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Day two of my tour of Taiwan's amazing tea started with a trip to a beautiful nursery, where cultivars are grown for the tea farms. Cultivars are simply a cultivated variety of a tea plant. Desirable variations in a plant have been noticed and this plant has then been cultivated (new plants grown from the original) to maintain these variations. At this nursery seven cultivars were being grown, all for farmers who wanted the best plant for their chosen type of tea. From the nursery we travelled to the Taiwan Research and Extension Station. This is a centre for the development of...

First Day in Taiwan. Today was an instant immersion into Taiwan tea and all its intricacies and quirks. By intricacies I mean such things as the many Oolong varieties, the rich history in using cultivars (cultivated variations) rather than seed planting to develop better teas and the dependency of one type of tea on the chemical reaction caused by the saliva of a small insect called a Green Tea Leafhopper. The many quirks include a different names for the same tea due to a very mixed language heritage, a different system for weight (the 'chin' = 600g) and the fact Pouching is pronounced 'boa-jong'. Confusing. The tea has...

This week a lovely couple who we met at the British Family Fayre came to see us at the Tea House for a tea tasting & afternoon tea.  They later shared this picture of their tea shelf at home on twitter.   Great to see loose leaf tea taking pride of place - we certainly believe that is is simple to create and enjoy your own tea ceremony at home.  Guests coming to tea  in this house are certainly in for quite a treat!   

This weekend we attended three great events.  One was the Best of Britannia in London {more about this later}.  The other two were in Dorset with two very different but equally inspiring local businesses. With our business based here in North Dorset we are always delighted to be invited along to local events which pair well with talking about and sampling our fine teas.  On Friday we were really excited to attend the opening of the new Enchanted Plants shop in Shaftesbury. Enchanted Plants has been in Shaftesbury since 2007 but has now moved onto the high street.   Run by...

Today we ventured down to Weymouth to visit Dave Allen & the team at the Weymouth Heritage & Visitor Centre and share some tea and tea smuggling history. Dave & the team here have a real passion for bringing history to life and the Dorset Coast certainly has a lot of secrets to share.  With such a rich heritage, the team work tirelessly to promote Dorset, and Weymouth in particular, as the place to visit for Culture & Heritage in this part of Dorset. Why were we here?  Well this area of Dorset has rich smuggling history and with a new two-part...