#teatravel

[morimatea]

The lake is unusually quiet; there is a sort of the silence beauty that no one dares to disturb it.

[cultivatetastetea]

Just a lovely short video of my mural. #mural #tea #looseleaftea #dragonwelltea #chinesetea #longjing #teawares #cultivatetasteteasalon #cultivatetastetea #teatravel #teajourney

[tealettea]

Enjoying a cup of sheng puer on top of the city of Copenhagen. Where have you enjoyed a romantic cup of tea? www.teaanditspeople.com #teatower #teastories #teaparty #teatravel #tealove (at Rundetaarn) https://www.instagram.com/p/CUcdvP_liDh/?utm_medium=tumblr

[iheartteas]

SWIPE—-> for more angles of this stunning, minimalist, easy to take anywhere tea tray from @modernteaist. Love it! . . . . #tea #teatray #accessories #teaaccessories #gadgets #teagadgets #minimalist #minimalism #travelset #teatravel #art #design #cleandesign #bamboo #lasercut #love #gaiwan #teacup #teaaddict #ilovetea #afternoontea #iheartteas

[shevi-victory]

🚌 Поездка с @gunselgroup туда и обратно) Комфортно, четко, с wifi, розетками и остановками в нормальных местах для перекуса и wc Цена приятная и обслуживание с заботой Даже кино посмотрела, милое) А чай вот мой) всегда с собой Спасибо, @matcha_tea_ukraine ~ #матча #чай #гюнсел #matchalatte #чайвдороге #teatravel #matcha #matchacappuccino #заказчая https://www.instagram.com/p/CGVHi0_gP-Y/?igshid=en4fxty9fkeq

[fernweh-agro-blog]

An exquisite range of Darjeeling Uppercrust brings you Teas plucked from the highest altitudes of mighty Darjeeling Hills. The high altitude leaves gives the most authentic aroma and Strong flavoured Tea. 💯Certified Organic 💯USDA certified 💯Indian Organic certified Get 15% Sign Up off for being a part of Fernweh Tribe . . . . . #tea #blacktea #darjeelingtea #organictea #usdaorganic #usdaorganiccertified #healthytea #teatime #tealover #teatravel #teaporn #teaoftheday #teaforlife #teabags #looseleaftea #teacup #teaspa #teaholic #teatasting #afternoontea #morningbrew #happysipping #instatea #fernwehagro https://www.instagram.com/p/B-wzAEmJphN/?igshid=ofrwoz77bqx0

[dobrateame]

Join us here and on our Travel blog as we ride the rails crossing this island of tea found in the India Ocean! A journey of jungles, waterfalls, tea fields and tea peaks not to be missed! Feb 28 - Mar 15! #tea @teajourneymag #teatravel Read more: www.dobrateame.com (at Dobrá Tea (Portland, ME)) https://www.instagram.com/p/B893HW_gBCW/?igshid=p7no415zn5sp

[yunomilife]

In case you visit #Japan, stay off the beaten track at the Tea Field Villa, a #beautiful mansion of a home restored by Michael and Eri, located in he heart of #tea country across #teafields in #Mie Prefecture: http://teafieldvilla.com Book on #Airbnb https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/10667517?s=51 #tealife #yunomilife #teatourist #teaholic #teamania #teatravel #三重 #三重県 #お茶 #茶畑

[white2tea]

raw Puer tea from our 2017 pressings on a hike - drink tea outdoors #white2tea #teainnature #teahike #naturaltea #teaoutdoors #teainthewild #teaexperience #teaexpedition #teatravel #teatravels #teatraveler #teaonthego #teaontherocks #teaontheroad #shesnotme #sheseasy #teatrip #teatrips #teatripping #teatrippin #wildtea

[tranquiltuesdays]

Tea in Hawaii: The Most Beautiful Tea Garden I’ve Ever Visited

I’ve been wanting to share this special trip and tea encounter for a while and so happy to finally do it. Not only did we get to experience the unique natural beauty of Onomea Tea gardens, but we learned about the history of tea growing in Hawaii, and about low-elevation tea growing.

A couple of years ago, after the KCRW Good Food segment I did on Chinese and Japanese green teas, I got an email from the tea growers of Onomea Tea on Big Island Hawaii who heard the segment and reached out.

I had learned about tea grown in Hawaii earlier with great interest but now with a specific tea grower in mind, the idea of visiting Hawaii lingered more heavily in my travel daydreams.

Fast forward three years, and Tony and I were actually in Hawaii and made our way to Big Island. We got back in touch with Rob, and were pulling up to a beautiful growing estate on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean when I started seeing some those familiar tea plants, camellia sinensis, we’ve been encountering in all our tea travels around the world.

We were welcomed warmly at Onomea Tea by the proprietors Rob and Mike who have been growing tea in this spot since 2002. Rob provided a great introduction to the grounds with lots of knowledge about not only growing the tea plant in this specific terroir, but the surrounding biodiversity of both native and non-native plants.

Not only did we get to learn about the indigenous Ohia Plant and the Nalpaka Plant, he regaled us with the traditional folk tales that accompanied each plant. Like the tea plant, these plants have become more than a plant but intertwined in history, culture, storytelling, meaning, and illuminating vehicles for understanding a society’s values.

Big Island is, as the name suggests, the biggest island on the right

History of Tea Growing in Big Island

The rich volcanic soil, steady rainfall, and tropical climate of the Big Island has been a rich growing environment for a wide range of agriculture. The current crops most associated with Big Island nowadays are coffee (Kona Coffee) and macadamia nuts, but in the past, Big Island was a big cane sugar producer like other Hawaiian islands.

Cane sugar and pineapple farming in the past and for the majority of coffee grown today on the Big Island, are grown as large scale plantations selling the items as commodity crops.

Photo Source

Commodity crops mean the crop is typically grown with a focus on volume and speed, easily traded and stored for a long time, and grown specifically for the purpose of sale on the commodities market (as opposed to direct consumption or processing).

Since the Big Island’s climate is ideal for tea growing and there has been much success with other commodity crops, various industrialists have toyed with the idea of tea growing on the Big Island since the 19th century but abandoned it for a few key reasons.

Tea pickers in 1890 Sri Lankan Tea Plantation (Photo Source)

Coffee was cheaper to plant and could be harvested on a shorter timeline, and commodity tea production was already more competitive in Sri Lanka, India, and East Africa.

The majority of tea grown in China, Japan, and Taiwan is not as a commodity, but a specialty artisanal food product.

Tea growing on the Big Island started gaining traction in the last 20 years, however, only when it was re-visited no longer as a commodity large scale crop, but as a small batch specialty artisanal crop similar to how tea is grown in China, Japan, and Taiwan.

With sugar plantations no longer operating on the Big Island, government institutions were hoping to help stimulate the agricultural sector with a new industry. The USDA and University of Hawaii researchers made the tea plant available to anyone willing to experiment with tea production in a move to promote tea growing on the Big Island.

Rob and Mike saw an ad in the newspaper about the University of Hawai'i College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources tea research project giving away tea seedlings and were intrigued.

1.5 acre of tea plants and 15 years later, we were all enjoying the tea that resulted from this intrigue and the various historical factors that brought a tea plant into their hands.

Low-Elevation Growing

As a small specialty tea grower, Onomea Tea operates on a scale similar to many of the small family farms Tranquil Tuesdays works with for our tea collection: picking by hand and carefully crafting the leaves into finished tea in very small batches.

Watching the process Rob and Mike use to craft their teas was so familiar and reminiscent of our many tea travels in China.

One distinctive feature of Onomea’s tea growing process is that they are growing tea plants at sea level. Usually, teas are grown at higher elevation (at least 1500 feet or higher) and often on terraced hillsides. Usually, the higher the elevation the tea is grown at, the more prized the tea.

I took this photo while traveling through the high elevation tea mountains of Taiwan.

Higher elevations are preferred for tea growing for a number of reasons. At higher elevation the plants get more mist and fog creating a humid environment for the plant. More temperature variations and less oxygen at higher elevations also create more stress for the plant which affects the flavor. And lastly, plants take longer to grow at higher elevations which help the flavors develop more slowly in the leaf.

One thing I did notice though in their tea gardens that seemed unique to the locale, was how the tea plant was growing in a similar shape as one of the indigenous trees we saw around the island: the same broad round canopy:

Onomea Tea has found success creating a distinctive flavor in their teas grown at sea level, however, and no doubt the unique terroir of a volcanic soil overlooking the ocean and how the tea plant has adapted to this environment is a big part of that.

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[sonomaoak]

Repost from @tea.log Elephants sipping leaf juice 🐘🌿 I am sorry for a longer break, needed some time to climatize myself to this new world of shutdowns, quarantine and home office! I hope everyone of you is healthy and having access to all basic needs! Probably it’s advisable to stay home and enjoy lots of tea! It seems China is the safest country to be right now, so we might be lucky with the tea harvest this year, less production but probably still enough variety! Family tea growers will probably produce as much as any year if they don’t rely too much on migrant pickers! Tell me which kind of tea is most comforting in a self quarantine or isolation? For me is some Puerh tonight! . . . . #puerh #puer #jingmai #farmerleaf #sheng #shengcha #tea #cha #teatime #teaurchin #teastagram #maocha #teatravels #teafriends #gushu #ancienttrees #tree #forest #instatea #teaphotography #tealog #fujifilm_xseries #fujifilmxt20 #35mmphotography #mitakon35mmf095 https://www.instagram.com/p/B97xQKuAfbm/?igshid=1emfobbyfdz2

[tealettea]

Seaside Tea time in Denmark. www.teaanditspeople.com #gongfucha #teaonthego #teacommunity #teatravel (at Sønderborg, Denmark) https://www.instagram.com/p/CUGW0RuAYMC/?utm_medium=tumblr

[okashinaohana]

2019/11/1 #今日は犬の日 #坪林の犬 #可笑的花お茶の旅 #可笑的花お茶部研修旅行 #台湾 #坪林で文山包種を作る旅 #文山包種 #坪林 #dogstagram #taiwanesetea #teatime #tealover #teaholic #teaaddict #teaporn #teatraveler #可笑的花 #okashinaohana (坪林) https://www.instagram.com/p/B4Uj4pTAYMv/?igshid=9whee8n7pl1f

[teabooksdream]

Words from the Tea Realms.

[fernweh-agro-blog]

A cup of delicious undertones of sweet and citric fruits. Darjeeling Upper Crust Organic Moon Light tea is a reflection of the snow-kissed mountains. 💯Certified Organic 💯USDA certified 💯Indian Organic certified Get 15% Sign Up off for being a part of Fernweh Tribe . . . . . #tea #blacktea #darjeelingtea #moonlighttea #organictea #usdaorganic #usdaorganiccertified #healthytea #teatime #tealover #teatravel #teaporn #teaoftheday #teaforlife #teabags #looseleaftea #teacup #teaspa #teaholic #teatasting #afternoontea #morningbrew #happysipping #instatea #fernwehagro https://www.instagram.com/p/B-wyP81JaU5/?igshid=1hpc7klysanbk

[bedfordcottageteahouse]

My top nine for the year is a perfect distillation of my passions: my new cottage, afternoon teas, tea time at home, and the art of cheesemongering. Thank you for joining me on this journey so far and I can’t wait to see what next year brings!! 1 & 9- national shortbread day; 2- afternoon tea @thejeffersonhotel ; 3- Oxford Companion to Cheese (essential for CCP study); 4- spring daffodils and matching cup; 5- french cheeses; 6- my new cottage; 7- teatime vignette; 8- afternoon tea @parisinacup . #tea #teatime #teatimemagfeed @teatimemagazine #afternoontea #teaisserved #americancheesesociety #acsccp #certifiedcheeseprofessional #frenchcheeses #oxfordcompaniontocheese #nationalshortbreadday #homemade #bake #baker #baking #thisistea #smallluxury #elegantliving #cottagecore #imsomartha #topnine #instagramtop9 #topnine2019 #teatravels #teatier (at Bellingham, Washington) https://www.instagram.com/p/B6obaiwgXdi/?igshid=15s59eiklckst