The evergreen bushes from which tea is picked can grow to impressive heights, but are generally pruned to make picking the leaves easier. Yunnan black teas lack the bitterness of many strong black teas offering a delicious sweet flavor. One of the most impressive black teas we sampled on the first day was ''China Red.'  This tea was the Rolls Royce of black teas, but that is not to say that other black teas we sampled were any less than average or mediocre.  'China Red,' did however, take our breath away.
 
The difference between Yunnan black teas and other Chinese black teas is the amount of fine leaf buds or 'golden tips' in the dried tea. There are loose or 'broken' teas with very few golden buds and is generally bitter.  There are also teas that have more golden buds and dark tea leaves, and a tea called Yunnan Pure Gold, which only contains the golden tips or buds. The leaves of this tea are a brownish-orange, but become reddish brown after being brewed.
  
Around dusk on our first day, we took a taxi to a nearby village winding up mountain roads and crisscrossing scores of terraced tea fields. Our driver, a 28- year old woman, took us to an organic tea plant. The aroma of freshly-picked tea leaves was intoxicating.
 
There are four stages in processing black tea: withering, rolling, fermentation and drying. The leaves can be withered or dried under the sun but here the process was achieved by thinly spreading the leaves in troughs for up to eighteen hours depending on the condition of the leaves.
  
We took early morning hikes through tea fields scattered across hills and mountains. Rows of terraced geometry, tea carved out of hills, a natural history museum of tea, and two guys climbing a winding dirt path in quiet tribute.
 
We had planned to visit the 3,000 year old ancient tea tree, but after driving for less than half an hour and climbing elevations close to 1,500 meters high, there was a fork in the road, and my instincts said turn left. We got out of the taxi and walked for about five minutes before we stumbled across mountains of tea trees that caught us by surprise.  The sheer scale of the tea hills was breathtaking, a valley of leaves bathed in the soft morning light.
Returning to our hotel that afternoon, we met several tea traders in the lobby. I started talking about the ancient tea tree, and mentioned that I had never heard or seen a tree that to my mind was measured not in centuries but eons.

The hotel owner showed me a small plastic bag of tea. It was loose fermented black purer tea. The leaves were picked from the 3,000 year old ancient tea tree in 2006.  'If you think what you have sampled so far is mind-blowing', said a tea trader from central China, 'then you should try this tea. I was so taken away by it, I wrote a poem on my mobile phone extolling its virtues and then texted it to all of my friends. ' Seeing the relationship between work and the renewal of friendships among these tea trader poets was marvelous. Quite unexpectedly, we received an invitation to join our newly found 'tea brothers' in 2013, at the same hotel, where we would revisit friendships and drink lots of tea.    
   


Peter and Daniel are based in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province. They spend much of their time traveling across parts of southwest Yunnan sourcing and drinking tea.

The tea scroll reads: "Pure wind sweeps the bright moon; The bright moon sweeps the pure wind."

-The Ultimate Guide to Chinese Tea  (Bret Hinsch) We believe this is possibly the best introductory book out on Chinese-style tea appreciation. Bret Hinsch is a Harvard-educated Asian Studies scholar who has lived and taught in Taiwan for more than fifteen years. Disappointed in what is available on Chinese tea in English, Hinsch researched Chinese teas and tea connoisseurship by surveying a vast amount of information written in Chinese. His book is already out of print, but you can find used copies or an e-book version. This book is so good, it is almost worth purchasing an e-book reader in order to absorb all the great, articulately written information on tea production, appreciation, brewing, and the like. We give it highest marks for both the content and the clarity of delivery. Thank you for your contribution, Bret!!

The Time of Tea (Dominique Pasqualini & Bruno Suet) This French author-photographer duo published a timeless two-volume set that is as beautiful to the eye and the touch as the content is fascinating. One volume is filled with rustically reproduced color photographs of tea culture around the world, and the other volume is a treatise on tea appreciation. This double-volume set is out of print, but there is talk of it being republished in the near future. There are only a handful of copies available...you know where. Get it while you can.

The Classic of Tea (Lu Yu) The first treatise on tea culture in China first published in the eighth century, this classic work informs tea lovers the world over how to consider and participate in tea ritual and practice.

Liquid Jade: The Story of Tea From East to West (Beatrice Hohenegger) 

Steeped in History: The Art of Tea (Beatrice Hohenegger) These two books by Beatrice Hohenegger really compliment each other and should not be missed by the tea historian interested in how tea came to the West. Full of interesting facts, Liquid Jade reveals some of the darker secrets of tea's history. Steeped in History is a companion volume to the exhibition curated by Hohenegger at UCLA's Fowler Museum in late 2009 and includes discussion and images of fascinating artifacts from various Chinese dynasties and from Europe. Here is an interview with Hohenegger by Bon Teavant in 2009.

The Way of Tea (Aaron Fisher)- This is a beautifully written and thoughtful book about tea appreciation from a more spiritual perspective. Written by Aaron Fisher (aka "Wu De"), a tea aficionado living in Miao Li, Taiwan.

The Book of Tea (Okakura Kakuzo) This 20th century classic on tea culture from a Japanese perspective is a gem that should not be missed. The content of this book has recently been re-packaged and published by Bruce Richardson and is available at Bon Teavant Market.

Culinary Tea (Cynthia Gold): What a fine collection of recipes and information on the historical and contemporary uses of tea as food. Cynthia Gold inspires not only the reader to try tea in new ways as an ingredient in dishes, but also invites chefs around the world to reignite the passion for tea as food and to take it in new directions.  As such, Cynthia contributes much to the growing information on tea and tea culture around the world. Here is a more in-dephth review of Culinary Tea by Bon Teavant.

The Tea Dictionary (James Norwood Pratt) This newly minted tea dictionary is a manageable volume of information provided as a quick reference to teas and terms used in the world of tea appreciation and industry. The hefty price suggests that you are receiving a distilled inventory of terms that require curation for the professional or avid tea lover. Signed copies are available from Bon Teavant Market's tea books section. You can find a video interview of JNP here.

The Art of Tea (Magazine) Published by Wu Shing Press in Taiwan, this magazine, which is published at indiscriminate intervals, is well worth perusing for hours and hours. Back issues are available on a variety of topics, including puerh tea and yixing teaware--information that is not always so easy to find in English elsewhere (but can be found here).

Wabi-Sabi (Leonard Koren) This 1994 classic volume explains the complex concept of wabi or wabi sabi, which I will not try to distill on this page, other than to tell you that this is the concept that infuses Japanese tea culture and frankly, all tea culture to some degree. To understand wabi is to absorb and digest the art of fine tea and the duality inherent in life itself.

The Secret Life of Plants (Peter Tomkins & Christopher Bird) This book is not specifically about tea but about the way plants interact with humans, and should not be missed by those who want to increase their enjoyment of Camellia sinensis on a new level. Scientific studies illuminate the powerful ways in which plants respond to human thought, intention, and actions. This book is revelatory for any lover of plants, and tea is certainly our favorite...

There are so many more tea books that deserve attention, and you can consider this a first installment to our growing bibliography of tea books that we love and want to share. We want to shout out to some of the best tea authors (and their books) of our times and of times past. You may also visit the tea books area of Bon Teavant Market to find books that we believe are worth reading (and re-reading).

Qing Dynasty Gaiwan

When I first began studying tea, I came across a wonderful tea scroll at Urasenke Foundation in San Francisco, where Japanese tea ceremony is taught.  "Pure wind sweeps the bright moon.  The bright moon sweeps the pure wind," read the scroll. It is thought that nature should always be brought into the tea room, either through flowers, poetry, or art.  It can also be fun to take the "tearoom" out into nature.

Paying homage to nature and its rhythms has long been a pastime for tea lovers from Asian traditions, and it is one of the loveliest aspects of tea culture that we might consider inheriting. Full moon is a great excuse to do so, and to share tea with friends. My friends and I sometimes take tea on top of a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean so we can watch the sun set to the west and the moon rise from the east soon after.

We take a couple of thermoses of water that have been brought to a near boil, a few cups, a gaiwan or yixing pot, some tea, of course, and something to eat. The hike out to the ocean takes a half hour or so, and we try to leave an hour before sunset. We find that taking green, white or other teas that require lower temperatures to work best for obvious reasons, though we have been successful at brewing even Taiwanese oolongs on cold evenings. It just takes a little more patience, and with the awe-inspiring scenes before us, the extra time it takes to brew the tea makes for a deeper appreciation of both the nature around us and the tea when it finally expresses its fullest identity.

Taking tea outside under a full moon is great during the summer and autumn months when the weather is warmer, but in winter, enjoying the view of the full moon from a dining room or living room window while sipping tea works quite well also.

Raise your teacup to the moon, giving thanks for tea, for nature, and for the joy of being here, a part of the planet around which the golden lunar orb so loyally revolves.

Just as people can often feel a little out of sorts after moving homes or travelling long distances, tea can take some time to re-orient and settle after being jostled over miles of ground travel or pressurized at 30,000 feet during air transport.