What’s the Tea (Editorial Section)
I have a feeling green tea has become the tea we’re all supposed to love. It’s everywhere. Wellness conversations, morning routines, skincare trends, and those beautiful matcha drinks that somehow make an ordinary afternoon look more interesting. And honestly, I get it. Green tea can be wonderful. Fresh, grassy, sometimes sweet. But I’ve started wondering…
Stop Treating Pu-erh Like Crypto: Collecting Isn’t the Same as Enjoying There is something peculiar about buying tea that we have no intention of drinking. We examine its origin. We study the production year. We consider the reputation of the maker, the condition of the wrapper, and whether the tea might become more valuable in…
Tea as Hospitality: The Small Gestures That Make a Home I think we sometimes make hospitality sound more complicated than it needs to be. A beautifully arranged dining table. Matching plates. Fresh flowers. Something impressive coming out of the oven just as everyone arrives. All lovely things, of course. But when I think about the…
Tea Snobs Made Brewing Hard—So I’m Making It Simple Again There was a time when I thought I was making tea incorrectly. The water was probably too hot. The leaves were probably wrong. The pot was certainly not the right one. At least, that was what I had been led to believe. Tea culture can…
I used to think choosing good tea meant knowing what to look for. The right origin. A respected producer. Beautiful leaves. A good harvest. Maybe even a price tag that made me think, “This must be worth it.” Over time, I realised I was making tea shopping much harder than it needed to be. Because…
There is a habit I have noticed among tea drinkers. Sugar goes in before the first sip. Perhaps it is only a small spoonful. Perhaps two. But the tea is sweetened before it has been given a chance to introduce itself. I used to do this too. It seemed harmless. Tea was bitter, sugar made…
I used to think cold brew tea was cheating. Not seriously, of course. But there was something about it that felt almost too easy. No kettle. No worrying about water temperature. No watching the clock while the leaves steep. Just tea, cold water, and a little patience. It seemed suspiciously effortless. Then I actually started…
There is a particular disappointment that comes from making a cup of tea that tastes bitter. You choose the leaves carefully. You heat the water. You wait. Then the first sip arrives, and something feels wrong. For a long time, I assumed bitterness meant the tea itself was not very good. Perhaps the leaves were…
I used to think making tea required a thermometer. Not literally, perhaps, but almost. Every tea seemed to have a number attached to it. Green tea at this temperature. Oolong at another. Black tea a little hotter. Too hot and you had apparently ruined everything. For a while, I took these rules quite seriously. Then…
I did not understand oolong when I first encountered it. It seemed unnecessarily complicated. Green tea was green tea. Black tea was black tea. I understood where they stood. Oolong seemed determined to remain somewhere in between. Perhaps that was what initially kept me from appreciating it. Over time, however, I began to realise that…