Once upon a time, if you wanted a cup of tea, you pretty much had one choice. Well, actually two choices. You either drank tea that came from China or you’d drink no tea at all. And when circumstances call for a cup of tea, the latter choice is hardly a suitable option. The problem… Continue reading

I have to confess that my Latin is a little rusty (as in almost non-existent), but through the miracle of the Internet I was able to determine that Defensio Non Provocatio roughly translates to “Defense No Recourse.” Or perhaps that online translator gadget is dead wrong and it doesn’t actually. Another source I found suggests… Continue reading

When setting out to pen a book on tea, writers of previous centuries didn’t really concern themselves much with coming up with a snappy title. I’ve written about a number of such tomes in the past here and the subject of this article is hardly no exception. Then again, perhaps a title like The Past… Continue reading

The Indian tea industry was not yet a century old, in 1908, when Claud Bald published (the second edition of) Indian Tea: Its Culture and Manufacture, but it was doing quite nicely for itself. The first forays to assess the Assam region for its tea growing potential didn’t really get rolling until about eighty years… Continue reading