by D.O. Rothenberg | Jul 30, 2020 | Best Infusion Practices, Tasting & Quality Assessment, Tea Education, Tea Plant Biology & Cultivation
If steeping instructions on the packaging call for 2 minutes at 80°C/175°F … why? How did they arrive at that recipe? Why not 1 minute… or 5 minutes? And what about Gongfu Cha with many small infusions… is the first infusion different from the 10th? We hold an innate...
by D.O. Rothenberg | Dec 15, 2019 | Living in China, Tea Culture, Tea Plant Biology & Cultivation
I had a very bizarre weekend, which within a 24-hour cycle, took me from pilfering through piles of dirt and cooking rodents to modeling for the fashion industry. I’ll unpack that alarming announcement by first addressing the rodent piece. Wrapping up a long 2019...
by D.O. Rothenberg | Oct 8, 2019 | Best Infusion Practices, Major Types & Sub-Types, Tasting & Quality Assessment, Tea Education, Tea Plant Biology & Cultivation
Pleated leaf face typical of var. assamica If you are a lover of tea, you’ve likely had a cup of tea that made you go “wow.” That moment of tea-induced bliss is where the life-long passion for tea often begins. But why in particular was that cup of tea so especially...
by D.O. Rothenberg | Oct 4, 2019 | Best Infusion Practices, Effects on Human Health, Tasting & Quality Assessment, Tea Education
Warm tea, warm heart Researchers from the world-renowned, world-class institution, University of Colorado at Boulder (my alma mater. Go Buffs) conducted an experiment which found that participants judged others differently depending on the temperature of the beverage...
by D.O. Rothenberg | Oct 3, 2019 | Best Infusion Practices, Effects on Human Health, Tasting & Quality Assessment, Tea Education
“Caution: Contents Hot!” The ubiquitous warning label reminding us that our hot things are hot. As the story goes, an ill-fated woman discovered the hard way in a McDonalds parking lot in 1994 that hot coffee spilled on the lap causes burns. On the one side,...
