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To say tea is ingrained in Japanese culture would be an understatement. Tea came to Japan from China in the eighth century. It continues to be the first point of contact in social situations at home, at work, at a restaurant, you name it. Complimentary green tea is common at most businesses the way coffee or water is offered in the U.S. Tea is everywhere in Japan.
Personal tea accessories are stored in tea caddies
There is a misconception that matcha is the most popular tea in Japan. You are more likely to find matcha flavored snacks and treats instead of the beverage (although it isn't hard to find). The formal Japanese tea ceremony is not a popular endeavor among the younger generation.
Matcha brownie - Get the recipe here
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Sencha green tea is the most widely consumed tea in Japan. Rice crackers are a popular snack to serve with tea.
Sencha #35
Sencha & rice cracker snacks
Genmaicha, a green tea with toasted and popped rice, is traditionally served cold in the summer in Japan. It has a toasty, refreshing quality that goes down easy on hot, humid days.
Cold brew Genmaicha with rice crackers wrapped in seaweed
TeaSource has been direct sourcing green tea from the Otsuka Green Tea Company in Shizuoka since 2013. Try one of their fantastic teas next time you're planning a gathering with family and friends!
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Polar vortex. Arctic invasion. Record-breaking snowfall.
February was a challenging month to say the least. Tea has been a lifesaver for our mental health, physical well-being, and general mood as we live through another Minnesota winter. Now that spring is just a couple weeks away, we thought our tea-loving customers would enjoy something green...and chocolate!
Matcha Brownies: Get the recipe here!
Tips and observations:
- This recipe is quite small, so don't expect to have leftovers!
- The recipe calls for cashews (which we did use) but these are easily left out or substituted.
- We used our ceremonial grade Matcha Usucha in this recipe (recommended). Alternatively, you can use Organic Matcha. Enjoy!
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Mr. Lin's tea fields
We were atop the highest point for miles around. From here you can see how tea has sculpted the terrain. The vastness is visceral. The drive up here was a bit nerve-wracking to someone conditioned to American roads, but totally worth it (once it’s over). The surrounding fields are the raw materials of Mr. Lin Rui Fu.
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Me & Mr. Lin
I struggled to find relevant questions to ask him. Not only was this due to the language barrier, but the cultural barrier that the long history of tea in China casts over an American like me who doesn’t share those kinds of memories. I am also a bit intimidated because I’m clearly impressed by Mr. Lin and don’t want him to think I’m an idiot.
158 year old Huang Jin Gui
He comes from six generations of tea makers and started by helping his father and grandfather at age eleven. He says he grew to love it early on and so he stuck with it. The man he attributes to being his tea teacher is 80 years old and still lives in the village. He says he still talks to him regularly about tea making. Mr. Lin’s own children have decided not to go into the tea business, so he will be the last generation of his family to take this path.
The town of Hu Qiu
When he was young he said food was scarce, but his father always told him that if you work really hard at making tea and develop your skills, you will never go hungry. This advice has worked out rather well for him. He keeps those skills focused on quality and stability, which he attributes to his steady sales. He says he loses customers sometimes because of the recent trend in favor of greener, more aromatic Ti Kwan Yin. He prefers to make the more traditional styles that involve less withering and more baking to get a stronger, deeper flavor. He tells me the customers come back…eventually.
Mr. Lin’s factoryHe has no brand. There are no logos on anything to represent his work. But he has built a good reputation and is proud of it. When talking about his preference for manual labor and natural fertilizers as opposed to using chemicals he was quick to add, “And that’s not bullshit!” – wanting to emphasize the commitment to quality, not marketing. He says the challenge now is that the market price is low for Anxi tea compared to its earlier peak when Ti Kwan Yin was the darling tea of China. Many tea farms are being abandoned. He admitted he is not making his highest quality tea at the moment since there is no demand for the price he must charge. But mid-level priced tea still sells very well. Evidence his father’s advice is paying off.
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Mr. Lin checking out the tea
My host, Daniel, frequently says Mr. Lin is “not afraid” to try certain plucking or baking techniques that are riskier, but can yield better results. Though I can only communicate with Mr. Lin through Daniel, this “not afraid” quality clearly stood out to me. He puts up no pretenses. It could all be an act, but I doubt it.
-Michael Lannier, TeaSource
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Perfect tea rows
“Are we lost?”
“Um, a little bit.”
I was perfectly okay with his response. It gave me a chance to catch my breath after the steady upward climb. Besides, the question “Are we there yet?” never crossed my mind.
I was hiking up Horse Head Rock in the Wuyi mountains with my host Daniel, fortunate to be back in China for the second time this year. There was no managed trail, just a series of paths through a seemingly endless outcrop of tea bushes (I would not exactly call these “tea fields”). I do not know who they belonged to, but the plants and the land were being actively managed.
Sometimes they are perfectly manicured rows like we so often see in photos (like the one above). Sometimes they were allowed to grow bigger and more wild (like this one).
Wild tea bushes
Our destination, Horse Head Rock, has a temple built into the base of it. According to Daniel, a single Taoist monk lives there alone. He receives no government funds. His sustenance comes from donations and what he can manage from the garden. If you enter, he might serve you tea - if he likes you. Daniel says he’s not very nice, but also expressed reverence for someone who has chosen to forgo modern life and live the most simple of existence. If he’s lying to me and this monk is living the bourgeoisie dream, I’ll never know since foreigners are not allowed inside.
Horse Head Rock
The Wuyi mountains of Fujian are famous for their oolongs known as “rock tea.” Traditional features are long, dark, twisted leaves, middling oxidation levels, and at least a light degree of baking (usually more). The best known styles of rock tea are Da Hong Pao (Big Red Robe), Shui Xian (Water Sprite), or Rou Gui (Cinnamon). When buying a Shui Xian or Rou Gui you are purchasing teas made from specific cultivars of those names. But the title Da Hong Pao is sometimes given to a tea not from one of its original cultivars and instead is meant to reflect a traditional rock oolong style. (I learned there is dispute over what is the original Da Hong Pao cultivar, nothing like a good “tea fight”).
Cupping rock oolong samples back at the office
As famous as these teas are in China, they are almost unheard of in the U.S. (only Chinese tea enthusiasts would even recognize the names). This is partially due to large demand at high prices for rock tea inside China so very little is exported. But you do not have to be a tea snob to figure out that these teas are easy to love. Though cup profiles will vary widely, the common characteristics tend to revolve around flavors we find in our holiday comfort food – citrus sweet, warming spice, and deep toasty flavors. It’s approachable enough to invite you in, but sophisticated and entertaining enough to get you to stay.
-Michael Lanner, TeaSource Operations Manager
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Michael being entertained drinking rock oolongs with Daniel Hong and Liang Gui in Wuyi, Fujian, China
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Travelogues and stories about sourcing tea all over the world.
A cool part of owning a tea company, given the fact that tea wasn’t grown in the U.S. until recently - is that you have to go where the tea is. Since the beginning, that has always been part of the plan: go to tea country, walk the fields with the growers, be in the factory as they make the tea, choose the teas I want to buy right there as they are being finished, and bring those teas directly back to the U.S.
We started doing that in 2001, and every year since we have tried to move further in this direction. In 2001 this was a little unheard of; in 2018 it is called Direct Sourcing.
One of the best parts of direct sourcing is meeting and building relationships with the people. Tea folk are linked by a love of tea. And this love of tea bridges all barriers: language, culture, and generational.
Here is a quick overview of some of our tea travels and Direct Sourcing we have done over the last 20 years. At this point, I have visited all of these locales numerous times and built relationships and friendships that are as strong as a hearty Assam.
Taiwan
There have been numerous trips to Taiwan over the last 20 years. The first was in 2001. This was my first trip to tea country.
Taiwan 2001, with 3 gentlemen who know a lot more about tea than I do: left to right Mr. Hsieh (we are at his tea packing factory), me, Mr. Fong (the patriarch of Bao Zhong production in Pingling village in northern Taiwan), and Mr. Jackson Huang, one of the great tea masters in Taiwan.
Jackson Huang and Mr. Fong have been continuing sources of inspiration and education to me for the past 17 years. They also got me drunker than a skunk one afternoon at Mr. Fong’s great grand-daughter’s restaurant on his “home-made wine.” But that is a different blog post.
A man who loves tea, Mr. Fong is the recognized Bao Zhong tea master in Pingling village in northern Taiwan.
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Taiwan is beautiful, but arable land is scarce so they squeeze in tea fields whereever they can. Above are a couple of tiny tea fields shoe-horned under a small hillside containing ancestral burial tombs.
Ceylon (Sri Lanka)
The next country I visited was Ceylon in 2003. I have since made a number of trips to Ceylon. This island nation is located off the SE tip of India. When Europeans first “discovered” Ceylon (people had been living there for centuries), they thought they had discovered the literal Garden of Eden because they couldn’t imagine any other place being so beautiful.
The only thing that surpasses the beauty of Ceylon is the friendliness and hospitality of its people.
Tea pluckers at the Rothschild Estate in central Ceylon.
Some much less skilled tea pluckers at the Lumbini Estate (that's me on the left and my wife Liz on the right).
TeaSource has a special relationship with the Lumbini Tea Estate. They have helped us and we have helped them many, many times over the years. They are friends first and foremost and business partners second. That happens a lot in the tea industry. And they just happen to make the best tea in Ceylon.
While we were exploring the entire Lumbini Valley, we ran into children of employees of the Lumbini Tea Factory. The owner and director of Lumbini, Chaminda Jayawardana, is in the background-center in the green shirt.
SHOP LUMBINI TEAS
In 2017, we were honored to be part of the ground-breaking ceremony for a new crèche and school for children of tea workers at Lumbini. TeaSource is proud to provide financial support to this crèche and school for the foreseeable future.
China
China is the birthplace of tea, despite what certain Anglophiles might say.
At least 15 of China’s provinces make tea. They all make different teas, have different tea cultures, and all think their tea is the best tea in China. So this is a very brief overview of the many tea trips to China that TeaSource has made. The people we meet and the teas we source are inexorably linked.
In 2005, I was invited to speak at the World Tea Forum in Beijing. This surprised the heck out of me. My first thought was that they just wanted a white guy, so I typed “Tea guy in America” into Google and my name came up.
Giving my speech with a simultaneous translator was a very interesting experience, especially for someone like me who talks with my hands and tends to stray from the script a lot.
In 2013, I was part of a U.S. trade mission to Puer, Yunnan, China. Ms. Zhao Yu Jie of Yunnan, China (above) has become one of our absolute favorite tea suppliers. She and her husband make the most incredible puers and black tea.
SHOP MS. ZHAO'S TEAS
People who say “wine country is so beautiful’ clearly have never visited tea country. Just look at the rolling tea fields in the mountains of Sichuan province in south central China.
Japan
Japan is the second nation to have adopted tea in the 8th century. I made my first visit to Japan in 2005 and have been back a few times since.
Mt. Fuji in the background with many tea fields (and gigantic fans) in the foreground.
In 2012 I was invited by Japan’s Dept. of Trade to visit and meet with tea growers. It was a wonderful experience and allowed me to develop new relationships with old family-owned tea companies. One of them was the Otsuka Green Tea Co., who have since visited us in Minnesota. They are one of our favorite Direct Sources for green tea.
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Women plucking leaves for Otsuka Tea Co. Karigane is one of my favorite teas from Otsuka.
The Japanese are probably the most innovative of all the tea producing tea nations. This is a tea plucking machine I saw being used near Shizuoka, Japan. Most good tea is still hand-plucked, but finding the labor for that is getting more difficult. This machine can pluck tea almost to the level of quality and care of a human tea plucker. It reminds me a little of R2D2.
India
India has been making tea since the 1830’s. TeaSource has imported teas directly from India since around 2006. I’m embarrassed that I didn’t visit India until 2012; but I’ve made up for it ever since.
Dawn in Assam at the Nya Gogra Estate.
Plucking on Darjeeling mountain sides.
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I've said it before and I'll say it again: one of the best parts of going to tea country to find tea is the people you meet along the way. Dilma saw me and my friend walking down the dirt road in a tiny village on the Darjeeling/Nepal border and invited us in for tea.
Dilma offered us black tea or milk tea. I chose milk tea. She ran outside, milked her cow, brought in the milk, and made one of the most marvelous drinks I have ever had.
Tea isn’t just about an amazing beverage; it is about the amazing people and cultures that are intertwined with that beverage. I am incredibly blessed to be a witness to and a tiny part of that.
Bill Waddington
Tea Merchant
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St Anthony Village store, 2004
We opened the second TeaSource store in St. Anthony Village near Northeast Minneapolis. This is a much larger space than the St. Paul store because we wanted to blend tea, handle web orders, and sell to wholesale customers from there.
It went from this…
...to this!
It was so nice being able to hire contractors to do most of the work this time.
We built a classroom in St. Anthony, because we will always believe in teaching about tea.
David teaching a Tea 101 class at St. Anthony.
Sarah working on web and wholesale orders at St Anthony.
Eden Prairie store, 2011
Our third retail store in Eden Prairie is our biggest retail location.
We strive to be good neighbors and active members of the community. In Eden Prairie, we have hosted tea workshops, Zumba class, writer’s workshops and tea, singers’ workshops and tea, Tea Drunk with Bill, and many other events.
Tea Masters Series
In 2009 we began the Tea Masters Series. I have always considered myself very lucky to be able to learn from some of the greatest tea experts in the world; folks who often grew up in the industry and who know a lot more about tea than I do.
These people also tended to be incredibly gracious and generous with their knowledge. I knew TeaSource customers would love to meet, learn from, and share tea with them. That was the genesis for Tea Masters.
TeaSource has hosted Tea Masters from: Taiwan (twice), Japan, Sri Lanka, India, China (twice), and California.
Thomas Shu spreads the love of Taiwan oolongs wherever he goes, Tea Masters series 2013.
Chaminda Jayawardana, owner/director of Lumbini Tea Factory, conducted a Tea Masters workshop at the TeaSource warehouse in 2016.
TeaSource Outreach & Education
As a company, we are committed to outreach and tea education in our communities and greater Twin Cities area.
We LOVE being part of the Great Minnesota Get Together!
I see our participation in the Minnesota State Fair as preparation for my post-TeaSource career; selling Ginzu Knives and Vita-Mixes under the Grandstand at the State Fair.
Our crew of runners for the St. Anthony Village Fest Parade, circa 2010.
Tea workshop at the Highland Park store.
TeaSource Wholesale
Within six months of opening the St Paul store I had chefs, restaurant owners, and coffee-shop operators knocking on my door asking me to sell them tea for their customers.
We now have wholesale customers from Alaska to Barbados and many places in-between. We sell to businesses that are in the business of re-selling the tea, either loose leaf tea in bulk or preparing it as a beverage.
Our wholesale crew, David, Michael, and Eri.
TeaSource, Roseville
In 2014, we opened the TeaSource warehouse and office in Roseville, MN. We do all of our order fulfillment, tea evaluations, tea blending, receiving/shipping, and administrative stuff there. It is a climate controlled, organic approved 10,000 sq. ft. space that we were able to design from scratch to meet our needs including “clean rooms” to handle all tea blending and packaging.
“Cupping up” (evaluating and making buying decisions) a few of the hundreds of tea samples we go through each year.
A small container of tea from China.
TeaSource Digital
We launched our first website in 1999 (thanks Matt). You couldn’t even buy tea on it - it was purely informational. But it was a start.
We launched our first reasonably decent website in 2009, along with this slogan:
We try to poke fun at ourselves when we can...TeaSource in the Future
Sometimes people ask me what I do for a living. I usually respond “I’m a tea merchant.”
Basically my job involves playing with tea and being nice to people. That’s what TeaSource is all about. We don’t plan to change direction.
The success TeaSource has enjoyed over the last 20 years is not because of me. It’s because of all the people who have supported us, taught us, supplied us, worked with us, and patronized us. My deepest thanks to you all.
Bill Waddington
Tea Merchant
