Ya-Ya’s Tea-Board

The newest issue of the online tea magazine The Leaf is available now. With each new issue, I’m increasingly proud to be part of this amazing publication, if only in a small role.

The Leaf is carving itself a niche for reliable, in-depth tea-related knowledge in a world of information that is getting broader, more colourful but - at the same time - more confusing every day. During the years I have been writing articles for Ya-Ya’s Tea Board, the number of tea-focused online information has exploded. While a few years ago, information about tea on the internet was relatively sparse and only a handful of personal blogs - usually written by tea enthusiasts that were happy to share their considerable knowledge about tea - existed, today’s situation is quite different. An increasing number of information from vendors (not always reliable or correct) is met with a mind-boggling array of personal blogs. It seems to me that by far the majority of these blogs (which often have quite a large readership) are written by tea novices which often don’t know much about the subject of tea but gain a voice of expertise through their blogs. This is slightly concerning, since the information that these blogs propagate is often incomplete, misrepresented or sometimes plain wrong.

This is where publications like The Leaf come in. The information in this magazine is written by some of the leading experts on the subject of tea, educational and motivated only by an communal urge to further worldwide tea appreciation. Nobody involved is paid and everybody contributes freely in a spirit of generosity. The other aspect that sets The Leaf apart from other tea-related publications is its focus on tea as a way of life and towards enlightenment. Beyond explanations of various teas and teaware, an integral part of the magazine has always been the spiritual aspect of tea culture. While this side of tea is not often discussed in Western online sources (quite contrary, for example, to the omnipresent praises for tea’s health benefits and weightloss properties), it is an aspect that anybody seriously interested in tea will encounter sooner or later. The Leaf tries to offer guidance in that respect - by people who’ve walked this path before and have some wisdom to share.

The current issue contains a number of spiritually-oriented articles. New this time is an article on Zen and its relevance to tea culture. The regular column Gong Fu Tips always contains some very interesting information. Instead of discussing teaware or water temperature, this time the focus is on the human aspect in gong fu and looks at the importance of good posture during tea preparation. Another article on tea preparation, titled No method (you’ve got to love gong fu!) discusses different approaches to tea preparation and comes to a wonderful conclusion.
As usual, there are articles that look at historical developments and figures. Frederick R. Dannaway’s article Vast Waters is a fascinating history of the importance and role of different water sources for tea preparation. And the beautifully written story The Emperor is clearly one of my highlights in this issue.
Anyone interested in teaware should read the article on the development of Yixing pottery and Mary Lou Heiss’ article on this year’s World Tea Expo is an impartial and somewhat sobering account of the Western world’s most important trade show for tea. Her article makes me feel better for not attending…

But please, read the new issue of The Leaf for yourself. But be sure to have some time and hopefully a cup of good tea at hand!