Between 10th-12th May Shizuoka held a tea festival called – World O-CHA(Tea) Festival. Tea festivals in Shizuoka are held every three years. The first festival has held in 2001. In 2019 is the 7th time to organize it. This year the plan is to organize the festival twice: in spring and autumn. Spring festival was already held in […]
Spring is when some of the most prized Japanese teas are made. Called ‘jade dew’, Gyokuro is one of the highest-grade teas of this season. Rich an umami unlike any other tea, Gyokuro is appreciated in Japan and around the world. But how did it come to be and how is it produced? The story […]
On 11th May Anna was invited by Jenny Chih-Chieh Teng from Mellow Sheng to join one of her beautiful tea ceremonies in Barcelona. As they both share a passion for kombucha and fermentation, Anna was asked to brew Goishicha! The ceremony started with an introduction of the teas – and the brewers – and went on […]
Even today a lot of tea in Japan is sold in tea auctions. The first opening of the auction is always a big event. It gathers people from all walks of the tea industry. Tea buyers – usually big tea wholesalers, are the key participants of course. But you can also meet tea farmers, agricultural […]
Many have heard this word, but what does it mean? It seems there is quite a bit of confusion around it. Translated from Japanese shincha (新茶) literally means ‘new tea’. Following this it seems it could refer to any new tea. Usually, however, it is used to describe tea harvested and processed in spring season. […]
Bologna Tea Festival In Tè Festival in Italy was fun and inspiring! 9 people attended our workshop on regional banchas. To our surprise, bancha is lately quite known in Italy, but most of what can be found is summer or autumn harvest. The persons that joined were then surprised to taste many different flavours compared to what […]
March is the month when winter sets off and tea plants are pruned to be prepared for the incoming spring. The big leaves that came all this way through winter, are the very last leaves of the year. Because very coarse, in some regions are just cut off and used as fertiliser. Nevertheless, in some places […]
Japan, one of the ten largest tea producers in the world, have a large number of tea professionals involved with Japanese tea in one way or another: be it tea farming, tea processing, sales, education, etc. There is even an organization for young tea professionals – under 45 years old. The purpose of the organization […]