Camellia’s Treaty

I wrote this at least a year ago when I finally decided on a name for my tea blog. For me, names and titles are important, they are the first piece of information people generally know about another person or a paper or book they’re about to read. Titles convey the essence of what is […]

Gong Fu Hot Chocolate!

Growing up, I always had hot chocolate made with milk. I actually didn’t know that people would make it using water and when I had my first experience with water based hot chocolate… I thought it was an abomination! Like, who does that? I’m not one to pick hot chocolate as a drink very often […]

The Tea That Enlightened Me

In my post The Tea That Chose Me, I described a surprising experience I had with a sample of a Raw Puerh I didn’t expect to like. I talked about how it seemed as though I didn’t find this tea but this tea found me. I couldn’t get it out of my head, it called […]

World Tour Take 2: Asian Greens

For this world tour session I compared three green teas: one from Korea, one from Japan and one from China. For the Japanese tea I used a handpicked Kamairicha which is Japanese grown green tea processed the Chinese way by pan firing. I consider Sencha to be a whole other category in itself and wouldn’t […]

The Tea That Chose Me

The past year I have been trying many samples of pu-erh. I’ve been trying to figure out what I do and don’t like and simply educate myself on what pu-erh can taste like. So far I have found that I do not like shu (cooked/ripe) pu-erh, despite my willingness to try many, I haven’t found […]

World Tour- Black Tea Take One

Part of what Camellia’s Treaty is about, is exploring and experiencing teas from around the world. Although every tea lover knows that tea’s birth place is China, it has spread to many countries and people everywhere are sharing their take on this coveted infusion. It never ceases to amaze me how one plant can produce […]

Waukoucha World (Comparing three Japanese Black Teas)

Although rarely heard about- Japanese black (referred to as red tea in Japan) actually has a history of over a century old. Because the western world valued black tea, Japan began trying its hand at it. However- Japanese black tea continues to be almost unheard of here in the US. After reading a blog from […]

Horizontal Harmony- The Benefits of Horizontal Tea Tastings

If you are passionate about chocolate or ramen or any other kind of food or beverage you’re likely trying to eat or drink it any chance you get. It’s also likely you want to try different varieties of your favored item in order to compare and contrast them. We do this naturally, constantly comparing things, […]

Cold Brew: Jade Oolong

This tea is nice and floral when brewed gong fu style. It’s got a light sweetness and tartness that kind of reminds me of a Tie Guan Yin but a bit different. Although I did enjoy this tea, I didn’t find it as complex as others that I have tried. HOWEVER, as a cold brew, […]

The First Steeping: Attitudes for Eating and Drinking — The Tree in the River

This is my very special custom made tea pet! He is a sculpture rendition of the 1640 painting Agnus Dei by Francisco de Zurbaran. I wrote a bit about why I chose this as my tea pet on my other blog The Tree in the River. Click below to read the blog which also includes […]