Steep Stories

Category: Tea Features

  • White Buds Pu-erh

    White Tea Week, Day 7: “White Buds Pu-Erh” Okay, technically, this is cheating. It’s not really a white tea. Hear me out. Just yesterday, I covered aged white tea. The process for that is relatively simple. Find a cool, dry place to store it, keep it covered airtight…and forget about it for five years. Awesomeness…

  • White Tea Cakes – Old versus New

    White Tea Week, Day 6: “White Tea Cakes – Old versus New” Well…this was a first. Being contacted by companies is not a new experience for me. For some reason, tea vendors look at my quixotic li’l corner of the Internet and say, “Hey, we’d be a nice fit here.” I, then, twizzle my nonexistent…

  • Born-Again Virgin – A White Tea Revisited

    White Tea Week, Day 5: “Born-Again Virgin – A White Tea Revisited” In March of 2011, I tried the most unique white ever. Some would decry that as an exaggeration, but in this case, completely true. Back when I still did copious amounts of tea reviews, this li’l offering came up on the roster. I…

  • I Dream of Doke for a Day

    White Tea Week, Day 4: “I Dream of Doke for a Day” The Doke tea estate is a small garden situated in the northeastern state of Bihar, India. In 1998, Rajiv Lochan – of Lochan Tea – got the best of all retirement presents. His own tea garden to do with as he wished. Best.…

  • When You Wish Upon a Taiwanese White Tea

    White Tea Week, Day 3: “When You Wish Upon a Taiwanese White Tea Back in the Fall, I saw a retweet from Greg “Norbu Tea” Glancy that just about put me into cardiac arrest. Japanese. White Tea. Oh. My. G-word. I saw mention of something like this existing on (of all places) Wikipedia a year…

  • The Whites of Nepal’s Eyes

    White Tea Week, Day 2: “The Whites of Nepal’s Eyes” Back in June, again at World Tea Expo, I had the pleasure of meeting the proprietors of the new company, Nepali Tea Traders. I first sought them out when I noticed they had Nepalese oolongs and a Nepalese pu-erh among their wares. I found both…

  • Bi Luo the Belt

    White Tea Week, Day 1: “Bi Luo the Belt” In late 2012, I was given a unique opportunity. Canton Tea Co. wanted me to guest blog for them, relating my personal experiences with Dan Cong oolongs. I did finally get around to said blog…oh…three months after they asked. Instead of using it for “just” a…

  • Journeys to Jungpana

    The Darjeeling tea estate of Jungpana has a unique history for its name. According to Norbu Tea Company, there are two possible origin stories. One Norbu Greg heard from the locals states that the name is an alteration of the Farsi word “Jahanpanah”, which means “Shelter of the World” – in reference to how the…

  • A Bourbon Barrel Pu-erh Origin Story

    I talk a lot about new and interesting teas on this blog. It’s kind of my thing. But this article’s going to be a little bit different. I’ve always tried to talk about the origins to unique teas, or the regions they stem from. This is the first time where I was actually there when…

  • The Moonlight of 2013

    Earlier today, I finally clicked on my “2013: Year in Review” thingy on Facebook. For those not on the accursed social media site – all two of you in Zambia – at the end of the year, your most frequented status updates are compiled logarithmically. The Top 20 are listed in order, giving the user…