assam – Talking Tea

Lakyrsiew: Unlocking the Magic of the Leaf

March 4, 2021March 10, 2021 by Talking Tea, posted in Podcast Episodes

Today we’re continuing with our periodic series of shorter episodes focusing on one tea, one producer or one region that may be new to the tea stage or that we’re excited about and want to explore further. We’re joined by our frequent guest Kevin Gascoyne, co-owner of Montreal’s Camellia Sinensis Tea House and one of the world’s leading experts on Indian tea, to explore Lakyrsiew, a young boutique tea garden in India’s very wet Meghalaya state.

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Gender, Empire and the Making of the Western Tea Market

September 20, 2019 by Talking Tea, posted in Podcast Episodes

CECIL BEATON PHOTOGRAPHS: GENERAL

We’re delving into some sticky topics today on Talking Tea as we look at the roles mass marketing, gender, racism and modern British history have played in shaping tea markets and tea culture in the West. Joining us is historian Erika Rappaport, author of the recently published book A Thirst For Empire: How Tea Shaped the Modern World. Erika’s work as a historian focuses in the areas of gender, consumer culture and British history, and “A Thirst for Empire” delves into all of these areas in looking at the forces that shaped tea culture and tea markets in the West. Read the full show notes

Pairing Tea and…Cheese?

June 11, 2019June 11, 2019 by Talking Tea, posted in Podcast Episodes

Most everyone is familiar with pairing wine and cheese, but pairing tea and cheese is much less well known and less understood. (By the way, that’s tea in the glass in the photo above, not wine.) Some tea drinkers may even find the idea of tea and cheese pairing a bit counterintuitive, if not a bit, well, odd. But at Talking Tea we’ve experienced some delicious pairings of tea with cheese, so we wanted to explore the issue more in depth. Read the full show notes

Innovation in Indian Tea

March 30, 2018April 2, 2018 by Talking Tea, posted in Podcast Episodes

TT Tea Studio exterior

Today on Talking Tea we welcome back Kevin Gascoyne of Montreal’s Camellia Sinensis Tea House. If you’ve heard any of our earlier episodes with Kevin, you’ll know that Kevin is a specialist, and one of the world’s leading authorities, on Indian tea. Kevin returns to the show today to chat with us about some of the challenges currently facing Indian tea production, and how an innovative new project in south India called the Tea Studio is attempting to address these challenges . Read the full show notes

Ambassadors of Tea

February 21, 2018May 1, 2018 by Talking Tea, posted in Podcast Episodes

TT29bstefen

There is an amazement of tea that’s hard to capture in words. It can happen when we experience a tea for the first time and are astounded by flavors and aromas unlike anything we’ve experienced before. Or when we revisit one of our favorite teas and find elements we never noticed before. Or when we find ourselves drinking a tea that’s been expertly prepared and artfully presented in a way that awakens all of our senses.

Today we’re at 29b Teahouse in New York City, where the owners and staff strive to create and recreate these moments of tea amazement every day. We’re talking with Stefen Ramirez and Andreas Vagelatos, two of the owners of 29b, about their unique philosophy and approach to tea. Read the full show notes

Two Tea Podcasters Walk Into a Bar…

March 31, 2017January 18, 2018 by Talking Tea, posted in Podcast Episodes

ttf2017 sample gram

Earlier this year, TJ Williamson of the World Tea Podcast invited us to join him in leading a session on industry-specific podcasting at Podcamp Toronto. And when the nice folks at Podcamp also gave us the opportunity to record a Talking Tea episode in front of a live audience at Toronto’s Imperial Pub, TJ graciously agreed to join us as a guest on Talking Tea, to chat about the backgrounds of our two podcasts, why we do what we do, and about TJ’s work in tea outside of his show. Read the full show notes

Kevin Gascoyne on Darjeelings, Fair trade and the Future of Tea

August 28, 2015January 18, 2018 by Talking Tea, posted in Podcast Episodes

TT Kevin Gascoyne

We’re back in Montreal this week on Talking Tea chatting with Kevin Gascoyne of Montreal’s famed Camellia Sinensis Tea House.

Kevin, a co-owner of Camellia Sinensis, is known around the world as a prominent tea taster, educator and author. We talk with Kevin about his passion for Darjeeling teas, how classically grown Darjeelings compare with newer clonal teas, and current trends in tea processing. Kevin also discusses fair trade and labor conditions at tea gardens in India and elsewhere, and shares his perspectives on the future of tea’s popularity and growth, both in North America and worldwide. And, as an added bonus, we chat with Kevin about Camellia Sinensis’ groundbreaking studies on caffeine and anti-oxidants in tea. Read the full show notes