Point of Origin Episode 12
Tea Time
Like wine or coffee, fine tea can be distinguished and prized based on its region, maker or age. Elena Liao from Te Company a premium tea room in New York’s West Village, joins us to discuss Oolong tea, how it's made and how Taiwan’s geopolitical history helped define its taste. We’re also joined by designer and actor, Waris Ahluwalia, whose newly launched tea line, House of Waris was inspired by traditional medicinal uses of tea.
From Sri Lankan highlands to the high mountains of Taiwan, we explore how decisions like harvesting, processing and fermentation impart flavor, and the deeply ingrained cultural importance throughout Asian culture.
Available on Apple Podcast, Spotify, & iHeartRadio
The Art of Oolong
By: Jessica Hernandez
In Taiwan, the island nation’s steady showers and misty curtains embracing the mountainsides provide the perfect environment for Camellia Sinensis, the mighty shrub whose leaves are the source of all tea
Read more in
WHETSTONE VOLUME 005
Elena Liao - Té Company
Image: tecompanytea.com
When we first started selling tea in the US, we only sold to fine dining restaurants in NYC. Over time we realized our tea should really be available to everyone instead of only at rare dining experiences. We then opened an online store where all our teas are available for purchase, but the website couldn’t transmit the delicious aroma and taste. Ultimately, we thought the only way to spread our joy for this type of tea is to have a physical tearoom where people could come in and experience it for themselves.
Elena’s Recommendations for Drinking Tea
Find a tea that is just tea. Look for a tea that doesn’t include flavorings and is made only from tea leaves.
There’s no wrong way to drink tea! Add as much water as you prefer and remember that many teas were made for multiple steepings.
Give room for the leaves to open and unfurl. This allows for the most flavor extraction.
Make sure the water temperature is hot enough for tea leaves to open.
Elena on Taiwanese Tea Production
The one thing that makes Taiwan so unique, is that it’s an island that has tons of moisture from the ocean. It's also on the Tropic of Cancer which is an ideal location for tea cultivation.
Parts of Taiwan, in high—really, really high—elevation, are home to tea gardens, which are 2000 meters above sea elevation. In this mountainous terrain, it’s not easy to run a machine through, so most of this land you have to hand harvest. Obviously that drives up the price, it drives up the cost of the actual harvest, but certainly it's worth the expense because they're so precise.
Waris Ahluwalia - House of Waris
Image: https://houseofwaris.com/pages/about-us
Waris Ahluwalia is born in Amherst or Northern India and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Ahluwalia Alia is an actor and designer, driven by a deep and abiding desire to create stories, products and experiences that captivate, transport, and shift perception. He’s best known for his house of Waris, fashion and jewelry line, but he's also an avid tea connoisseur. Tea is a social connector, one that he learned about from his mother's traditional hospitality.
