This is the time of year when our big shipments of teas arrive by sea from China, India, and Sri Lanka. Remember, tea is an agricultural crop and, for the most part, follows the seasons. With some exceptions, most tea production areas have wound down production for the year. We have made many of our buying decisions from this year’s offerings.   And we have a whole bunch of wonderful new teas to entice. We have some teas from one of the smallest family tea farms in India, also unheard of teas from Taiwan, and a new Sencha from Japan, and much more. We're excited to offer two exotic teas from the Doke Estate, the Black Fusion and the Green Diamond.  The Doke Tea Estate is one of the newest and smallest tea gardens in India.  I had the pleasure of visiting this tea estate and its founder, Rajiv Lochan (a life-long tea expert, who managed many of Darjeeling's most famous tea estates).  This estate, as it was made clear to me during my travels to India, is driven by passion and a generation-spanning love of tea.  They are producing some of the most unique and special teas coming out of India.

All the teas are hand-processed in very small batches at the Doke Estate, supervised by Rajiv's daughter Dolly Lochan (on the right), using family and local villagers to help.
Doomini Estate, 2nd Flush, TGFOP1

Also hailing from India, we have welcomed a handful of new Assams.  The tea growing region of Assam, in the far east of India, is known for producing heavy, thick, hearty black teas with a distinctive malty note to the flavor.  While in India this spring, I was able to observe a tea auction in Assam.  This tradition is over 100 years old, but has morphed into the digital/virtual age.  If Assams are your "cup of tea", you must check these out!

• Assam, Dinjoye Estate, 2nd Flush, TGFOP1
• Assam, Doomini Estate, 2nd Flush, TGFOP1
• Assam, Halmari Estate, 2nd Flush, TGFOP1
• Assam, Khagorijan Estate, 2nd Flush, FTGFOP1
• Assam, Khongea Estate, Special, TGFOP

  One of the more unique teas on this recent shipment of teas: the Makaibari Estate, Silver Tips.  I like to say that this tea is "historic."  This was the last tea produced at the Makaibari estate by the Bannerjee family; who founded this garden in 1859 and sold Makaibari in the summer of 2014.  I was so fortunate to meet with the owner before the sale of the estate.  And TeaSource is so fortunate to have such a remarkable tea available to its customers. Listening to the vast knowledge of the (at the time) owner of the Makaibari Estate. There is always more to learn when it comes to tea.

What other new teas are here?  (For a complete list, visit TeaSource’s website.)

• Darjeeling, Giddapahar Estate, 2nd Flush, Musk
• Darjeeling, Glenburn Estate, 2nd Flush, FTGFOP1
• Darjeeling, Jungpana Estate, 2nd Flush, FTGFOP1
• Darjeeling, Longview Estate, 2nd Flush, TGFBOP
• 1999 Sheng Puer
• Gunpowder Oolong
• Darjeeling, Goomtee Estate, Green Wonder
• Sencha #20

One more thing: we are expecting a shipment of eight pallets of tea from China.  A handful of new teas will be arriving any day!  Of course, we will let you know as soon as they are released.  What’s the best way to keep in touch with our retail/online store happenings?  Follow us on Facebook or Twitter. I hope you enjoy these new teas!  I know I am.

--Bill Waddington Owner, TeaSource

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Shop Ms. Zhang's tea collection HERE.

I don’t think of myself as a tea master, I’m just a long-time student of tea. But I get to hang out with tea masters. For three days this month I got to be with Ms. Zhang Liumie, who is a co-founder of Yiqingyuan Tea LTD, Changsha China, and a tea scientist respected throughout China.   Ms. Zhang and her daughter (aka charming translator) were in the Twin Cities for three days this month to share some new teas, talk opportunities, and teach about Dark Tea. We had a great visit and had a chance to taste a bunch of new teas and show Ms Z and Joy what tea stores in the U.S. are like. We started by visiting the TeaSource in Eden Prairie, MN and Ms. Z asked if she could try something she had never had before. To me this is a sign of a really smart person, someone who looks to experience something new and unfamiliar.   So we shared a pot of Ceylon Burning Sun from the Lumbini Estate. Ms Z and Joy were very impressed. The next day we talked a lot about Dark Tea. Then I invited Ms Z and Joy to help us evaluate about 30 Indian teas we had just received from this year’s harvest. This was kind of fun because, despite her brilliance Ms Z. wasn’t that familiar with Indian teas.   But it was still a learning experience, cupping teas with her. Ms Z and I getting ready to cup and evaluate around 30 very fresh Indian teas. She really makes me think I have to re-evalutate the TeaSource dress code A whole lot of slurping going on; with Michael and Joy in the background.[/caption]   The real highlight of their visit was a 30 minute Livestream broadcast by Ms. Z and Joy, talking about Dark Tea. How often do folks get the chance to listen, learn, and interact with the person who actually made the tea they are drinking? We opened this presentation to folks in the Twin Cities region to participate; so folks could actually listen to a tea master, they could taste (real-time) some very cool unique dark teas, and also so Ms. Z had someone to talk to (Livestreaming by yourself is not as easy as it seems).

Getting ready to do the Livestream; Ms Z, Joy, Sarah C, and me. I had only given Ms Z about 2 days notice she was doing this presentation. Talk about grace under pressure

Here we go !!![/caption]   Just a reminder to everyone; this Livestream broadcast should be available in the Livestream archives through mid-August 2014. And please remember we try to do at least one of these Livestream events every month, and they’re interactive.

Ms Z tearing into a log of 100 Taels tea. This is a compressed tea that is hand-wrapped with bamboo and then left to age.

Everyone was learning a lot and tasting a lot of teas. I’ve known Ms Z and Joy for around six years. Joy has spent Christmas with my family. Lovely, kind, and smart people. Ms Z reminds of Michelle Yeoh (the female lead in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon-with a dash of Margaret Thatcher thrown in). I am very glad to have her as a friend and teacher.

And we were having, maybe, too much fun.

I guess you call this a mother-daughter routine. Everyone was really having a good time; it’s so much fun to learn from people who really know what they are talking about.

A couple of the teas we tasted, 100 Taels tea (in the background) and our Fu cha brick (in the foreground).

This is our Hei Cha dark tea cubes, from 2011 (remember all Dark teas get better as they age), and this really impressed Ms Z. The golden flowers were very prominent and the flavor was very smooth and meadow-y. Ms. Z commented that it was better than the Hei Cha she had back in China, which is ironic since I had bought this from her in 2011. So I sent her home with some. That felt good.

Joy, me, Ms Z, and Michael  

A lot of people assume the coolest part of my job is playing with tea all day (and that is definitely very cool). But the absolute best part of my job is all the people I’ve met along the tea road. -Bill

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We, at TeaSource, are thrilled to have Ms. Zhang Liumei, one of the founders of Yiqingyuan and one of our great resources in China, in Minneapolis this week.  Ms. Zhang is a tea scientist and is known for her botanical expertise. She personally creates new teas and is an expert in the area of Dark Tea, some of which we carry at TeaSource.  We are honored to have this close relationship and are excited to learn more about Dark Tea from her.

She will be doing a Livestream demonstration and talk on Dark Tea on Thursday, July 10^th at Noon. You will not want to miss this opportunity to listen, learn, and ask questions. We will be doing a short Q&A after the talk. There will be limited seating available at our St. Anthony location during the demonstration.  We hope you tune in!

To watch online, go to TeaSource's Livestream Talk with a Tea Master event page and log in (or create a new account). 

Enjoy!

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“I’ve never heard of that kind of tea before.” Bill Waddington

Milk tea being made at the Rohini Estate, Darjeeling, India.

It’s not very often that I say those words. But it happened while I was in India last month. Almost every tea place I stopped in - street stalls, tea broker’s offices, tea gardens - I would be asked if I wanted tea. Of course I would say “yes.”   I would be asked if I wanted “black tea” or “milk tea.” And this gave me pause. 

Milk tea being served at the Rohini Estate, Darjeeling.

At first I thought they just meant a black tea served with milk on the side. But it became clear this was not what they meant. “Milk Tea” was a completely different/unique concoction: not black tea, not tea with milk, not “Royal Milk Tea,” not boba or bubble tea, not chai tea (or masala chai). I already knew all of those.   Milk tea is its own thing. So of course I asked for it. Then asked for it at the next place, and the next place ...   It’s reaalllly good.   It is strong, sweet, smooth, milky (duh), and the method of preparation totally took me by surprise.   In the interest of full disclosure my wife did not like it, but EVERYONE at TeaSource did.

This is one of the things I most love about tea: almost every culture in the world drinks tea-and almost all of them do something different with it.  Tea snobs be damned.

On Thursday, April 17 at Noon (CST) I will be doing a Livestream broadcast, demonstrating how to make Indian Milk Tea. To participate, just click here, log in, then sit back and enjoy!

FYI, we try to do Livestream broadcasts approximately once a month. All are welcome to watch and participate. We announce these on Twitter and Facebook, as well as our monthly email newsletter.

Thanks, -Bill

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Manufacturing tea is an art, it’s poetry in motion, it’s farmer-chef-craftsman-mechanic-chemist, all melded together. A few weeks ago, I did it in a conference room in Atlanta, GA. And "they" were right, even trying this was crazy... but, son-of-a-gun, the teas actually turned out pretty good.  You can come to TeaSource Eden Prairie on Sunday, December 8th from Noon-2p and taste them for yourself!

Our fresh tea leaves: soon to be white, green, yellow, oolong and black.

In late October, I co-presented a workshop to tea professionals at the World Tea East Exhibition in Atlanta, GA.   This workshop was called Processing Tea: An Experiential Workshop. The idea was we would fly in just plucked tea leaves from Hawaii by Overnight Air.   Then over the two days of the workshop, using these fresh tea leaves we (along with the class attendees) would manufacture: white, green, yellow, oolong, and black tea. I presented this class with Donna Fellman of the World Tea Academy (part of World Tea Media).   Donna and World Tea Media deserve tremendous credit for taking a huge chance, putting up the cash necessary, and providing all the support possible.  Donna is one of the world’s great tea educators.   For the record, this was the third time we did  this class. In this blog, over the next few posts, I am going to tell the story of what happened. In Hawaii, Eva Stone, proprietor of Tea Hawaii & Co., supplied us with fresh plucked tea leaves.

The tea fields and the home of Tea Hawaii & Co.

Based on experience, Donna has developed a system of packing and layering and insulating the tea leaves using dry ice and coolers: so that when we unpacked the tea leaves in Atlanta, they looked like they had been plucked off the bush about three hours before.

Donna Fellman, unpacking and sorting the just arrived tea leaves.

Take a look at those leaves. This is what tea leaves look like, a few hours after being plucked. A relatively small amount of withering has taken place, so the leaf gets kind of floppy (I try to avoid the word flaccid). This also happens as the leaves come in from the fields to the factories. In our case, the withering took place on the FedEx plane ride, but this withering was slowed down considerably by the packing and dry ice. The leaves arrived pretty much ready for the first step in manufacture.

The fresh tea leaves, laid out, ready for processing.

More tea leaves laid out, ready for manufacture: loosely organized into piles for white, green, yellow, oolong, and black tea.[/caption]

During two, three-hour workshops, over each of the next two days, we were going to try to mimic what happens at a tea factory, as the freshly plucked tea leaves are brought in from the field.  By definition, this is kinda crazy. We weren’t in a tea factory—we were in a conference room at a convention center. We were going to try to make five different types of tea: all in the same room, at the same time. We didn’t have any of the equipment available at a tea factory. The climate was totally wrong and uncontrollable (we were battling hotel-level air conditioning). And most importantly we are NOT tea manufacturing experts.  Donna’s a great communicator, and I’m just a tea merchant.   They were right, this was crazy—who the heck did we think we were ??? But we were determined to try and manufacture by hand all categories of tea: except for Dark Tea & Puer --- I admit it, we chickened out on this --- maybe next year. And not only were we going to manufacture these teas, we were also going to demonstrate and teach others how these teas are processed.

Donna and Eva, kicking off the class.

Over the next few posts I will show and tell details about processing all five of these teas.  The bottom line is, the class worked.  And on Sunday, December 8th from Noon until 2:00pm at our Eden Prairie TeaSource we will be steeping and sampling all five of these teas we made.  I should note there is not much of each tea, so when we run out (and we will) that’s it. This is almost a once in a lifetime experience, especially if you are unlikely to ever visit an actual tea estate.  

Also, I will be there just to talk about tea, answer tea questions, and chat about all things camellia sinensis.  Stop by if you get the chance.

-Bill Waddington

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