In March 2020, we drank some old green teas and learned some things from more than 120 tea sessions. Here’s what happened. In late February, I noticed that a lot of green teas were popping up on the Tea Curious Discord. Two of our tea friends in particular, Tyler (HakunaMaatallah) and Henrique (HenriquePaschoal), gave me the heads up. They pointed out that last year's green teas would be coming up on a year soon, so it was high time to drink the, with the new spring harvest greens coming and all. I'd been away from home the last few springs, so I'd totally forgotten about all that. And that got me wondering: How many green teas did I have left in my tea stash? I had Steven check. Crrrrringe. I knew it was gonna be a lot. A few years back, I'd gone on a massive green tea buying spree in an attempt to learn more about Chinese greens, only to suddenly be away from home a lot and not really drinking down any of them. So my guess was around 70, maybe 80 green teas. …
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Below are all our handy guides, articles, and experiments about tea. Explore tea & tea culture, and learn about tea brewing and service.
New Ways To Understand Tea & Health [2019 Edition]
Tea has a mighty reputation as a healthy drink, but is there science to back up those claims? In this article, learn about the latest research on tea and health, including some new ways to understand how tea affects the body, as presented at the 2019 UC Davis Global Tea Initiative. As far as drinks go, tea is always seen as the healthy option. If you're a tea drinker, you've probably had family members ask what teas to drink to solve this problem and that. They've seen all the miraculous teas on the market. Weight loss teas. "Detox" teas. Lose-20-lbs-and-also-cure-cancer teas. Tea's been put on a pedestal for all sorts of curative properties, but what research do we have to back those claims? While tea isn't the magical cure-all that the market wants it to be, science is definitely finding links between tea and better health. So far, we've found that L-theanine, an amino acid found only in tea, is linked with better mental performance, while …
Silver Needle: A Guide to China’s Most Iconic White Tea
Silver Needle is a classic white tea from China, but also one of its most misunderstood teas. In this article, get to know Silver Needle and learn how to identify and brew it with confidence. Silver Needle Common Names: Silver Needle, Bai Hao Yin Zhen, 白毫銀針 Profile: Crisp, energizing character with fruity, floral and sun-dried hay notes Region: China (Fujian Province; Yunnan Province) - Silver Needle is one of those teas that you can really fall in love with on first sight. It's a gorgeous tea, with beautiful, downy white buds that sparkle a little in the light, and in the early days of my tea journey I was infatuated with it. In tea terms (and real life terms, too) I was young, dumb, and easily impressed, so when I saw my first Silver Needle at a Teavana I was doomed. It came with a hefty price tag and a backstory that involved emperors, monks, and secluded mountain monasteries in China, and the salesfolks did me in good. It seemed too cool, too rare to pass …
