It's All About Tea

Today we're touching on an ever-present subject in the world of tea. 

There's one question that regularly appears in Path of Cha's mailbox, probably more often than any other: Which type of tea contains the most/ least caffeine?

If you have asked yourself (or others) about this, then go on reading. This blog post is for you! (you guessed it, it is more complex than naming one tea for each category). (Read More)

Tea is probably the most popular beverage in Iran. The tea tradition in Iran has a rich history. Today, tea is a definite winner against coffee in terms of both popularity and consumption. Numbers state that Iran is in the World's top 4 tea consuming countries, with a 1.5kg annual per capita consumption. As for coffee, it stays outside of the World's Top 30. However, it wasn't always this way.

Being at the crossroad between established tea-drinking nations such as Russia, India, and China, Iran took its time before forging its own tea culture and tea-drinking identity. Let's explore the journey of tea in Iran! (Read More)

In an earlier blog post, we witnessed the beauty of tea rituals outside of China. Today, we continue to explore the path of cha in near and distant lands. In today’s post, we’ll set on a journey to the vast Russian planes.

Russia’s connection to Chinese tea is ingrained into the local culture in a way so profound few other countries can compare to it. As its territory changed through the ages, so did the cultural landscape, influenced by the lands and people the empire included during its different periods. Chinese tea was ubiquitous to the point of being considered a national drink in pre-Soviet Russia. Its history started with the establishment of the Silk Road and has been ongoing ever since. (Read more)

Today, we invite He Jin - a local producer of Tibetan black tea, and our proud supplier - for a chat. She will teach us on the various types of this chinese fermented tea, and will share tips and tricks on storage and brewing methods in order to get the most out of this artisan tea.

He Jin lives in Ya'an city, where she's been engaged in Tibetan tea production for quite a few years now. She creates fine-quality Yaxi Tibetan tea in loose-leaf form and the region's signature Tibetan Jasmine tea. (Read more)

Tibetan black tea is made from more mature tea leaves. The picking standard for it includes a bud and up to five leaves. Modern days processing includes typical steps for producing Hei Cha – fixing, rolling, wet piling (Wo Dui – 渥堆), drying, steaming, pressing, and finally, aging. While the processing changed with time, some believe it is namely Tibetan tea that precedes all other types of Hei Cha and served as a model for all subsequent Hei Cha production and processing in other areas of China. 

Tibetan tea processing includes 5 stages and a total of 32 processing steps. The aging period alone requires a minimum of 6 months. Some claim its production process is the most intricate and time-consuming among all tea types. (Read more)