material, size and shape of the cup affect the thermodynamics of the tea, and how all of this impacts the flavors and aromas of the tea we're drinking. We chat about some of the design features of teacups that have evolved for comfort, warmth and delivery, and also how the visual elements and aesthetics of our teaware influence our enjoyment of tea. Contrasting tea served in wine glasses and in small tasting cups as examples, Kevin points out how different styles of teaware and brewing create different moods and spaces for our experience of tea.  We wanted to do these comparisons hands-on, so Kevin served us two teas in very different styles of cups: first with teaware from the Royal Albert collection, and then from the innovative Peter Ting tasting kit. Listen to the episode to hear the results of this tasting experiment. For more on Camellia Sinensis, including its teaware, teas, online store and locations, go to camellia-sinensis.com.     Talking Tea is produced and hosted by Ken Cohen. You can follow Ken on Twitter @kensvoiceken.    more about Talking Tea  Sign up for our email list to get updates on new episodes and events.   The views and opinions expressed by guests on Talking Tea are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Talking Tea or its staff.   This podcast features music from “Japanese Flowers” (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii/japanese-flowers) by mpgiiiBEATS (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii) available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Adapted from original. Photo of Kevin Gascoyne and his Royal Albert teacup courtesy of Camellia Sinensis. Header image “Raw Puerh mid 1980 Menghai” by Cosmin Dordea, used under a Creative Commons CC By-SA 2.0 license. Adapted from original.

☰ Recently, while enjoying a bit of Me Time equals Tea Time with some of my Taiwanese friends, I was given a movie to watch called Lei Wulong Baguazhang 雷武龙八卦掌. ☵ Now I know what you are thinking: What's this? An obscure style I've never heard of before? His circle's getting a little irregular! Guys save him from his heresy! ☱ Settle down petals. It is not what it seems. After a big pot of tea 茶, Chinese politics, some deep fried ghosts and congee, I watched the movie with them and afterward proceeded to dig deeper. ☳ Lei Wulong 雷武龙 is a character from the Tekken fighter games. And his moves are mostly based on Northern Praying Mantis 螳螂拳 with a bit of Jackie Chan thrown in. What he has to do with baguazhang is purely fiction. His name just sounds awesome from a Taiwanese perspective. I mean, could you imagine fighting a guy with a name like that? ☶ It turns out that in the movie a woman did, and she used baguazhang 八卦掌. She defeated him. Thrice. ☴ The whole short movie was fictitious, and her non-baguazhang style bits in the battle was pure re-enactment. But when she started the baguazhang sequences, it was clear that past the clothes and make-up was a hidden dragon who actually knew the moves from rigorous practice. Even with the movie's crudeness, a true master cannot hide their skills for long. It will show itself eventually. ☲ As the saying goes: Never judge a book by its cover. The cover attracts the potential student. As masters we do not waste our time asking whether it be real or not, but whether the student actually wants to put in the time, effort and resources to become the real thing. ☷ So the movie ended. I drank up the last bit of my high mountain oolong tea. Left my empty tea cup on the table. And I was happy that our baguazhang 八卦掌 world just got a little bit bigger. Liked what you heard & want to connect with me? Join me at… linkedin.com/in/peterhainzl/

Today on Talking Tea we're doing something a little different from our usual format. A few weeks back we were invited by the folks at Tea Dealers and the 29b Tea House (featured in our prior episode Ambassadors of Tea) to join them in conversation at an evening of tea and alcohol experiments they were planning and record the event for Talking Tea. We did just that, and we're pleased to bring you the event as a Talking Tea episode. We join Andreas Vagelatos and Graham Pirtle of Tea Dealers, Jesse Ferguson of Interboro Spirits & Ales and a crowd of about 30 guests at New York's Hotel on Rivington for this evening exploring new approaches to tea and mixology.  Graham, along with Stefen Ramirez of Tea Dealers, had come up with three innovative cocktails for this event, and Graham chats with us about their unique approach to tea in mixology, borrowing pairing ideas from the culinary world, and the challenges of leveraging the flavors and textures of the teas and the other ingredients in the drinks. We also chat with Graham about the long history of tea in cocktails and its current revival. The cocktails used three teas - matcha, hojicha and rou gui - and as Andreas guides us through the tastings he talks with us about each of these teas and their use in the cocktails, the philosophy behind 29b's tea cocktail programs and the similarities between the nomenclature, flavors and other sensory experiences in tea, wine and spirits. Jesse chats with us throughout the evening about Interboro's spirits and how they interact with the other ingredients of the cocktails, and we discuss the overall flavor profiles and sensations resulting from the pairings and the various flavor components in each of the drinks. Andreas and Graham point out how the flavors and aromas of tea, spirits and mixed drinks can sometimes be nostalgic, and how Tea Dealers crafted these cocktails not only to bring out excellent results in flavor, aroma and sensation, but also to highlight some of the nostalgic and evocative qualities of the teas and the spirits. The episode also includes comments and questions from the guests at the event.   More info on Interboro is at its website interboro.nyc and at its Instagram feed. Info on Tea Dealers and 29b is at tea-dealers.com/pages/29b and Instagram feed. For info on the Hotel on Rivington, visit hotelonrivington.com.    Talking Tea is produced and hosted by Ken Cohen. You can follow Ken on Twitter @kensvoiceken.    more about Talking Tea  Sign up for our email list to get updates on new episodes and events.   The views and opinions expressed by guests on Talking Tea are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Talking Tea or its staff.   This podcast features music from “Japanese Flowers” (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii/japanese-flowers) by mpgiiiBEATS (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii) available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Adapted from original.

Today on Talking Tea we're witnessing tea history brought into the present at the serenely beautiful Floating Mountain teahouse in New York City, where ongoing programs on tea history and tea meditation are opening fresh perspectives on tea preparation and on tea as a contemplative practice. We're chatting with Lina Medvedeva, owner of Floating Mountain, and with Scott Norton, who runs Floating Mountain's tea history workshops and, with Lina, leads the tea meditation sessions at Floating Mountain. We first talk with Lina about the origins of Floating Mountain and some of it's unique design features, as well as Lina's own tea journey and her perspectives on tea and spirituality. Scott has become known in the New York tea community for his experiments in re-creating Song dynasty style whisked tea (the precursor to matcha), and we chat with Scott about the importance of not just learning about but actually experiencing tea history as we sample two of Scott's approximations of Song-style tea using Song-era tea ware. Lina re-joins our chat as we discuss how (and whether) tea can be a tool for meditative practice, why the quality of tea matters for the contemplative drinking of tea, and how the experience of drinking tea can be ordinary and extraordinary, simple and mysterious, in the same moment.   More info on Floating Mountain, including its online store, shop hours and events, can be found at the Floating Mountain website, https://www.floating-mountain.com/, and at its Instagram feed.    Talking Tea is produced and hosted by Ken Cohen. You can follow Ken on Twitter @kensvoiceken.    more about Talking Tea  Sign up for our email list to get updates on new episodes and events.   The views and opinions expressed by guests on Talking Tea are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Talking Tea or its staff.   This podcast features music from “Japanese Flowers” (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii/japanese-flowers) by mpgiiiBEATS (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii) available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Adapted from original. Photo of Floating Mountain tea house courtesy of Lina Medvedeva.                  

In episode 5, Geoff and Leona are joined by special guest James Iijima-Schergen from TeaDB and the three discuss all things tea storage. They share how they currently store various types of teas, and chat about the shelf life of white and green teas, fridge storage for certain types of greens, and explore ways to achieve the ideal relative humidity for puerh teas.GUEST: James Iijima-Schergen | CAST: Leona Liu, Geoff Norman@TheTeaFix on Instagram and Twitter | Watch the show on YouTube! | theteafixpodcast.comThis podcast features music from “Swimming” (http://music-for-sync.com/swimming/) by Ryan Anderson available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Adapted from original.

In episode 4, Leona and Geoff take a look into the history and origin of Duck Shit Oolong Tea and how it received its name. They also discuss a bit about Dan Cong teas and what makes them different from other oolongs with similar oxidation levels and processing steps.CAST: Leona Liu, Geoff Norman@TheTeaFix on Instagram and Twitter | Watch the show on YouTube! | theteafixpodcast.comThis podcast features music from “Swimming” (http://music-for-sync.com/swimming/) by Ryan Anderson available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Adapted from original.

In episode 2, Leona and Geoff look into Chinese and Taiwanese Oolongs vs 'Oolongs' that are actually just semi-oxidized teas.CAST: Leona Liu, Geoff Norman@TheTeaFix on Instagram and Twitter | Watch the show on YouTube! | theteafixpodcast.comThis podcast features music from “Swimming” (http://music-for-sync.com/swimming/) by Ryan Anderson available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Adapted from original.

Today we welcome back to Talking Tea Shiuwen Tai of Seattle’s Floating Leaves tea to chat about one of our favorite teas, Taiwan’s celebrated Dong Ding oolong. Shiuwen believes that Dong Ding represents everything that Taiwan has to offer in terms of producing tea, and we chat about the qualities that make Dong Ding unique in this capacity. We discuss three basic styles of Dong Ding – traditional, fragrant and charcoal roasted – and together we taste and compare both a traditional and a charcoal roasted Dong Ding. Shiuwen points out that Dong Ding is a very “physical” tea, and we talk about the tea’s physical sensations as well as its flavors and aromas. We discuss the impact of Dong Ding’s terroir (particularly its soil) and oxidation levels, and Shiuwen tells us about a continuing controversy over Dong Ding’s cultivar.  When we move from tasting a traditional Dong Ding to a charcoal roasted Dong Ding, Shiuwen chats with us about the effects of charcoal roasting, both for Dong Ding and for oolongs in general, and how a good charcoal master can focus and amplify the complexity and beauty of a tea.   More info on Floating Leaves, including its online store, shop hours and classes, can be found at the Floating Leaves website, http://www.floatingleavestea.com, and at its Instagram feed.    Talking Tea is produced and hosted by Ken Cohen. You can follow Ken on Twitter @kensvoiceken.    more about Talking Tea  Sign up for our email list to get updates on new episodes and events.   The views and opinions expressed by guests on Talking Tea are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Talking Tea or its staff.   This podcast features music from “Japanese Flowers” (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii/japanese-flowers) by mpgiiiBEATS (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii) available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Adapted from original. Photo of charcoal Dong Ding by Payton, available under a Creative Commons CC BY 2.0 license. 

At Talking Tea we've long wanted to explore the seemingly deep divide between tea and coffee, and between tea drinkers and coffee drinkers. But lately we've come to realize that the divide might not be very deep at all, and that there might be more similarities between the two beverages, and the two communities, than we ever imagined. To help us look at how the gap between coffee and tea is already being bridged, we're chatting with Nate Cochran of Spirit Tea. Part of Spirit's focus is the introduction of high quality specialty tea to the coffee roasters and cafes, and Nate himself has worked in third wave coffee as well as in specialty tea. Nate chats with us about his background in coffee and tea, about Spirit's focus and how they create accessible tea menus for coffee environments. We discuss differences and similarities between tea and coffee from the perspective of process, oxidation, terroir and cultivar, but mostly from the perspective of flavor and aroma. We look at what flavor profiles in tea may attract coffee drinkers and how tea drinkers can approach coffee. And we talk about how  education and community propelled the success of third wave coffee, and how they're crucial for the success of tea as well.   Spirit Tea's website, including its online store, is at spirittea.co.     Photo of Nate Cochran talking tea and coffee during Talking Tea's February 2018 workshop, at Pilgrim Roasters in Philadelphia, courtesy of Jeremy Zimmerman.   Talking Tea is produced and hosted by Ken Cohen. You can follow Ken on Twitter @kensvoiceken.    more about Talking Tea  Sign up for our email list to get updates on new episodes and events.   The views and opinions expressed by guests on Talking Tea are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Talking Tea or its staff.   This podcast features music from “Japanese Flowers” (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii/japanese-flowers) by mpgiiiBEATS (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii) available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Adapted from original.

Today on Talking Tea we welcome back Kevin Gascoyne of Montreal's Camellia Sinensis Tea House. If you've heard any of our earlier episodes with Kevin, you'll know that Kevin is a specialist, and one of the world's leading authorities, on Indian tea. Kevin returns to the show today to chat with us about some of the challenges currently facing Indian tea production, and how an innovative new project in south India called the Tea Studio is attempting to address these challenges. Before we dive into the Tea Studio, Kevin gives us an update on the state of affairs in Darjeeling and tea production there following a lengthy labor strike in 2017. We also sample a black tea from the Indian state of Sikkim and talk a bit about Sikkim tea. Kevin tells us about significant issues facing Indian tea production today, ranging from climate change to labor shortages, and how the Tea Studio Project was born in an attempt to address some of these problems. We discuss the origins of labor shortage issues in the Indian tea industry, why Kevin feels that the Indian tea industry is not keeping up with the growing demand worldwide for high quality teas, and how the Tea Studio is combining carefully designed mechanization with hands-on skill to produce small-batch artisanal teas in India's Nilgiri region.     For more info on the Tea Studio Project, visit its website at teastudio.info, and for more on Camellia Sinensis, including its online store, locations and now the first teas from the Tea Studio, go to camellia-sinensis.com.        Talking Tea is produced and hosted by Ken Cohen. You can follow Ken on Twitter @kensvoiceken.    more about Talking Tea  Sign up for our email list to get updates on new episodes and events.   The views and opinions expressed by guests on Talking Tea are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Talking Tea or its staff.   This podcast features music from “Japanese Flowers” (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii/japanese-flowers) by mpgiiiBEATS (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii) available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Adapted from original. Photo of the Tea Studio courtesy of Camellia Sinensis. Header image “Raw Puerh mid 1980 Menghai” by Cosmin Dordea, used under a Creative Commons CC By-SA 2.0 license. Adapted from original.

One of our guiding principles here at Talking Tea is that conversations about tea and tea culture have the power to deepen our understanding and enhance our experience of tea. Today on Talking Tea we're exploring one of the ways people are increasingly coming together to share and talk about tea: tea meetup groups. We're joined by Roy Lamberty, founder and organizer of the New York Tea Society, a popular tea meetup in New York City. Roy tells us a bit about his own tea journey, how and why he came to organize the New York Tea Society, and how the group has grown and evolved since its inception. We talk about the challenges of running a tea meetup group and discuss choice of venue, theme and other important considerations in planning a successful meetup. But we also chat about the bonds that are formed through sharing tea, the value of learning from each other and the appeal of the meetup format to tea drinkers of all levels of experience. Aside from his role as meetup organizer, Roy Lamberty is the owner of myteaguy.com, an online seller of tea and teaware. For more info or to join the New York Tea Society, go to its Meetup.com site.  The New York Tea Society was featured in this New York Times article on September 26, 2017.  The Facebook group New York City Gong Fu Cha, mentioned in the episode, can be found here.    Talking Tea is produced and hosted by Ken Cohen. You can follow Ken on Twitter @kensvoiceken.    more about Talking Tea  Sign up for our email list to get updates on new episodes and events.   The views and opinions expressed by guests on Talking Tea are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Talking Tea or its staff.   This podcast features music from “Japanese Flowers” (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii/japanese-flowers) by mpgiiiBEATS (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii) available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Adapted from original. Photo of a New York Tea Society meetup courtesy of Roy Lamberty. Header image “Raw Puerh mid 1980 Menghai” by Cosmin Dordea, used under a Creative Commons CC By-SA 2.0 license. Adapted from original.              

Today we welcome back Kevin Gascoyne of Montreal's famed Camellia Sinensis Tea House to explore tea pairings, and specifically pairing tea with scotch. We begin our chat by looking at some current developments in tea innovation and sophistication, and then begin to look directly at pairing and explore how two different flavor profiles can play against each other. Kevin gives us the how and why of "sandwich" pairing - tasting a scotch sandwiched between two tastings of tea - and we discuss the importance of focusing on sensory experience in pairing, as well as the fusions, contrasts, clashes and harmonies that can result. We get to explore first hand the amazing complexity of taste and aroma that emerges as Kevin takes us through a sandwich pairing of a single malt scotch with a rock tea.  Kevin encourages everyone to experiment with pairing on your own. If you can (legally) drink alcohol and want to try the pairing we did with Kevin, the tea is Bai Rui Xiang, a Wuyi mountain rock tea, and the scotch is Aberlour highland single malt, aged in sherry casks. Bai Rui Xiang is available at the Camellia Sinensis online store and website, which also has more info about Camellia Sinensis, its locations, hours and products. If you want to try pairing tea with other foods or beverages, let us know what you're doing and what the results are in the comments section.    For more information on Talking Tea and updates on new episodes, visit our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/talkingtea. To inquire about being a guest or having your organization featured, please email us at talkingteapodcasts@gmail.com. Have something in mind you'd like to hear discussed on Talking Tea? Leave us a comment on Facebook or on our Libsyn episode page, or email us. Talking Tea is produced and hosted by Ken Cohen. You can follow Ken on Twitter @Kensvoiceken.    This podcast features music from "Japanese Flowers" (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii/japanese-flowers) by mpgiiiBEATS (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii) available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Adapted from original.   Photo courtesy of Camellia Sinensis.  

To kick off Talking Tea's fourth season, we're at Té Company, an exquisite teahouse in New York's West Village, talking about an exquisite tea - the aptly named Oriental Beauty.  We chat with Elena Liao and Frederico Ribeiro, owners and founders of Té Company, about the origins of their teahouse, how they've created a cohesive whole between tea and food, and the unique ways they help their customers gain an understanding and knowledge of tea in an easily accessible way. The uniqueness of Té Company is mirrored in Oriental Beauty, a remarkable Taiwanese tea with a signature sweetness. Its unique flavor and aroma are created in part by the tea plant's interaction with an insect, the tea jassid, and Elena chats with us about how this interaction, along with cultivar, climate, terroir, oxidation and roast, come together to create a truly amazing tea.  Elena also gives us tips on how to identify the quality of an Oriental Beauty by looking at the dry leaf.   For more information on Talking Tea and updates on new episodes, visit our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/talkingtea. To inquire about being a guest or having your organization featured, please email us at talkingteapodcasts@gmail.com. Have something in mind you'd like to hear discussed on Talking Tea? Leave us a comment on Facebook or on our Libsyn episode page, or email us. Talking Tea is produced and hosted by Ken Cohen. You can follow Ken on Twitter @Kensvoiceken.    The views and opinions expressed by guests on Talking Tea are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Talking Tea or its staff.   This podcast features music from "Japanese Flowers" (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii/japanese-flowers) by mpgiiiBEATS (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii) available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Adapted from original.   Photo courtesy of Té Company.  

When we serious tea drinkers start to broaden our knowledge of tea, we often encounter two terms that can seem mysterious or confusing: cultivar and origin. What is a tea cultivar, and why is it important? And what exactly does the origin of the tea refer to, and why should we care? To begin looking in depth at cultivar and origin, we're joined today by Austin Hodge of Seven Cups Fine Chinese Teas. Austin is a prolific tea writer and blogger in addition to being a seller, and he's also the founder and director of the International Specialty Tea Association, a non-profit focused on developing quality standards for tea. We chat with Austin about his background in tea and his views on the importance of tea standards, and then we look in detail at two of those standards, namely (you guessed it) a tea's cultivar and its origin. Austin talks with us about what "cultivar" means and how it relates to issues of biodiversity, tea production, the value and pricing of tea,  a tea's authenticity and transparency in marketing. We chat about origin in terms of the specifics of the growing location of a tea, why detail is important in looking at origin, and how soil makeup, micro-climate, altitude and sunlight exposure all come into play. We also chat with Austin about the historical and cultural elements of both origin and cultivar, and how the history of a tea can impact our perception and enjoyment of it. In this connection we touch a bit on the history of China's Mengdingshan, the place where tea was first cultivated, and the teas grown there to this day. You can find many of Austin's articles and blog posts, as well as the Seven Cups online store and info on the Seven Cups shop in Tuscon, Arizona, at the Seven Cups website, sevencups.com. Austin is also a blogger at tching.com. More on the International Specialty Tea Association is at specialtyteaassociation.org.   For more information on Talking Tea and updates on new episodes, visit our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/talkingtea. To inquire about being a guest or having your organization featured, please email us at talkingteapodcasts@gmail.com. Have something in mind you'd like to hear discussed on Talking Tea? Leave us a comment on Facebook or on our Libsyn episode page, or email us. Talking Tea is produced and hosted by Ken Cohen. You can follow Ken on Twitter @Kensvoiceken.    The views and opinions expressed by guests on Talking Tea are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Talking Tea or its staff.   This podcast features music from "Japanese Flowers" (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii/japanese-flowers) by mpgiiiBEATS (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii) available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Adapted from original.   Photo of Austin Hodge at Mengdingshan courtesy of Austin Hodge.        

We're calling this episode "learning tea" because learning about tea can be like learning a language - like learning English, or French, or Chinese, or any other language. There's a vocabulary to tea, and the world of tea is so vast, with so many words, facts and concepts to learn and keep track of, that it's easy to get overwhelmed. Compounding this in the English-speaking world is the fact that tea terms are often actually in another language - most commonly Chinese or Japanese. So what's a tea drinker to do? To look at one solution to this problem in the world of Chinese tea, today we chat with Lew Perin, the creator of a free website app called Babelcarp. Lew calls Babelcarp a Chinese tea lexicon, but it's much, much more than a dictionary. We chat with Lew about his background in tea, what Babelcarp is and how it works, and how its structure and system of links and cross-references make Babelcarp a virtual encyclopedia of Chinese tea. As an example, we type a sample tea phrase into Babelcarp and look at the answers and cross-links Babelcarp provides. We also chat with Lew about the Babelcarp add-on in the Pleco Chinese dictionary app and how it can be useful in purchasing tea online. You can find the Babelcarp web app at babelcarp.org. Lew Perin's Twitter feed is @babelcarp.   For more information on Talking Tea and updates on new episodes, visit our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/talkingtea. To inquire about being a guest or having your organization featured, please email us at talkingteapodcasts@gmail.com. Have something in mind you'd like to hear discussed on Talking Tea? Leave us a comment on Facebook or on our Libsyn episode page, or email us. Talking Tea is produced and hosted by Ken Cohen. You can follow Ken on Twitter @Kensvoiceken.    This podcast features music from "Japanese Flowers" (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii/japanese-flowers) by mpgiiiBEATS (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii) available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Adapted from original.    

Most tea consumers never have the opportunity to visit the source of the teas we drink - the tea growers and tea makers in the various tea-producing regions around the world. So here at Talking Tea we've been wanting to hear an insider's take on sourcing trips, to get an idea of what sourcing trips are like and what tea retailers look for when they source their teas. Today we welcome back Shiho Kanamaru of Montreal's Cha Do Raku, to get that insider's look at sourcing. Shiho tells us how she began Cha Do Raku by developing a network of sourcing connections in Japan and then Taiwan.  We chat about sourcing trips as a form of tea self-education, about the cultural differences between networking and sourcing in Japan versus Taiwan, and about Shiho's use of instinct and sensation to find high quality, unusual and extraordinary teas on her sourcing trips. Shiho also talks with us about some of the challenges of gaining entry into the world of tea growers and producers, about the hard work and rewards of going to source, and shares an example of how she's "arrived at" extraordinary teas through a combination of connections, spontaneity and experience. More about Cha Do Raku, including its online store and info on its Montreal shop, can be found at Cha Do Raku's website, cha-doraku.com, and on its Facebook page.   For more information on Talking Tea and updates on new episodes, visit our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/talkingtea. To inquire about being a guest or having your organization featured, please email us at talkingteapodcasts@gmail.com. Have something in mind you'd like to hear discussed on Talking Tea? Leave us a comment on Facebook or on our Libsyn episode page, or email us. Talking Tea is produced and hosted by Ken Cohen. You can follow Ken on Twitter @Kensvoiceken.    This podcast features music from "Japanese Flowers" (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii/japanese-flowers) by mpgiiiBEATS (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii) available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Adapted from original.   Photo of a tea farm in Taiwan's Pinglin District, courtesy of Shiho Kanamaru.

Today on Talking Tea we focus on the nuances of flavor, and how to fully appreciate the taste of tea by engaging all of our senses. Guiding us through this exploration of tasting is Billy Dietz, a tea development specialist based in Montreal. We chat with Billy via Skype as he shares a little of his own remarkable tea journey and then takes us through two methods of preparing a tea he selected for this episode, a Muzha Tie Kwan Yin oolong from Taiwan provided by Naivetea. We compare the preparation of this tea in the traditional Chinese covered cup known as a gaiwan with the professional tasting method known as "cupping". (In the image here the gaiwan is in the left foreground, the cupping set to its right.) Billy explains the purpose of each of these brewing methods, gives us details on brewing tips in each style and discusses how these details of preparation affect the taste. We chat about how the other senses come into play as well - the visual aspects of the dry and infused leaf and the brewed tea, the aroma, the tactile sensations of the tea after we sip it, and even how we breathe before and after taking a sip - how to fully engage with all of these to allow a fuller discovery of the tea. Throughout,  Billy emphasizes the need for playful experimentation with our tea, so that our tea drinking becomes an art of discovery, an opportunity for mindfulness and self-awareness.   You can follow Billy on Twitter and Instagram at @sirwillotleaf. You can find his blogsite at sirwilliamoftheleaf.com.   For more information on Talking Tea and updates on new episodes, visit our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/talkingtea. To inquire about being a guest or having your organization featured, please email us at talkingteapodcasts@gmail.com. Have something in mind you'd like to hear discussed on Talking Tea? Leave us a comment on Facebook or on our Libsyn episode page, or email us. Talking Tea is produced and hosted by Ken Cohen. You can follow Ken on Twitter @Kensvoiceken.    This podcast features music from "Japanese Flowers" (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii/japanese-flowers) by mpgiiiBEATS (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii) available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Adapted from original.   Photo courtesy of Billy Dietz.    

What did Talking Tea do this summer? We went to summer school, of course. Tea summer school, that is. In August we attended one of the English-language Summer School workshops offered through the tea school at Montreal's Camellia Sinensis. After the workshop we sat down with Kevin Gascoyne of Camellia Sinensis to chat about current and emerging trends in tea education. Kevin talks with us about Camellia Sinensis' model for tea education, how its tea school began with a goal of giving consumers better access to tea knowledge and how it's evolved to include programming oriented to tea industry professionals as well as consumers. We discuss the Summer School and the benefits of small, seminar-style workshops where students and instructors have the ability to share first-hand experience. Kevin also shares his perspectives on what students should look for in choosing a tea education program, identifying a student's goals and finding a program to fit those goals, the pro's and con's of certification and the ability of tea education to empower consumers and industry professionals for their own tea journeys. We also sat down in the Camellia Sinensis tea house with four participants in the Summer School workshop to chat about their perspectives on tea education: Tea researcher/educator/author Selena Ahmed and chef Noah ten Broek talk with us about increasing awareness of the nuances of taste and sensory experience, and tea sellers Zhen Lu and Phil Rushworth discuss addressing misinformation within the tea industry and the importance of educating tea vendors as well as consumers. More info about Camellia Sinensis and its tea school is at the Camellia Sinensis website, camellia-sinensis.com. To inquire about next year's Summer School, contact Kevin Gascoyne at info-en@camellia-sinensis.com More on Selena Ahmed, her work and publications, are at Montana State's Food and Health Lab website. More on Zhen Lu and Phil Rishworth's company, Zhen Tea, is at the Zhen Tea website, zhentea.ca.   For more information on Talking Tea and updates on new episodes, visit our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/talkingtea. To inquire about being a guest or having your organization featured, please email us at talkingteapodcasts@gmail.com. Have something in mind you'd like to hear discussed on Talking Tea? Leave us a comment on Facebook or on our Libsyn episode page, or email us. Talking Tea is produced and hosted by Ken Cohen. You can follow Ken on Twitter @Kensvoiceken.    This podcast features music from "Japanese Flowers" (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii/japanese-flowers) by mpgiiiBEATS (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii) available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Adapted from original.                

We're continuing our exploration of Taiwanese oolongs this week with a focus on one of the most celebrated of Taiwanese teas, Baozhong. Shiuwen Tai, of Seattle's Floating Leaves Tea, gave us such a fantastic and comprehensive intro to Taiwanese oolongs in our last episode that we had to invite her back to give us some more in-depth knowledge, and we asked Shiuwen to talk about Baozhong because, well, it's one of our favorite oolongs. Shiuwen chats with us about Baozhong's history, from its origins in China to its later cultivation in Taiwan, and how this history along with Taiwanese innovations in growing and processing Baozhong give it the distinctive flavor and bouquet it's known for today. We also talk about the birth of floral teas in Taiwan, about aged Baozhongs and aged oolongs in general, and about how a tea maker's skill can create an experience for the drinker that, in Shiuwen's words, is "almost beyond imagination."   In the photo above, Shiuwen visits the Baozhong fields of Farmer Chen, in Taiwan's Wen Shan district.   More info on Floating Leaves, including its online store, shop hours and classes, can be found at the Floating Leaves website, http://www.floatingleavestea.com, and on its Facebook page. Shiuwen's blog is at http://www.floatingleavestea.blogspot.com.   For more information on Talking Tea and updates on new episodes, visit our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/talkingtea. To inquire about being a guest or having your organization featured, please email us at talkingteapodcasts@gmail.com. Have something in mind you'd like to hear discussed on Talking Tea? Leave us a comment on Facebook or on our Libsyn episode page, or email us.    Talking Tea is produced and hosted by Ken Cohen. You can follow Ken on Twitter @Kensvoiceken.         This podcast features music from "Japanese Flowers" (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii/japanese-flowers) by mpgiiiBEATS (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii) available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Adapted from original.   Photo of Shiuwen Tai in Farmer Chen's Baozhong fields, courtesy of Shiuwen Tai. 

This week on Talking Tea we get "drunk" on tea at Tea Drunk, a teahouse in New York City serving traditional Chinese tea. Shunan Teng, who founded and owns Tea Drunk (and knows just about everything there is to know about Chinese tea), talks with us about wild tea, Chan Cha or "monk's tea", tea picking seasons, and why tea requires a dedicated palate and a dedicated mind. In our next episode, Part 2 of "Drunk on Tea", Shunan talks with us in depth about pu erh tea, as well as about ongoing events and classes at Tea Drunk. Stay tuned!   Tea Drunk's website is at www.t-drunk.com and includes information about classes and events.   For more information on Talking Tea and updates on new episodes, visit our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/talkingtea. To inquire about being a guest or having your organization featured, please email us at talkingteapodcasts@gmail.com. Talking Tea is produced and hosted by Ken Cohen. You can follow Ken on Twitter @Kensvoiceken.    This podcast features music from "Japanese Flowers" (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii/japanese-flowers) by mpgiiiBEATS (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii) available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Adapted from original.   Photo of Tea Drunk courtesy of Shunan Teng