For those who know, it may not come as a surprise when I share how much I love tea. But professionally, today is the day I come out of the tea closet. I drink logarithmic levels of tea compared to coffee, and the more I confess that, the more other coffee professionals share with me that they too love specialty teas.
Unfortunately I think coffee and tea are often lumped together in similar categories but they have very different histories and I think it’s worth trying to de-couple these beverages.
Today's episode serves as an introduction the basics of specialty tea and will be the first of many episodes exploring the processing and history of this beverage.
Our guide through the world of tea is my friend Aurora Prehn. She is a researcher of people and plants. Her undergraduate work was a double major in Anthropology and environmental studies. She worked at Rishi Tea and Botanicals as a tea educator. In 2018 she then left to do a masters in ethnobotany in Canterbury, England, which she finished last fall.
Support the show on Patreon and get Aurora's curated tea flights.
If you are inspired to learn more about tea check out the following resources:
Tea Reading List 2020 located at worldcat.org, curated by Aurora Prehn
The True History of Tea, Victor H. Mair & Erling Hoh
The Tale of Tea: A Comprehensive History of Tea from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day, George L. Van Driem
The Soul & Spirit of Tea, Phil Cousineau & Scott Chamberlin Hoyt (Editors)
Tea: History, Terroirs, Varieties, Kevin Gascoyne, Francois Marchand, and Jasmin Desharnais
Plants, Health and Healing: On the Interface of Ethnobotany and Medical Anthropology, Elisabeth Hsu & Stephen Harris (Editors)
Rishi Tea & Botanicals’s Lookbook https://journal.rishi-tea.com/catalogs/
How to Store Tea, Tea Epicure https://teaepicure.com/how-to-store-tea/
US Grown Tea, Specialty Tea Alliance https://specialtyteaalliance.org/world-of-tea/us-grown-tea/