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This 1890 photograph from the archives of the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, shows one JC Oswald (third person from the left), at a tea tasting room in Fuzhou in China's Fujian province. According to the photographer's caption, in order to consistently judge the color of the tea and the tea leaves, a tea-tasting room would face north and be top-lit, just like an early photographer’s studio.

It is always exciting to receive reviews from our customers. Tea is a personal experience – as someone rightly described, each cup is a voyage - so descriptions of the same tea by different people can vary. And, that enhances our own experience of the cup.

Let the mother in your life know how special she is by giving her some of our fine organic teas complete with a personalized label. Because we love mothers, take 10% off your order with this code "MOTHERSLOVE."

We are really excited to be introducing two exclusive “early Spring” teas from Jun Chiyabari, our Organic tea producer-partner in Nepal. These teas were manufactured in March. Normally, the first flush production for Jun Chiyabari, which is situated between 5000 ft – 6000 ft, takes place only in April.

Darjeeling first flush 2016 production is currently on in full swing. After a slow start due to less than normal rain for most of March, gardens are reporting a much better harvest since the rains came down at the end of the month.

Enjoy this slideshow of our visit to the famous Margaret's Hope Tea Estate in Darjeeling in November 2015. Although, we do not offer tea from this garden, since it is not Organic, it was nice to look around and meet up with our old friend, Arun Gurung, who is the assistant manager there.

We began with a review of the four principles of Chado, or Chanoyu for our second class on Japanese tea ceremony. I had been unable to recall all of those principles in the last blog post since taking notes and photos during the lessons are not encouraged. Total focus is demanded.

They call it the “winter petal.”  Dong Pian, in Chinese. The unexpected juxtaposition of the name lured me with its poetic charm. Behind the poetry lay a compelling story. A tea such as this could not be passed.

“Ichi-go Ichi-e, ONE time ONE chance,” said sensei* Atsuko Nishida-Mitchell. She was quoting the great 16th Century tea master, Sen No Rikyu who laid down the principles of what we know today as the Japanese tea ceremony. According to Rikyu, every tea ceremony had to be approached as a “once in a lifetime” opportunity. And so it seemed to me, this opportunity to learn about the tea ceremony in a series of classes, the first of which took place this past weekend at the Enkyoji Buddhist Temple of Rochester.