Buddhist pilgrimage tour of India & Nepal where I fell in love with Masala Chai. Learn all about tea as the ordinary Indians make it, spicy, hot & sweet. Amazing “green” little clay masala tea cups known as chullarhs. Masala Chai tea recipes & tea culture in India. Ingenious portable tea kettles from my Buddhist tour of India.
Gaiwan – the quintessential tea-drinking utensil in Chinese tea culture. The Chinese use the gaiwan teacup to symbolise “Man standing firmly on the Earth and holding up the Heaven”. Learn how to use a gaiwan tea cup and find out how the gaiwan tea cup was invented!
“What temperature should I brew this tea at?” is one of the most frequently asked questions. This blog attempts to explain how the ancients “read” the temperature of water without a thermometer.
Fabulous scene in John Woo’s film Red Cliff (Part II) where the beautiful Xiao Qiao uses the tea ritual to entice the evil Cao Cao to delay his attack ships.
It is possible get drunk on tea by drinking excessive amounts of strong tea or drinking tea on an empty stomach. Tea is not a good beverage to relieve the effects of drunkenes contrary to popular belief in the Orient.
A humble attempt at translating Chapter 5 of Lu Yu’s Classic of Tea which lays out the guidelines for the proper preparation of tea. Lu Yu talks about toasting tea before adding it to salted boiling water. The assessment of water temperature by looking at the air bubbles is also mentioned here.
A humble attempt at translating Chapter 4 of Lu Yu’s Classic of Tea. This chapter describes twenty five items used in the brewing and drinking of tea. Part 3 describes items number 10 to 25. See how modern day items like the cheese grater and coffee table may be inspired from this ancient tea classic!
Matching tea with the various moon cakes – a delicacy of the much celebrated Mid-Autumn festival. Includes a recipe for traditional moon cakes with red bean paste. And Win a Tea Appreciation Master Class by answering 3 lantern riddles!
A quick look at umami by its Chinese character components of “fish” and “goat”. Also includes a 4,300 years old recipe of cooking fish with goat and a technique which extracts umami from tea used by Chinese scholars to compete with each other’s tea.
A review of The Tea Cosy Tearoom that enforces a strict English tearoom etiquette. Also include a review of The Brighton House B&B and various other fabulous shops discovered over a 3-day in Brighton.
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