The last Tea & Sound event of 2017 took place on New Year’s Eve. Several regulars and some new participants joined us to close out the year with great tea and exhilarating music, in the company of fellow tea and music lovers. The music for this month’s event was the complete “Firebird” ballet by Igor …
Big changes are brewing at Phoenix Tea. After a great deal of personal reflection and discussion with his family, Brett has decided to retire from the tea business, and will be leaving his position at Phoenix Tea at the end of the year. While we will certainly miss his presence and participation in the business, …
Taiwan produces some incredible black and green teas, but the country’s biggest claim to fame is most certainly oolong tea. I have traveled to Taiwan five times to study oolong tea and today I would like to introduce you to some of my favorite Taiwanese oolongs and share some information about how they are produced. …
Korean tea drinking traditions evolved along with Buddhism, starting in the sixth century. When Buddhist monks returned to Korea from their studies in China, they planted tea at their temples and used the beverage to help them concentrate while meditating. Because of this, many old Buddhist monasteries have mature tea plantations growing semi-wild around them. …
Fujian Province, located along the southeastern coast of China, is the birthplace of many famous and delicious tea varieties. There are so many, in fact, that entire books have been devoted to Fujian tea. For this spotlight I have decided to focus on three major areas: the Wuyi mountains, Anxi County, and Fuding County. The …
Darjeeling, meaning “Land of the Thunderbolt,” is located in the foothills of the Himalayan mountains in the Indian state of West Bengal. This area has produced delicious and complex teas since the early 1800’s when English entrepreneurs, seeking to break China’s monopoly on tea exports, smuggled tea seeds and tea plants out of China and …
Today I am very excited to announce a new series of posts I will be writing about tea called Black Dragon Notes. Every second Friday of the month I will write about different tea related subjects. These posts will be followed up with a newsletter sent out to subscribers. Tea is my passion. I’ve been a …
It’s interesting how one tea will suddenly crop up in multiple places in the same week. Jungjak, which is an excellent Korean green tea, was reviewed on the TeaDB podcast. This luscious, brothy green tea is one of the three that we carry which are made by Dong Cheon teas. Watch the TeaDB video for …
On Saturday, November 17th Phoenix Tea hosted a tea tasting event to raise funds to contribute to the American Red Cross relief efforts for Superstorm Sandy. Friends and customers came into the shop and drank tea with us during the three hours of the event, and each person contributed financial support. We raised a total …