Sencha Sakura in our cups warms our hearts

The skies outside are grey, the weather is chilly but the Sencha Sakura in our cups makes our hearts warm and tells us spring is here. Winters in Milwaukee can drag on and put a damper on the spirit. But the arrival of spring marks the awakening of the dormant state both we and nature experience.

Here in Milwaukee, our flowers appear later than they do in Japan, so at Rishi Tea we mark this joyous occasion with the launch of our beloved Sencha Sakura. Fukamushi sencha offers a deep rich infusion of Japanese tea filled with L-Theanine, our aid in increasing those dormant alpha brain waves. This tea is unique as it undergoes so much more than the addition of flavors or oils. This tea is scented with real cherry flowers and cured leaves of cherry trees. The flavor that the blossoms and leaves impart are what help transcend you to the experience of sitting under a cherry tree inhaling its wonderful aroma and essence of spring.

Sencha Sakura: warming to the heart, soothing to the soul and delicious on the palate.

The Enduring Oolong of Compassion: Iron Goddess of Mercy

Originally posted on FoodThinkers.com

Iron Goddess of Mercy

I’ve been buying Tae Guan Yin, or what is known as Iron Goddess of Mercy, from an old friend in Mingjian Village in Nantou, Taiwan, for twelve years. Last November, I was tasting and selecting micro-lots of winter Tae Guan Yin for roasting when there was an earthquake. It was a magnitude 7.0. I had never felt anything like it.

 

Joshua and his friend of 15 years hanging out in a 4-year-old tea garden planted with Hongxin Waiwei, Wu-Yi, and Qin Xin, all suitable varietals for great Tae Guan Yin.

The Power of Nature

As luck would have it, not one person died. Although magnificent and earth-shaking, it did not devastate, as so many earthquakes of lesser magnitudes have in Taiwan’s recent history. After running from the cupping room, my friend looked at me as we took refuge in the street. He mused, “Guan Yin is with us …” I felt so scared, vulnerable, and lucky to be alive. There was a very real sense that nature was in control of my destiny and it was not for me to decide. I feel even luckier now after seeing the terrible newscasts from Haiti.

Tasting micro-lots of tea destined to be roasted for Tae Guan Yin just minutes before the earthquake.

Healing Powers of Tea

“Cha Yun” is the rhythm and charm of tea. When can the rhythm of tea rise above the clashes of power, competition, profit, and corporate needs? When can it heal? The commodity of tea has been at the heart of war. But the essence of tea bestows peace and implores us to have mercy.

Tea helps people by providing health benefits and preventing disease. Its cultivation and trade can improve the lives of poor farmers and spread cultural understanding. Tea welcomes friends and unites people. Tea transcends its commercial values and supports the needs of the stricken, as it has done throughout its long history.

I am always reminded that tea is an instrument of peace and human salvation. An enduring symbol of tea’s peaceful essence is the cherished oolong tea, Tae Guan Yin.

 The dark clouds in the room that can be seen, almost like dust, are the crystallized caffeine coming off the tea and clouding the air. The feeling you get after sitting in that room, rotating the braziers is quite powerful, like being drunk with caffeine.

Qi and history

Tae Guan Yin is one of my favorite teas because of its flavor and qi (energy), but also its history, process, and teachings.

Tae Guan Yin is one of the oldest oolong tea bush varietals. It’s also an heirloom of the tea generations and is highly regarded as a profound oolong. For many centuries it was cultivated in Southern Fujian in China. Then it was introduced to Taiwan, where it remains a very important varietal at the center of a long-standing artisan oolong tea tradition.

Tae Guan Yin is a very special group of tea tree varietals that were selected and kept pure by Fujian farmers. It is well suited for making traditional, half-oxidized, ripe, fermented oolong tea with slow and moderate roasting. The traditional fermentation and roasting of Tae Guan Yin aims to provide a slightly acidic and fruity sourness with a smooth mouthfeel and pleasant toasted nut aroma that endures and develops over many infusions.

Slow, moderate roasting is key for Tae Guan Yin. A single batch is roasted in small-batch bamboo braziers multiple times until the right flavor and aroma is attained. The room must be kept at a certain temperature and humidity during the roasting process to ensure even and thorough baking.

Origins of Guan Yin

Tae Guan Yin is more than a splendid tea — it is inspirational. Its origin and legend are at the essential core of what I believe the tea trade can be.

“Guan Yin,” the “Buddhist Goddess of Mercy,” teaches us compassion and encourages us to assist the impoverished and heartbroken. As legend has it, a debt-ridden, poor farmer named Wei Yin from Xiping Village in Anxi, Fujian, was visited by Guan Yin in a dream more than 200 years ago.

Traditional spirit offering (not a scarecrow) at the head of our newest planted Tae Guan Yin tea garden in Mingjian Village.

Sharing the wealth

Guan Yin told this farmer that she had given him a special tea bush and that by cultivating this tea bush on a certain area of his land, he could make great tea and save his family. He did and soon shared the tea bush with other farmers.

Tae Guan Yin was spread across Anxi, bringing economic prosperity to those that cultivated it. The locals named this tea “Guan Yin” after the Goddess of Mercy. And later, the Emperor Qianlong dubbed the tea “Iron Goddess of Mercy.”

Tea and understanding

My affection for this treasure of a tea and the experience of my last trip to Taiwan to make Tae Guan Yin for Rishi Tea have inspired me to help those in Haiti. The vulnerability, pain, loss, and confusion of the people in Haiti cannot be comprehended by us. We can empathize but never completely understand their despair and helplessness.

Tae Guan Yin is always close to my tea-heart and my teapot for that matter. She is an ever-enduring focus and trusted guide through my life with tea and gong fu cha (the art of brewing tea with great skill). More than ever, Tae Guan Yin is an inspirational symbol of tea’s peaceful essence.

Help for Haiti

The Iron Goddess of Mercy Oolong tea from the winter crop of 2009, which I was tasting and roasting for Rishi Tea during the earthquake, will contribute to peace and well-being in Haiti.Rishi Tea will donate 20% of each purchase to CARE, an international humanitarian organization that is working to help the victims of the recent earthquake in Haiti. Iron Goddess of Mercy reminds us that tea can transcend its commercial values and promote compassion.

Truly in the tea,
Joshua

Fair Trade YOUR Home

Fair Trade My Home is a grass-roots campaign of fair trade companies, individuals and organizations who are inviting friends and fans to join the fair trade movement and make their home a “Fair Trade Home.” The goal is to create as many self-declared Fair Trade Homes as possible by having people submit a photo or video showing which fair trade goods they regularly purchase and use in their home. Submit your photos and video to www.fairtrademyhome.com.

The purpose of Fair Trade My Home is to raise greater awareness of fair trade to the American consumer, so that more people support fair trade buying habits, fair labor practices and help cut down on poverty both in America and around the world. Currently, the U.S. has over 1,500 companies and retailers offering fair trade goods, 13 fair trade towns (Milwaukee being one!), and over 300 college campuses that support fair trade. We can grow the Fair Trade community by growing awareness!

Learn more at www.fairtrademyhome.com and www.fairtradewhitehouse.com.

Roots & Shoots

Jane Goodall's Roots & Shoots program empowers thousands of young people around the world to work together to improve and protect animals, communities and the environment. Learn more about the inspiring Roots & Shoots Program by watching this video.

Proceeds from each sale of Rishi Tea's new Masala Chai Concentrate are donated to Roots & Shoots.

Jane Goodall's Roots & Shoots from The Jane Goodall Institute on Vimeo.

Brewing up a New Chai in support of the Jane Goodall Institute

We are absolutely thrilled to launch our new Masala Chai Concentrate! The new chai is an improvement upon our previous formula for a few different reasons: the flavors are richer and deeper, the packaging is more environmentally friendly and will take less fuel to ship it around the globe, and most importantly, we’ve partnered with the Jane Goodall Institute! Proceeds from each sale of the concentrate benefit Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots Program.

Jane Goodall has worked for almost fifty years to protect animals, habitats and communities around the globe. The Roots& Shoots Program that she founded in 1991 is a youth-driven, global network of more than 8,000 groups in almost 100 countries. Together, youth from around the globe take action to improve our world through service learning projects that promote care and concern for animals, the environment and the human community.

Rishi Tea’s Masala Chai Concentrate is an organic and Fair Trade Certified™ microbrewed blend of energizing spices and rich vanilla infused with a full-bodied single origin forest grown black tea. Unlike other companies that use soluble tea and flavor extracts, we use traditional Indian spices that are slow brewed for more than 20 hours and ethically sourced, wild-grown black tealeaves from an ancient tea tree forest.

The Fair Trade black tea is harvested in Yunnan, China’s Mannong and Manmai villages, and helps support more than 220 families living and working in the villages. Ancient wild-grown forest tea comes from a sustainable, biologically diverse ecosystem. Less than 2% of the world’s tea is harvested in such a low impact and truly organic manner.

Joshua, Rishi Tea founder and tea buyer shares “Our Masala Chai goes above and beyond its organic and Fair Trade certifications. Promoting biodiversity, preserving soil and species and preventing erosion is critical to sustaining the environment but few large-scale tea farms work to this aim. Rishi’s direct trade of sustainable forest tea is a market driven solution for environmental conservation and pairs well with what the Roots & Shoots Program is all about.”

Rishi Tea’s organic, Fair Trade and Kosher Certified Masala Chai Concentrate is also fat free, gluten free and vegan. It’s available at Whole Foods for $5.99 and will be available at www.rishi-tea.com soon!

Gyokuro Yame

Joshua is the guest speaker for Breville's Food Thinkers blog. This is his second post for them, this month's feature is Gyokuro Yame.

It’s so cold and depressing. When is winter going to end? I spend a great deal of my time in the sub-tropical heat of Southeast Asia. When I come back to my frozen homeland (Mid-Western, USA) this time of year, I often find myself complaining like this. When I feel that down and blasé mood creeping up on me, I call upon the uplifting powers of GyoKuro.

This green tea called GyoKuro (Precious Jade Dew) is amazing! Not only does it have a super kick like espresso, its energy lasts longer and does not lead to a caffeine crash.

In Japan, Gyokuro is regarded as a natural anti-depressant due to its high content of the amino acid, L-theanine, which only exists in tealeaves. Amongst all the types of tea, Matcha and GyoKuro have the most L-theanine. It is this cold and dreary time of year when I consume the most Matcha and GyoKuro.

Now, I’ve been traveling around Asia for the past 14 years and I am a strong adherent to the Taoist philosophy of Yin & Yangand the concept of seasonal food. Many like minds would claim that green tea is too Yin or cooling for this time of year and that one should be drinking Pu-erh, black tea or heavier fermented and roasted oolong teas that are more warm and potent in property (Yang). I totally agree with this theory but I argue that Gyokuro is an unusual green tea that is suited to this cold weather season and one should not avoid Gyokuro during the winter, rather embrace it. Here’s why:

#1 Scientists claim that a lack of sun and very cold weather is naturally depressing. The L-theanine in Gyokuro is a natural anti-depressant and a neural-stimulator. Its consumption leads to the production of increased Alpha Brain waves. Of the 5 brain waves, alpha brain waves trigger endorphins (energetic happy vibes) and dopamine (chill out vibes). Coupled with the caffeine in Gyokuro, the L-theanine stimulated alpha brainwaves lead to a unique, long lived uplifted mental state that one can describe as a calm state of alert and focus kind of like how a Kung Fu master must feel or what Rishi-ites and the ancient Tang Dynasty poets refer to as “Tea Drunk”.

#2 Gyokuro is not all that cold (Yin) as a green tea. Gyokuro tea bushes are shaded during cultivation. This shading blocks the production of catechin, which is the major cooling property in green tea and it is this shading that enhances the yield of L-theanine in Gyokuro. The shading produces a unique green tea that is low in cooling catechin but rich in caffeine and uplifting L-theanine.


Joshua with young Goko varietal bushes destined for future Gyokuro.

As a professional tea taster and seasonal food lover, I drink green tea during its fresh harvest season. Most green teas have a short shelf life and after December of each year they start to show their age quite dramatically. Contrary to the rule of green tea, Gyokuro is the one green tea that must, by tradition, be matured and aged a bit before consumption. Real Gyokuro is harvested in June, aged until late October and released in November. Gyokuro is at its best 6-9 months after harvest. I would say February is a great time to enjoy Gyokuro for its flavor and its complimentary seasonal benefit.

Rishi Tea & Theo Chocolate Pairing

Few things in life pair more perfectly than tea and chocolate. That’s why we’ve paired up with Theo Chocolate, the first and only organic and Fair Trade chocolate factory in the country. Theo appreciates origin as much as we do; buying direct from cacao farmers and grower cooperatives and creating small batch artisan chocolate produced both ethically and sustainably.

Our friends at Theo sent us a box filled with beautiful and equally delicious chocolates which we tasted and paired with a few of our favorite teas. The assortment of creative and tempting chocolates made us giggle with excitement and proved to be one of the best ways to spend a Friday evening.

Theo’s beautifully presented Aphrodisiac Collection features 8 unique confections created with herbs and spices recognized for their aphrodisiac qualities. Each confection is a handmade masterpiece containing imaginative ingredients that achieve their intended goal of arousing and enticing the taster.

Instead of pairing each confection to a particular tea, we narrowed down two teas that complemented the entire set. Golden Yunnan and our new Pu-erh blend, Vanilla Mint were both perfect matches. Their naturally sweet and subtle spicy flavor profiles provided the right amount of character without overpowering any of the unique chocolates. The peppermint in Vanilla Mint also added a very pleasant cooling sensation that lingered on the palate.

Theo's creamy and delicious Jane Goodall Milk Chocolate Bar (45% cocoa) and Dark Chocolate Bar (75%) also paired perfectly with both Pu-erh Vanilla Mint and Golden Yunnan. Surprisingly, we found Organic Sencha, a Japanese green tea with deep grassy flavor and juicy mouthfeel to nicely complement the Dark Chocolate. The vegetal profile refreshes and enhances the rich cocoa while simultaneously cleansing the palate.

Next was Milk Chocolate with Pink Peppercorn & Cherry – creamy milk chocolate with bits of cherry and peppercorn that evokes both sweet and spicy. Our Cinnamon Plum both enhances the fruity sweetness and cools the peppery spice from the chocolate - a great match.

Dark Chocolate with Ginger Rose is rich dark chocolate infused with essential rose oil and candied ginger. As huge fans of both rose and ginger (see Wild Rose and Pu-erh Ginger tea), we found this bar to be one of our favorites. Osthmanthus Silver Needle was amazing paired with this bar. The osthmanthus blossoms and nectar like sweetness from the Silver Needle white tea enhanced the floral notes from the rose while cooling the heat from the ginger.

Try your own Rishi Tea and Theo Chocolate pairing! Email us your pairing recommendations to rishimarketing@rishi-tea.com by February 15^th for a chance to win our new Tsuki Teapot! We will choose one winner based on their recommended pairings and pairing descriptions. Good luck!

Rishi Tea & Clean Water Fund Team Up

Tea will only be as good as the water used to prepare it.

Recognizing the fundamental importance of clean water, not only for tea, but for our health and the well-being of our environment, we teamed up with Clean Water Fund in 2008 for the launch of our seasonal blend, Organic Cinnamon Plum. Thanks to its popularity and success (it won First Place for the herbal tea category at the 2009 World Tea Championship), we brought it back this year along with our partnership with Clean Water Fund.

For the second year, 25% of the profits of each sale will benefit Clean Water Fund’s efforts to protect and restore America’s waters.

With the help of all those who purchased, gifted and drank our delicious limited seasonal blend in 2008, we were able to donate over $4,200 to Clean Water Fund! We hope to double that amount this year!

Cinnamon Plum is available in a tin (3.7 oz), a pound, and gift set.

Video: Ancient Tree Teas & Fair Trade in Yunnan

Thanks to the wonderful people at TransFair USA for shooting this video and for all of their great work supporting Fair Trade around the world!

Wine & Dine WI

Many thanks to Anthony and Jon at High Frequency Media for putting this great video together!

Rishi Tea at Wine & Dine Wisconsin from High Frequency Media on Vimeo.

31 Days, 31 Fair Trade Giveaways

We’ve launched 31 Days, 31 Giveaways! in support of TransFair USA’s Fair Trade Month campaign, “31 Days, 31 Ways”!

Each day throughout the month of October, we’ll give away Fair Trade Certified tea via Twitter.

To participate, simply check our Twitter account each morning by 10am CST and re-tweet our post for that day. One winner will be randomly chosen by 5pm CST and announced on Twitter.

Win organic Fair Trade tea, help support a fair life for farmers and artisans around the world and make a difference this October!

Fair Trade the White House!

Rishi Tea is an Official Supporter of Fair Trade the White House. Help us spread the word on fair trade and make the White House a Fair Trade Home. Invite Mrs. Obama to join the fair trade movement at www.fairtradewhitehouse.com.

Fair Trade the White House is a coalition of fair trade vendors and organizations that are inviting the First Lady to join the fair trade movement and make the White House a “Fair Trade Home.” The purpose of the outreach is to raise greater awareness of fair trade to the American consumer so each person will choose to “join the Fair Party,” and integrate more fair trade purchases into their regular buying habits so that poverty is reduced in America and around the world.

2009 WMSE FOOD SLAM!

Flyer by the wonderful Dwellephant.

It's almost here, the 8th annual WMSE Food Slam, a mouth-watering food and auction event set to rock your taste buds on Friday, October 2, 2009 at the Eisner American Museum of Advertising and Design!

This year, Rishi Tea will have a tasting of some of our favorite coldbrewed teas including Jade Oolong, Orange Blossom, Sencha (2008 World Tea Champion) and a 2009 World Tea Champion, Cinnamon Plum.

What's coldbrew you ask? The coldbrew method involves double the amount of tea you'd normally use, topped with cold water, set aside in the fridge for 2-4 hours, and presto, amazing tea! For a step-by-step guide, see our coldbrew instructions.

Receive $5 off the admission price when you order tickets online. Make sure to enter "yummy" into the code section to for the discount!

For more info, visit http://foodslam.wordpress.com/

Unity: Official Beverage of Global Union World Music Festival!

What do tea and music have in common? Global Union World Music Festival for starters! Rishi Tea's Unity, an immunity enhancing organic herbal blend was chosen as the official beverage of Milwaukee's diverse Global Union festival!

$1 from each purchase of Unity supports diverse music, arts & culture in Milwaukee!

Unity is available for a limited time locally (Milwaukee area) or direct from us. The 2 oz resealable pouch features special packaging promoting Global Union. Try Unity as a refreshing iced tea or serve hot for a soothing experience.

Join us on September 19-20, from 12 p.m. - 5 p.m. in Bay View’s beautiful Humboldt Park. Enjoy international music, diverse cultures, delicious food and iced Unity from Rishi Tea!

Pairing Tea & Cheese

Wisconsin made Blue Cheese with Rishi's Organic Cinnamon Plum

The story of how I became interested in a cheese and tea tasting goes back about one year. While walking to our hotel after an amazing day of serving tea at Slow Food Nation we happened to bump into Sebbie, the iconic figure on the Rogue Chocolate Stout bottle. We shared a cab and have been friends ever since. Sebbie knows just about everyone there is to know in the specialty food business. While at the artisanal cheese, wine and beer tasting in New York, she recommended I introduce myself to Clark Wolf, one of the top cheese gurus out there. I yanked on my coworker Todd’s sleeve and made him accompany me on my way over to Clark.

With an amazing Juniper Berry Rogue in hand, we walked over giggling nervously like silly school girls (if you know Todd, you know he loves to giggle). Clark was as great as Sebbie had explained. To our great surprise, he expressed that cheese is better paired with tea than with wine! That statement alone blew me away and resonated all the way back to Milwaukee.

When I think of a cheese tasting, I think of a long table with wooden cutting boards, funky cheese accouterments and grapes draped all around, complete with cheeseheads holding glasses of wine.

With that vision in mind I contacted Jeanette Hurt, a food writer and avid Rishi Tea fan who just so happened to be writing a story on cheese for an upcoming issue of Fresh Cup Magazine. She was immediately on board for the tasting.

My next stop was Whole Foods where I picked up 5 different Wisconsin made cheeses to pair with 6 teas. Jeanette was bringing the crackers, honey, cocoa nibs and the infamous grapes I kept picturing when envisioning a traditional cheese tasting.

Sean, our Art Director and Assistant Tea Buyer helped me arrange the cupping sets and brew the tea. The following notes reflect the unbelievably decadent cheeses we had the pleasure of pairing with tea. What a tasting experience!

Cheeses in order of tasting:

Chevre

Marieke Gouda

Hooks 3 yr Cheddar
Sarvecchio
Carr Valley Mobay
Hooks Blue Cheese

Teas:

White Peony

Jasmine Green Tea

Houjicha

Feng Huang Dancong “Ba Xian"

Golden Yunnan

Cinnamon Plum

Tasting highlights:

You take the cheese in your mouth and spread it all the way down your tongue and then take the drink of tea. The tea coats your mouth and the cheese. Next breathe and inhale the aroma lingering in your mouth.

Jasmine Tea went with just about every cheese. It was unbelievable how versatile it is and how well it balanced the cheese without overpowering it.

Jeanette added cocoa nibs and honey to the fresh goat cheese or Chevre. It was amazing! That paired really well with Golden Yunnan, bringing out the sweet caramel notes of the rich black tea.

Blue cheese is often paired with port or a very thick, juicy and sweet wine so it made perfect sense to choose Cinnamon Plum for this pairing. It was amazing. We scooped up blue cheese into porcelain tasting spoons and drank the sweet notes of Cinnamon Plum that coated our throats with deliciously rich fruit.

White Peony went really well with the goat cheese that Jeannette blended with honey. The honey in the goat cheese brought out some really nice honeysuckle nectar-like notes in the White Peony. It made me fell in love with White Peony all over again.

Jeanette taught me an old trick: to crack fresh pepper onto cheese in order to bridge the cheese to the wine (or beverage it is partnered with). We tried the technique with Golden Yunnan and Gouda. What an amazing match it was! The pepper brought out really nice spicy and malty notes in the Golden Yunnan.

It was really interesting to see how pepper, honey, cocoa nibs and crackers acted as a bridge from the cheese to the tea and vice versa.

The tasting was a huge success. I learned a lot about cheese and at the same time had the chance to share my passion for tea with Jeanette, a passion that will continue to grow.

NessAlla Kombucha

The first time I drank kombucha, my immediate reaction was to spit it back out as the fizzyness and sour taste took me by surprise. Now I've come to appreciate the carbonated, complex sweet and sour tastes of kombucha that can be made with endless varieties of tea. The numerous health benefits associated with it are also a big plus!

Some of the best kombucha I've tasted is made right here in Wisconsin by our friends at NessAlla Kombucha. The two wonderful ladies who created NessAlla are based in Madison and use only Organic and Fair Trade teas from Rishi Tea to brew their unbelievable kombuchas.

Stop by the East Side Green Market this Saturday from 10-2pm and taste some of their great brews.

You can also find the NessAlla ladies at the East Side Farmers Market in Madison every Tuesday from 4-7pm.

Some great NessAlla brews include Peach Blossom made with Rishi's Peach Blossom white tea, Jasmine made with Jasmine Green Tea, Mulberry Blueberry made with Blueberry Rooibos and Fresh Mulberries, Elder Flower Red Clover brewed with White Peony, Passion Fruit made with Passion Fruit Rooibos and White Peony.

Visit NessAlla's Facebook Page and drink up!

Strong & Sturdy like an Old Redwood Tree

Favorite teas come and go like the sun and moon rise and fall, but Feng Huang Dancong Ba Xian is my one tea that I can always come back to, strong and sturdy like an old redwood tree.

I still have a vivid memory of trying this tea for the first time. Sean and I had the privilege of cupping it as soon as it came in. I still remember that small little guywan so packed full of leaves. The small and dainty little lid trying so hard to contain the wonder of this tea, its unique strength and patience lasting through many complex and highly aromatic infusions. I felt like I was floating and glowing fire from the unbelievable chi this tea so willingly gives to all. I have gotten to know this tea over the past few months. Getting to know so many of its facets through my own personal manipulation. You and I can both love this tea and love something completely different about it. Recently, Sean and I revisited this tea again.

GLASS: half full of tealeaves, 180 degree water, rinse, 1st infusion 2 minutes, 2nd infusion 1 minute with the rest going up by 15 seconds.

The first infusion had the fruity and delicate floral aromas I remembered but I craved the bold astringency that I feel gives such great chi.

The second infusion started bringing out that astringency that balances out the delicate notes.

Then it happened, the third infusion gave me a combination of the first two with one of the nicest lingering aromas I have tasted in a while. It was as if fragrant blossoms danced on my tongue and filled my senses as I exhaled.

Mondays at work can be pretty stressful with the work of the weekend weighing down on you and the tasks of the week slowly piling up, but we do work at a tea company. My biggest perk is being able to stop and enjoy my water and leaves; taking the time to slow down and forget about the paperwork and voicemails and remember why we are here. My passion is tea and tea is good to me.

Susana Mojica

Student of the leaf and passionate aficionado.

FUN FACT:

The story of these oolongs begin with Zhao Bing, the last emperor of Southern Song Dynasties who fled to Chaozhou, Guangdong in 1278 A.D. As his group marched through the Feng Huang Mountains, they picked fresh leaves from old tea trees and discovered that by chewing the leaves, their thirst was miraculously quenched. The leaves had sweet, floral and savory notes with an uplifting energy that helped them through their journey. Varietals and seeds from original trees such as this one were spread through the region, selected and cultivated, resulting in what we like to refer as an extended family with many generations.

Garfield Street Days!

Photo from Express Milwaukee.
Read their article on Garfield Days 2008!

Rishi Tea is teaming up with Walnut Way Conservation Corp this Saturday, July 18th from 12-7pm at the Garfield Avenue Blues, Jazz, Gospel & Arts Festival (also known as Garfield Street Days) in Milwaukee!

Garfield Street Days takes place on Garfield Street between 3rd & 7th and features 4 musical stages of blues, jazz and gospel music along with great food, street performers and entertainment for the children.

Rishi Tea and friends will be selling 16 ounce cups of award-winning Summer Lemon and Tropical Crimson iced teas for $2. All proceeds will benefit Walnut Way in support of their educational initiatives that reform and engage youth and adult residents in civic and community leadership, environmental stewardship, housing construction and restoration as well as economic development.

To learn more abouve Walnut Way's resident driven programs, visit them at www.walnutway.org.

The World Tea Market Arrives in Milwaukee!

Summer is here and so is the East Side Green Market! Stop by the Beans & Barley parking lot from 10 am to 2pm this Saturday (and every other Sat until October) for refreshing cups of organic iced tea and your favorite loose leaf teas from Rishi Tea!

Spring Harvest Celebration Video

Our talented friends at High Frequency Media put together a great video for us, highlighting our recent Spring Harvest Celebration at the beautiful Anaba Tea Room.