Every great tea is born of a river
Essays on the world's great tea rivers — the valleys they carved, the regions they feed, and the teas that could only have grown there.
The History of Tea: From a Wild Yunnan Leaf to the World's Second Drink
Every cup you drink descends from a single species growing wild on the hills of southwest China. This is how it reached the rest of the world.
The Six Types of Tea: White, Green, Yellow, Oolong, Black and Dark
White, green, yellow, oolong, black and dark tea all come from the same plant. What separates them is what happens in the hours after picking.
The Brahmaputra: How the World's Boldest Black Tea Grew on a Floodplain
Assam is the largest tea-growing region on earth, and it exists because a Himalayan river drops its load of silt across a valley every single year.
The Teesta: The Himalayan River Behind the Champagne of Teas
Darjeeling makes barely five million kilos of tea a year. The world drinks far more than that under its name.
The Mekong: Following the Lancang to the Birthplace of Tea
If tea has a homeland, it is the mountain forests either side of the Lancang — the river the rest of the world calls the Mekong.
The Uji River: Where Japan Learned to Shade Its Tea
Matcha exists because a monk brought seeds from China, and because the Uji valley holds its morning fog long enough to shade a leaf.
The Mahaweli: How a Fungus Turned Ceylon Into a Tea Island
Ceylon tea is the accident of a plant disease. In 1869 a fungus arrived, and within thirty years the island had changed crops entirely.
The Nile: The World's Biggest Tea Exporter Sits at Its Source
Kenya produces less tea than China or India — and exports more than either. Almost all of it grows in the highlands that feed the White Nile.
The Yangtze Delta: Dragon Well, West Lake and China's Most Famous Green Tea
Longjing is flattened by hand against the wall of a hot wok. The technique is 600 years old and it is why the tea tastes of chestnut.
The Rivers Collection
Seven rivers, seven teas. Our own single-origin line launches with the Tea River shop. Join the list and taste it first.