Steep Stories

Tag: black tea

  • Tea from Jersey. (Not THAT Jersey.)

    Let’s talk about Jersey. No, not that Jersey. This Jersey. The island of Jersey—better known locally and colloquially—as the Bailiwick of Jersey is one of the larger islands located in the English Channel. In fact, all such islands are considered “Channel Islands”, collectively. And, like the Bailiwick of Guersney, Jersey is considered a dependency of…

  • The Fairhope Tea Plantation

    As I’ve said many times, it often takes a mere photograph to grab my attention, and to remind me of something I’ve neglected. For instace, this one. This was posted in August by blogger compatriot (and all-around great guy) Eric of One Man’s Tea Journey.  In the spring of 2019, he paid a visit to…

  • There Once Were Two Teas from Huiming

    Sometimes, in my search for new teas to try, I get drawn in by mentions of particular producers. This is Wei Zhong He. I first learned of him through my dealings with Kevin Gascoyne (Camellia Sinensis Tea House’s “Darjeeling guy”), and he particularly caught my attention for one reason. He experimented with using Darjeeling first…

  • The Black and White of Benifuki

    Benifuki is an interesting Japanese tea tree cultivar. For one, it’s a cross between a cultivar heralding from the assamica variety, and another cultivar of the sinensis variety. A cross-breeding of this sort was to create a high-yielding cultivar designed for black tea and oolong production. Back in the 1960s, and even further back, Japan…

  • A Long-Awaited Look at Latumoni

    Throughout 2018, there was one name I could not escape. Latumoni. It was the name given to a village in Northeastern Assam, situated in the uppermost part of the Dibrugarh district. It was apparently so remote; it didn’t even show up as a physical location on Google Maps. (At least, not in English.) Stranger still,…

  • The Ruckus over Ruan Zhi

    Ruan Zhi—or “soft stem”— is a particular cultivated variety (or cultivar) of tea plant originally hailing from China, before making its way to Taiwan, and then migrating further along to Thailand and Myanmar . . . I think? I say “I think?” because, well, information is not all that clear about the cultivar’s origins. As…

  • Two Teas from Arunachal Pradesh

    Of all the states in India, Arunachal Pradesh is one of the most mysterious and mystical. I’m not exaggerating. A cursory research glance turned up nothing concrete in regards to an agreed-upon “history” prior to the 1900s. The rest is conjecture, subjective, and vague—depending on who is relating the info. Even the official border between…

  • A Tea Leaf on the Wind

    In the hierarchy of tea businesses, monthly tea subscription services are like man-buns. Unless you have a really good reason for starting one—or your name is Toshiro Mifune—it is usually best not to. Since 2014, there has been a veritable surge of tea start-ups, and the route they’ve all chosen? You guessed it, the monthly…

  • A Mabian, Sichuan Tea Flight

    This may come as a surprise (to no one), but I’m a bit of a lurker in the tea community. Various social media groups exist celebrating our beloved beverage and the many facets therein. On Facebook alone, I keep a keen eye out for interesting posts by some members of these groups. Particularly if someone…

  • A Series of Single Origin Tea Sonnets

    In the Spring of 2017, I met this eccentric chap.