Earlier this year, TJ Williamson of the World Tea Podcast invited us to join him in leading a session on industry-specific podcasting at Podcamp Toronto . And when the nice folks at Podcamp also gave us the opportunity to record a Talking Tea episode in front of a live audience at Toronto's Imperial Pub , TJ graciously agreed to join us as a guest on Talking Tea, to chat about the backgrounds of our two podcasts, why we do what we do, and about TJ's work in tea outside of his show. TJ tells us a...
Mar 31, 2017•23 min
We're calling this episode "learning tea" because learning about tea can be like learning a language - like learning English, or French, or Chinese, or any other language. There's a vocabulary to tea, and the world of tea is so vast, with so many words, facts and concepts to learn and keep track of, that it's easy to get overwhelmed. Compounding this in the English-speaking world is the fact that tea terms are often actually in another language - most commonly Chinese or Japanese. So what's a te...
Mar 08, 2017•28 min
Most tea consumers never have the opportunity to visit the source of the teas we drink - the tea growers and tea makers in the various tea-producing regions around the world. So here at Talking Tea we've been wanting to hear an insider's take on sourcing trips, to get an idea of what sourcing trips are like and what tea retailers look for when they source their teas. Today we welcome back Shiho Kanamaru of Montreal's Cha Do Raku, to get that insider's look at sourcing. Shiho tells us how she beg...
Feb 03, 2017•28 min
As temperatures begin to drop outdoors and autumn settles into early winter, the scent of smoke rising from chimneys fills the evening air in just about every place we visit in the cooler climates. But the unmistakable aroma and taste of smoke is not something many of us actively seek out in our teas, and the famously smokey Lapsang Souchong is often overlooked by serious tea drinkers. So it's been quite a pleasant surprise discovering that high quality Lapsang Souchongs can have great levels of...
Dec 18, 2016•33 min
Today on Talking Tea we focus on the nuances of flavor, and how to fully appreciate the taste of tea by engaging all of our senses. Guiding us through this exploration of tasting is Billy Dietz, a tea development specialist based in Montreal. We chat with Billy via Skype as he shares a little of his own remarkable tea journey and then takes us through two methods of preparing a tea he selected for this episode, a Muzha Tie Kwan Yin oolong from Taiwan provided by Naivetea. We compare the preparat...
Nov 06, 2016•53 min
What did Talking Tea do this summer? We went to summer school, of course. Tea summer school, that is. In August we attended one of the English-language Summer School workshops offered through the tea school at Montreal's Camellia Sinensis. After the workshop we sat down with Kevin Gascoyne of Camellia Sinensis to chat about current and emerging trends in tea education. Kevin talks with us about Camellia Sinensis' model for tea education, how its tea school began with a goal of giving consumers b...
Sep 16, 2016•1 hr 5 min
This week on Talking Tea we're exploring the intricacies of sencha, the most ubiquitous of Japanese green teas. Sencha? Intricate? Many tea drinkers don't think of those two words in the same context, but we sit down with Zach Mangan of Kettl, a Japanese tea seller based in Fukuoka, Japan and Brooklyn, New York, to sample some senchas and to look at how multifaceted this tea can be. Kettl has developed a reputation for being a purveyor of tea to some of the most acclaimed restaurants in New York...
Aug 04, 2016•42 min
Since we launched Talking Tea in 2014, one of our main areas of focus has been the continuing growth of tea enthusiasm in North America. We've chatted with tea sellers, educators and writers, but we haven't had the chance to talk with anyone actually farming tea in the US or Canada. Until now. Today on Talking Tea we welcome Eliah Halpeny and Cam Muir of Big Island Tea, a pioneering tea farm and producer on the (you guessed it) big island of Hawaii. Eliah and Cam have created an ecologically com...
Jun 30, 2016•44 min
This week on Talking Tea we return to the Tea Institute at Penn State University to explore the evolution and burgeoning growth of interest in Japanese tea ceremony study at the Institute and beyond, and the transformative nature of tea ceremony practice. We first chat with Drew Hanson, founding instructor of the Urasenke program at the Institute. Drew talks with us about his own journey from art to tea, the history and development of the Japanese track at the Institute, and changing demographic...
Jun 03, 2016•40 min
If you've listened to our Talkin' Matcha episodes you'll recognize the name of Tyas Huybrechts. Tyas has been a blogger and tea ceremony instructor based in Osaka and Kyoto, Japan, and we're delighted to welcome Tyas back to Talking Tea to chat about his new venture, The Tea Crane, a company focused on chemical-free Japanese tea. Tyas shares his views on how the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides has impacted the taste and aroma of Japanese teas and influenced the preferences of tea cons...
May 02, 2016•37 min
An institute dedicated to intensive, interdisciplinary tea education and research is not something you'll typically see at a college or university in North America - or anywhere else, for that matter. But it's exactly what you'll find at Penn State University in State College, Pennsylvania, where an initiative originally undertaken by students has resulted in the groundbreaking, university-funded Tea Institute at Penn State. This week on Talking Tea we visit the Penn State Tea Institute and chat...
Mar 30, 2016•52 min
This week on Talking Tea we look at the growing popularity of tea and tea culture among youth and teens. Chatting with us (via Skype) is Connor Adlam of Tching.com , the well-known blog and online forum for tea information. Connor, the intern social media editor at Tching and also a member of this demographic, shares his perspectives both from a personal standpoint and from his work at Tching. We chat about what makes tea and tea culture attractive to younger drinkers, the role of social media i...
Feb 25, 2016•37 min
We're releasing this episode in between the Western new year and the Asian lunar new year, and we took this opportunity to quiet our minds, turn inward a bit, and look again at tea as a contemplative practice. Chatting with us in this exploration is Ven. Hyeonmin Prajna, a Zen teacher in the Five Mountain Zen Order based in New York City, and a student and practitioner of Japanese tea ceremony in the Dai Nihon Chado Gakkai school of tea. The history of tea culture is so intertwined with Zen Budd...
Jan 27, 2016•30 min
In our last episode of Talking Tea we began to explore the elements of a quality tea with Shunan Teng of New York City's Tea Drunk. As examples of what to look for in choosing tea, Shunan selected two historically famous teas from China. We began in our last episode by looking at Gua Pian, a green tea, and now we chat with Shunan about Bai Hao Yin Zhen, also known as Silver Needles, as we continue discussing how to spot a quality tea. Shunan chats with us about some of the unique characteristics...
Dec 24, 2015•21 min
This week on Talking Tea we return to Tea Drunk in New York City to chat with Shunan Teng, founder and owner of Tea Drunk, about tips and tricks for identifying quality teas. As an example of what to look for in choosing tea, Shunan selects a Gua Pian, a historically famous green tea from China. Shunan uses our exploration of Gua Pian to break some myths about tea quality, and tells us what to look for in appearance, aroma and taste. We chat about how different methods of plucking, shaping and f...
Nov 25, 2015•38 min
We're continuing our exploration of Taiwanese oolongs this week with a focus on one of the most celebrated of Taiwanese teas, Baozhong. Shiuwen Tai, of Seattle's Floating Leaves Tea, gave us such a fantastic and comprehensive intro to Taiwanese oolongs in our last episode that we had to invite her back to give us some more in-depth knowledge, and we asked Shiuwen to talk about Baozhong because, well, it's one of our favorite oolongs. Shiuwen chats with us about Baozhong's history, from its origi...
Oct 28, 2015•39 min
This week on Talking Tea we begin exploring the spectrum of Taiwanese oolongs with Shiuwen Tai of Seattle's Floating Leaves Tea. Shiuwen chats with us via Skype about the history of tea in Taiwan, and how Taiwan's tea production has been influenced by its relationships with both China and Japan. We discuss some of the factors that go into forming the unique flavor profiles of oolong teas from Taiwan, including aged oolongs, why mouthfeel and texture are important in evaluating tea, and then take...
Sep 22, 2015•54 min
We’re back in Montreal this week on Talking Tea chatting with Kevin Gascoyne of Montreal’s famed Camellia Sinensis Tea House. Kevin, a co-owner of Camellia Sinensis, is known around the world as a prominent tea taster, educator and author. We talk with Kevin about his passion for Darjeeling teas, how classically grown Darjeelings compare with newer clonal teas, and current trends in tea processing. Kevin also discusses fair trade and labor conditions at tea gardens in India and elsewhere, and sh...
Aug 28, 2015•52 min
Today at Talking Tea we’re in Montreal beginning our exploration of this city’s vibrant tea scene. Our first stop is Cha Do Raku, a new tea house and shop in Montreal’s Plateau district. Cha Do Raku (it means “decadence of tea” in Japanese) and its owner and founder, Shiho Kanamaru, have already made a name for themselves through the highly regarded teas offered through Cha Do Raku’s online store. Today we visit Shiho in her new shop and chat about how she realized her dream of a tea space that ...
Aug 13, 2015•33 min
On today's episode we have two guests speaking to us from Oxalis Tea and Coffee in the Czech Republic. First up is Petr Zelik, owner and founder of Oxalis. Petr chats with us about tea culture in the Czech Republic, and especially about the challenges and successes of building a tea company after the fall of Communism. We also explore Oxalis’ offerings of Korean teas, which are not easy to come by among quality tea offerings in the US. Our second guest is Julian Overall, who coordinates Oxalis’s...
Jul 30, 2015•43 min
One of the things we hear over and over again from people in the tea world is how so many great relationships have been created and nurtured through tea. But what is it in tea culture that's so good at bringing us together? In this week's episode we get philosophical about tea and relationships with Benjamin Olshin and Alex Schein, two men whose own friendship was forged over tea and who have helped build community through tea in their professional and personal lives. Ben, a writer, teacher and ...
Jun 15, 2015•47 min
This week on Talking Tea we’re back in Philadelphia at Shofuso, an authentic, and quite amazing, Japanese house and garden with a fully functioning tea house and roji, or tea garden. We’re joined by Derek Finn, Shofuso’s site and program manager, and Morgan Beard of Urasenke Philadelphia, an organization dedicated to practicing and teaching the Japanese way of tea. Morgan is returning to Talking Tea after having been a guest on our “Artful Tea” episode. In this week’s podcast, Derek, Morgan and ...
Apr 28, 2015•52 min
This week on Talking Tea we chat via Skype with Chris Olsen of Teatulia, an organic tea producer based in Bangladesh founded on principles of social responsibilty and sustainability. You may be familiar with the unique flavor profiles of Teatulia's teas and blends, and Chris and I discuss the influence of the Bangladeshi terroir on the complex flavors and aromas of some of Teatulia's award-winning teas. But what most impressed us at Talking Tea was the positive impact Teatulia has made on the en...
Apr 09, 2015•32 min
You might think we're having an identity crisis this week on Talking Tea, since our host and guest on this week's podcast share the same name. In this week's show our host and producer Ken Cohen chats with renowned qigong master and author Ken Cohen, who also writes and lectures extensively about the health benefits of tea. Ken shares his personal tea journey with us, talks about both the health benefits and the spiritual benefits of tea from the perspectives of Western science and traditional C...
Mar 12, 2015•1 hr 5 min
Have you been wondering how to make a bowl of matcha without the ritual of a formal tea ceremony? How to get a smooth, frothy lime-green foam that looks and tastes great? Talking Tea is here to help. In Part 2 of Talkin' Matcha, tea blogger Tyas Huybrechts explains how to make a fine bowl of matcha in a few easy steps. Tyas also recommends this YouTube link demonstrating a good whisking technique for preparing matcha at home: http://youtu.be/HDS6cFKETnU Tyas' blog, Tea Talk, is at www.tea-talk.b...
Feb 19, 2015•23 min
This week Talking Tea talks matcha with Tyas Huybrechts, founder and blogger at Tea Talk, a blog devoted entirely to Japanese green teas. Matcha, a powdered green tea that's whisked into a frothy brew, is fast becoming the caffeinated drink of choice among many in the West, and Tyas tells us about matcha's history and cultural background in Japan, how it's grown and processed, and what to look for in buying quality matcha. Tyas is also a long-time student (and soon-to-be tea master) of the Enshu...
Jan 29, 2015•38 min
This week Talking Tea is back in Philadelphia to chat with Rebecca Goldschmidt of Philly's Random Tea Room & Curiosity Shop, one of the most eclectic tea shops we've encountered on our tea journeys to date. Rebecca talks with us about her own path of tea and her aim of providing a space for health and well-being, which come together to create the unique tea environment that is the Random Tea Room. Rebecca also gives us a short overview of gong fu cha, one of the various ways tea is prepared ...
Jan 05, 2015•24 min
On our pre-holiday episode of Talking Tea we chat with Andy Hayes, founder and tea maker at Plum Deluxe, a tea blender based in Portland, Oregon. Andy talks with us about his mission to help people slow down and craft a life they really enjoy, and how this goal, combined with Andy's views on the importance of organic teas and his experiences of European tea traditions, influences his blending process. More on Plum Deluxe's teas can be found on its website, www.plumdeluxe.com , on Pinterest at pi...
Dec 17, 2014•27 min
This week on Talking Tea we chat with Morgan Beard of Urasenke Philadelphia, an organization dedicated to practicing and teaching the Japanese way of tea. We recorded our podcast inside the amazing Japanese galleries at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which include a complete tea house and garden as well as centuries-old tea utensils and masterpieces of Japanese art. Morgan talks with us about some of the objects in the galleries (including the tea bowl shown here), and about how Japanese tradit...
Nov 25, 2014•43 min
Everything you always wanted to know about pu erh but were afraid to ask...and more. In Part 2 of "Drunk on Tea", Shunan Teng of New York City's Tea Drunk shatters some myths about pu erh tea, contrasts cooked vs. raw pu erh, and talks in-depth about pu erh regions and fermentation. Shunan also chats with us about her ongoing tea classes and events at Tea Drunk. Tea Drunk's website is at www.t-drunk.com . Its Twitter feed is @ teadrunknyc . For more information on Talking Tea and updates on new ...
Nov 04, 2014•31 min
