When Pollan decided to write about caffeine, he gave it up — cold turkey. "I just couldn't focus," he says. "I was irritable. I lost confidence." Caffeine reshapes the brain in surprising ways.
Across tea-drinking cultures, writers have milked hot tea for all its worth to add a splash of narrative panache to comic or erotic scenes or to build mood, momentum and character.
The Oscar-nominated film has reignited interest in the life (and love interests) of a corpulent, gouty, queen who liked chocolate more than tea. So why are Queen Anne and tea-drinking so closely tied?
The 2016 U.S. presidential election led two women to create a business steeped in changing how immigrants are viewed by celebrating their contributions to agriculture.
The time-honored elixir gets mixed reviews from doctors and, depending on factors such as caffeine or acids, might even make symptoms worse. Another complication: The scientific research is murky.
The author of a new book, Dinner with Dickens, has an insightful — though far from scientific — observation: The Victorian writer's good characters prefer tea while dodgier ones lean toward coffee.
In the biggest tea-producing region of India, hazards range from red spider mites to wild elephants. One brave grower faces them head on, all while spurring a movement to grow tea organically.
Myanmar's tea shops have long been central as public spaces to meet and talk, especially during the military regime. But with the country's "opening" to Western influence, their prominence is fading.
Most of the world's tea comes from China, India and Sri Lanka. But since 2000, dozens of farms have sprouted across the U.S. producing small-batch, artisanal tea sold at a premium.
Grown in China's remote Yunnan Province, this legendary, fermented dark tea changes as it ages. Like a fine wine, pu'er is sipped, savored and collected by devotees.
The island nation is one of the world's biggest exporters of tea, an industry that employs a sizable part of the population. We visit one organic tea farm that shares revenues with its workers.
Calls for a boycott are not new for Adele. And now, embroiled in the politics of both left and right, she will likely think longingly back to her first, uncomplicated boycott — about her tea-making.
Cohen's friend Suzanne Verdal fed him a black tea with pieces of orange rind in it. That tea is Constant Comment, sold by the Bigelow Tea Co. First sold in the 1940s, it remains popular even today.
Lipton is just about synonymous with industrial Big Tea these days. So you might be surprised to learn that once upon a time, Lipton was known for selling tea direct from its own gardens.
Darjeeling is the "Champagne of teas," sold by distinct harvest season, or flush. But while many of India's top tea experts point to the autumn flush as their favorite, those teas are largely unknown.
America's only large-scale commercial tea plantation is located on Wadmalaw Island, S.C. It makes tea from bushes descended from plants first brought here in the 1700s. We chat with its tea taster.
They were earning a little less than $3.50 a day. Then their bonus was cut. They didn't trust their union to stand up for them. So they had only one choice.
Darjeeling is one of India's most prized and priciest teas. For over a century, it was sold at live auctions steeped in tradition, with all due pomp. But the last of those auctions ended this month.
Resham Gellatly and Zach Marks spenteight months traveling through India, meeting with hundreds of India's chai wallahs — or tea vendors — who highlight the country's culture and diversity.
British tea drinking is on the decline. U.K. leaders might have welcomed such news in the 1970s, when the length of the tea break became a major point of political contention.
In the 1700s, steep taxes made tea too pricey for most. Smugglers like the notorious Hawkhurst Gang helped feed England's growing taste for tea, operating with a mix of popular support and fear.
Archaeologists found the 2,100-year-old tea leaves in the tomb of a Han dynasty emperor, suggesting tea was highly valued. But was the emperor drinking tea as we do, or using it as medicine?
In some fancy hotels, Christmas tea has become a refined respite for harried shoppers. But the tradition's roots are much rowdier: efforts to fight public drunkenness.
