The Happy Earth Tea's Blog

We are delighted to offer Concubine Oolong, a well regarded Taiwanese oolong from its two main manufacturing seasons, spring and winter. 

When "Ochatsubo Dochu", a procession carrying the year's first harvest of tea in 18th Century Japan, would pass through a village, residents knelt on the ground as a mark of reverence. Although the respect might have been inspired by the Shogun, the beneficiary of the procession and the recipient of the tea, it would be fair to assume that some it was also evoked by the tea. 

Starting from 9/14/15 we will be keeping new hours at our Tea Studio located at the Hungerford Building.

Tuesday-Friday 9:30 am - 2:00 pm 

Additionally on Friday 6:00 pm - 9 pm

Tea Classes & Special Events, Tuesdays 6:00 pm - 7:30pm

While the Wernickes ran a much larger tea enterprise, it was the Stoelkes who were the first to venture into the fledgling industry. Joachim Stoelke, a first generation settler, set up Steinthal Tea Estate in his homestead of 45 acres, located just below Darjeeling town in the early 1850s. It was one of the first tea estates to be set up in the hills.
Joachim Stoelke was around 41 when he started Steinthal, and although had fallen out of the Baptist mission that originally brought them to the place he must have continued to preach independently. The tea estate even today is often called "Padri Kaman", or the priest's tea garden, by the locals.

Around the middle of the 19th Century, the British colonialists launched a massive effort to grow tea in India. They wanted to break the monopoly of China in the tea trade once and for all; trafficking opium into China had been only an interim measure. (Britain had been pumping opium into China to get back the silver bullions that it had paid for the tea.)

It has been a one complete cycle of tea seasons with Jun Chiyabari Tea Estate this summer. The tea we continue to receive from them, like the one we are reviewing here, tell us introducing Jun Chiyabari to our customers has been one of the best decisions.

One day in 1888, accompanied by his two little boys,  Andrew Wernicke went down to Pandam tea estate, located below Darjeeling town on the northern slope. He had just bought the “rifle range” part of the estate. Upon arrival at the factory some old workers asked Andrew Wernick for a sign by which they might recognize him as the new owner. Wernicke reached for a branch of a nearby tree and broke it. “This simple procedure was enough to satisfy them,” recalled one of the sons later.

We love these old ads for "tea." This one appeared in Ann Arbor Argus, 13 March 1891.
In a classified ad in another newspaper this same article claimed also to "loosen the bowels, thus breaking a cold at once," adding, "It is inexpensive and entirely vegetable, therefore harmless." Pre-FDA claims are so wonderfully imaginative. ;)

On a cold winter day in January of 1842 two young German missionary families, the Wernickes and Stolkes arrived to Darjeeling, a densely forested and sparsely populated remote region of the Himalayas. Only seven years previous, the area had been taken on lease by the British colonialists from the Kingdom of Sikkim.

Thanks to the generous support of some Rochester residents, we managed to raise just over $3000 at the fundraiser for Nepal earthquake relief. The fundraiser was held last Saturday and was jointly hosted by us and the Rochester Brainery.

Together with the Rochester Brainery, we will be hosting a fundraiser for Nepal earthquake victims this Saturday. As many of you know, we have strong ties to Nepal, both in terms of our Nepali tea offerings and with our social partner Ama Foundation. The natural disaster there has left us heartbroken, but strongly determined to help.