Steep Stories

Category: Tea Features

  • A Kanchan View Darjeeling Pairing

    The Kanchan View tea estate in Darjeeling has a rough history. The garden was first established in the 1880s, where it first went by the name “Rungneet”. At the peak of its hundred-plus-year production, the 250-acre garden accounted for at least 100,000 kilos of tea a year. Now? It only does about ten percent of…

  • Reading the Coffee Leaves

    In the spring of 2013, I tried a tisane made from the dried leaves of a Hawaiian coffee plant. And I wasn’t a fan. The flavor was not overly offensive, just . . . herbal. And nutty. Nutty-herbal. Okay, on “Internet” paper that doesn’t sound too terrible or unappetizing, but it wasn’t very palatable, either.…

  • Japanese Black Tea . . . from Brazil

    It may be a surprise to a lot of people, but Brazil used to produce a lot of tea. As early as 1812, even. The ugly truth of it was, though, most of those old plantations were dependent on slave labor. When slavery was abolished in 1888 . . . tea production collapsed. Enter the…

  • The Great Guan Yin Duel

    Over the years, I’ve had some fun at the expense of Guan Yin—the Bodhisattva of Compassion. Whether portraying her as having an illicit affair with Scottish botanists, or depicting her as a scorned goddess seeking vengeance against the writer of the illicit affair (me), I can’t say I’ve dealt with her fairly. Hilariously, yes .…

  • Tschanara, Germany’s First Tea Garden

    Growing tea in Germany . . . of all places . . . Blame Wikipedia for putting that fantasy in my head. I remember reading up on tea customs in European countries, and there was a sub-section on East Frisia. It was one of the few regions in Germany that even had a tea culture…

  • Agarwood Puerh, and the Tale of Two J(G)e(o)ffreys

    At the 2012 Northwest Tea Festival, I met this guy. The man in my crappy photo is Jeffrey McIntosh. Granted, his version of spelling “Geoffrey” is not the original—as mine is—but no one is perfect. However, he does hold the distinct honor of being one of the first people (younger than me) to blow my…

  • Kuding Cha

    About a year ago, I was called upon by a tea vendor to write about tisanes made from holly species. Various caffeinated infusions have been made from holly plants—guayusa, yaupon, and the granddaddy of ‘em all, yerba mate. But in my research, I ran across a beverage made from a holly plant . . .…

  • Aged Oolong from Thailand

    In all my years of writing about tea, there’s one subject I don’t think I’ve touched upon in great detail. That being: Aged oolong.  

  • When Life Gives You Shit, Drink Rummy Pu

    I have no words for how shitty this weekend was. Okay, not true. I have 1,551 words. Geez, that’s a lot.

  • Dark Tea from Taiwan

    In late 2013, I thought I tried the rarest, weirdest, most unheard-of tea unicorn out there—a heicha (dark tea) from Taiwan. After three years of palatial growth, though, I’m now convinced that it was a Yunnan grown puerh that was merely stored in Taiwan. Still unique, but not quite the unicorn I thought it was.…