I actually like the experience of being humbled (this probably has to do with being raised Catholic) especially when this experience results from working with someone who knows a lot more than I do, i.e. a tea master. This past week I had the chance to work with Rajiv Gupta (founder of Lochan Teas) in presenting almost four hours of workshops digging deep into that sub-category of black teas, Darjeelings. Rajiv was born on a tea estate. He managed many of the most famous Darjeeling tea gardens for almost 20 years before opening his own tea brokerage, and his knowledge of Darjeeling and its teas is vast. And it was my privilege and great joy to teach a class with him.

 

We delivered a 90 minute Darjeeling tasting workshop at the World Tea Expo and then did a two-hour tasting workshop in Minnesota on the teas of India, focusing on Darjeeling. Here are some photos from the Minnesota workshop, where nearly 50 people toured our new warehouse, tasted some amazing tea, and had the chance to mingle with a true tea master. The attendees got a behind the scenes tour of our entire warehouse facility including the break down room, blending room, and the aisles of the pick line filled with tea and merchandise.

We converted the receiving area of the warehouse into a classroom.

  

 Over the course of the evening, attendees tasted 7 different teas.

When tasting tea, you should spray the inside of your mouth in order to experience all the flavor notes and qualities of the tea. If you’re doing it right, you should hear an audible slurping sound.

The Giddapahar Spring White Peony was one of the favorites. Only 22 pounds of this tea were made, and TeaSource bought it all. (It’s going fast, so make sure to pick up a bag!)

 

As we guided the group through each new tea, Rajiv provided wonderful context and knowledge about the region, processing, and flavor profiles.

Attendees kept tasting notes during the presentation and were sent home with a couple additional samples of Indian teas.

We ended the night with caffeine free chai samples and a shopping experience. We made our famous TeaSource Chai with Rooibos instead of Breakfast Assam, which is a fantastic option for late night chai drinking.

Take note: We are expecting three new first flush Darjeelings to arrive on our dock any day! Make sure to check the website for new arrivals.

-Bill Waddington
TeaSource, owner

View Post About Being Humbled

Spring produces the highest grade and most sought after white teas; but what about a spring INDIAN white tea? We have the first 2015 Indian white tea and it might be the best white tea I have ever had, made outside Fujian, China. It’s a Bai Mu Dan (White Peony) style white tea from the Giddapahar Tea Estate in Darjeeling.  They only made about 12 lbs. and we were lucky enough to buy it all. The Giddapahar tea garden is the smallest garden in Darjeeling, still owned by the same family since the 1880’s, And they make amazing teas.  One advantage of being small is that they can experiment, be creative, and break the rules: like making Chinese style white tea in Darjeeling.  And they produce some of the most wonderful teas in all of India. This tea is INCREDIBLY fresh (the leaves were plucked off the bush about 3 weeks ago), powerfully aromatic, sweet, floral, with a long lingering delicious aftertaste. It will be available in the stores and on the website as of this Wednesday, April 29th. Check out the arrival of this tea below.

View Post About Arrival of 1st 2015 tea, and it’s incredible !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TeaSource is proud to sponsor the TEA MASTERS series. TeaSource will host world renowned tea growers, tea brokers, tea tasters, and tea authorities as part of this ongoing series. We will present forums/settings/workshops where our customers and the general public will have a chance to taste teas, learn from, ask questions, and in a loose sense just hang out for a few hours with TEA MASTERS from across the globe.

DON’T MISS OUT ON THIS ONE TIME ONLY SPECIAL EVENT

Experience a tea tasting tour of Darjeeling, India! Guided by a former Darjeeling tea estate manager, Rajiv Lochan, and myself, Bill Waddington, you’ll explore the flavor differences and quality characteristics of numerous north Indian teas. You’ll learn why Darjeelings are some of the most expensive teas in the world (justifiably so). And you’ll also learn why and how these sensory differences occur. Rajiv Lochan has worked in the Darjeeling tea industry for almost 40 years, including many years in the tea gardens.  His resume includes time at: Longview, Seeyok, Phuguri, Avongrove, Jungpana, Ambootia and many other tea gardens. He has been an independent tea broker for the last 15 years.

Date:
Sunday, May 10th, 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
*Arrive at 6 p.m. for a tour of our new warehouse facility

Class cost: $15.00/person

Location:
TeaSource Main Office & Warehouse
2616 Cleveland Ave N Roseville, MN 55113 
(just south of the intersection of Cleveland Ave N & County Road C)

Registration: Call TeaSource to sign up: 651-788-9971 Space is limited so sign up quickly.

View Post About Tea Masters Series II: Tasting Darjeeling

Recently I had the privilege of hosting three guests from the Otsuka Green Tea Co. of Shizuoka, Japan. It was a very short, very fun visit.

The best part of my job is people. Make no mistake, I love tea. I’m obsessed with the leaf. I swoon over the liquor. But the best part of what I do is the people; our customers, our suppliers our fellow tea-travelers. The people are amazing, and sometimes I have a day where it feels like I’ve been wandering around the city of Oz.

Visiting at our Roseville, MN warehouse/office, was the wife of the Chairman of Otsuka, Mrs. Hiroko Otsuka (a Japanese tea ceremony expert), and 2 other Otsuka employees, Kokei Sugihara, export manager and Haruyuki Nagata, sales manager.

For context, TeaSource green tea Saemadori #50 won 2^nd place at the 2014 North American Tea Championship, is from Otsuka Tea.  Our Sencha Homare and Sencha #20 are handmade teas from Otsuka Tea.

This visit was a chance to build a growing relationship, learn from folks who know more than I do, and party hearty with fellow tea geeks (this involved drinking a lot of tea, and four flights of Minnesota craft-brewed beers).

Otsuka Tea Co. was founded in 1869 in Shizuoka, Japan. It’s owned and run by the same family, for five generations now. I met these folks two years ago, when I was in Japan looking for tea growers. Their teas and their warmth bowled me over from the beginning.

We started off with an exchange of gifts, of course. From me to Mrs. Otsuka, a copy of The Book of Tea, Bruce Richardson’s edition with never before seen photos of early 20th century Japanese tea workers.

And I received one of the most beautiful ceramic pieces I have ever seen. A tea bowl, for use in the Japanese tea ceremony. Mrs. Otsuka apologized because it was not very traditional, but kind of modern and edgy. It has hand-made papers infused into the glaze.

Next a tour of our new warehouse- I was a little bit like a proud papa.

Pictured (right to left): me, Mrs. Otsuka, our own Queen of Wholesale Eri Abrams (who did an amazing job of translating for a day and a half), Mr. Sugihara, and Mr. Nagata. There was a lot of laughing throughout this visit.

Then it was time to taste teas.

Some amazing and sumptuous green teas from Otsuka. The color of these leaves takes my breath away.

Slurping sounds the same in any language. I really do like their jackets.  

And then the most amazing part of the visit, Mrs. Otsuka serving tea –Japanese tea ceremony style – to myself, and a number of TeaSource employees.

Getting ready.

All of us taking some of the traditional sweets that accompany a Japanese tea ceremony.

A little like Necco wafers, but a lot better.

Mrs. Otsuka, ready to begin.

Ready to make tea.

Measuring the matcha.

A demonstration of grace and focus, whisking the tea.

Keeping her arm very straight, without touching the bottom of the bowl.

Artisan vs. truck driver.

Me, desperately trying to not spill all over myself.

One of the things I most love about tea; it gives you pause.

Then Mrs. Otsuka passed out wondrous origami figures that she had made for all of us. It was like opening Christmas presents.

Origami fighting sumo wrestlers. 

Then it was everyone else’s turn to be served tea.

Sarah, learning to turn the bowl.

Elliot (our senior tea blender) learning to “sit like a samurai.”

Whew, we didn’t embarrass ourselves.

Then I took our guests to visit our stores.

We finished a long day, with some sight-seeing of the Twin Cities, they LOVED St Paul’s Cathedral, and then steaks at Jax (they also loved that). The whole visit was just a great time, strengthening an already healthy relationship. Wonderful people who make amazing tea. And if you haven’t tried their teas, do yourself a favor. We will follow up this post with another about this Otsuka visit: How to be the recipient of a tea at a Japanese tea ceremony (who knew this was a thing?).

Stay tuned!

Thanks for reading. Comments are very welcome.

Bill Waddington
TeaSource, Owner

View Post About Sometimes I have the best job in the world…

The Doke Tea Estate

The tea plant is native to India, but the Indian tea industry began when thousands of tea seeds were smuggled out of China in the 1840’s. Today, India is the second largest tea producer in the world (still trailing China). There are four officially-designated “traditional” tea growing regions in India – Darjeeling, Assam, Nilgri, Kangra, and one officially-designated “non-traditional” tea growing region – Bihar. Last spring I spent three weeks wandering around northern and eastern India, searching for great teas. This is the fun part of my job. Firing ovens at the Doke Tea Estate

I had the honor of visiting one of the smallest tea gardens in India: the Doke Tea Estate in Bihar.  There I was able to taste hand-made teas which were just a couple of days off the bush. [caption id="attachment_828" align="aligncenter" width="604"] Family and friends of Rajiv Lochan plucking tea leaves 

The Doke Tea Estate is one of the newest and smallest tea gardens in India.  Begun 26 years ago by Rajiv Lochan (a life-long tea expert, who managed many of Darjeeling’s most famous tea estates), Doke began with just 25 acres on the banks of the Doke River in the state of Bihar.  All the teas are hand-processed in very small batches, supervised by Rajiv’s daughter, Dolly Lochan, using family and local villagers to help. Dolly Lochan (right) processing tea leaves with fellow family members

TeaSource is proud to offer the hand processed Black Fusion and Green Diamond from the Doke Tea Estate in our stores and on our website.  Driven by passion and a generation-spanning love of tea, this tea estate is producing some of the most unique and special teas coming out of India.  We look forward to welcoming more of these teas at TeaSource! -Bill Waddington Owner, TeaSource

Hand-processed leaves of Black Fusion

 

View Post About Steeped in Generations: The Doke Tea Estate

This is the time of year when our big shipments of teas arrive by sea from China, India, and Sri Lanka. Remember, tea is an agricultural crop and, for the most part, follows the seasons. With some exceptions, most tea production areas have wound down production for the year. We have made many of our buying decisions from this year’s offerings.   And we have a whole bunch of wonderful new teas to entice. We have some teas from one of the smallest family tea farms in India, also unheard of teas from Taiwan, and a new Sencha from Japan, and much more. We're excited to offer two exotic teas from the Doke Estate, the Black Fusion and the Green Diamond.  The Doke Tea Estate is one of the newest and smallest tea gardens in India.  I had the pleasure of visiting this tea estate and its founder, Rajiv Lochan (a life-long tea expert, who managed many of Darjeeling's most famous tea estates).  This estate, as it was made clear to me during my travels to India, is driven by passion and a generation-spanning love of tea.  They are producing some of the most unique and special teas coming out of India.

All the teas are hand-processed in very small batches at the Doke Estate, supervised by Rajiv's daughter Dolly Lochan (on the right), using family and local villagers to help.
Doomini Estate, 2nd Flush, TGFOP1

Also hailing from India, we have welcomed a handful of new Assams.  The tea growing region of Assam, in the far east of India, is known for producing heavy, thick, hearty black teas with a distinctive malty note to the flavor.  While in India this spring, I was able to observe a tea auction in Assam.  This tradition is over 100 years old, but has morphed into the digital/virtual age.  If Assams are your "cup of tea", you must check these out!

• Assam, Dinjoye Estate, 2nd Flush, TGFOP1
• Assam, Doomini Estate, 2nd Flush, TGFOP1
• Assam, Halmari Estate, 2nd Flush, TGFOP1
• Assam, Khagorijan Estate, 2nd Flush, FTGFOP1
• Assam, Khongea Estate, Special, TGFOP

  One of the more unique teas on this recent shipment of teas: the Makaibari Estate, Silver Tips.  I like to say that this tea is "historic."  This was the last tea produced at the Makaibari estate by the Bannerjee family; who founded this garden in 1859 and sold Makaibari in the summer of 2014.  I was so fortunate to meet with the owner before the sale of the estate.  And TeaSource is so fortunate to have such a remarkable tea available to its customers. Listening to the vast knowledge of the (at the time) owner of the Makaibari Estate. There is always more to learn when it comes to tea.

What other new teas are here?  (For a complete list, visit TeaSource’s website.)

• Darjeeling, Giddapahar Estate, 2nd Flush, Musk
• Darjeeling, Glenburn Estate, 2nd Flush, FTGFOP1
• Darjeeling, Jungpana Estate, 2nd Flush, FTGFOP1
• Darjeeling, Longview Estate, 2nd Flush, TGFBOP
• 1999 Sheng Puer
• Gunpowder Oolong
• Darjeeling, Goomtee Estate, Green Wonder
• Sencha #20

One more thing: we are expecting a shipment of eight pallets of tea from China.  A handful of new teas will be arriving any day!  Of course, we will let you know as soon as they are released.  What’s the best way to keep in touch with our retail/online store happenings?  Follow us on Facebook or Twitter. I hope you enjoy these new teas!  I know I am.

--Bill Waddington Owner, TeaSource

View Post About We’re Drowning in New Teas