Tracing Tea in the News
January 2010
Unless you’re driving in from China or a neighboring ‘Stan, every Kyrgyz trip starts and ends in the capital, Bishkek. The surrounding mountains may call out, especially once you’ve eyed up the Soviet concrete and rush-hour traffic, but they’re not going anywhere. Take a day or so to explore the city.
It’s been 20 years since independence, but entertaining reminders of Communism and the Cold War are easy to spot...
December 2009
Dead Goat Polo: National Sport of Kyrgyzstan
Dead Goat Polo may not be the most charming name for a sport, but it certainly does what it says on the tin.
Raiding and kidnapping the neighbouring village may no longer be as acceptable as it once was (though bride-napping remains in vogue), but in its place the Kyrgyz have a surrogate pastime that offers the same outlet for aggression and a similar showcase for horsemanship...
Fall 2009
"Madam, there appears to be a dead bird in your luggage"
Of all the greetings I could have received at the Pakistan Border, I can say for sure that this was not one I had anticipated. The security officer on duty pointed to the apparent source of the smell, a wicker basket, gestured for me to openit, then looked profoundly disappointed when it contained neither a deceased parrot nor confiscatacle contraband...
Fall 2009
Krause Center for Innovation • Foothill College
Gayle Britt, a KCI program director, has been working in collaboration with local teachers to create a technology-enriched social studies curriculum that stimulates and enlightens middle-school students while meeting California content standards. Seventh-grade students in Tom Sayer’s world history class at Graham Middle School (Mountain View, CA) are engaged in the learning adventure, Tracing Tea. Max Lovell-Hoare, a document film director, is taking these middle-school students on a virtual field trip ...
November 2009
Following the Silk Road
The way to begin any Central Asian meeting, be it in
Almaty or Ulaanbaatar, is with half a cup of tea. Whether
green or black, with milk or without, the proffering of
half a steaming cup shows that your host is willing to listen and
that your presence in the room is accepted. Conversation will continue
only as long as each cup is poured half full; once the tea cup
is filled to the brim, your host has given you a sign: This is your
final cup of tea and your allotted time is up, so please finish your
spiel and leave..
August 2009
China, the Red Dragon
Once upon a time, in the wilds of ancient China, sat
a man named Shen Nong (“the Divine Cultivator”).
Shen Nong had a unique gift: His stomach was
transparent, so he could see the impact on his body of everything
he ate. One day, as Shen Nong sat thinking beneath
a tree, a few leaves fell into his bowl of water. Intrigued by
this unexpected brew and confident he knew the antidote to
any poison, he drank the infusion. Watching his stomach, he
knew the drink was good.
July 2009
On the Trail
How far would you go for a cup of tea? How about 24,000 kilometres?
In this Holland Herald exclusive, the documentary filmmakers who are ‘tracing tea’ share their stories about their eastern quest to discover the history of this delicious brew.
July 2009
Iran & Turkey: Drinking the Undrinkable
... Let it not be said, however, that Tracing Tea is easily deterred. You cannot truly judge the quality of a tea, good or bad, unless you appreciate and understand the characteristics of the full quality spectrum. Perhaps even more important, every tea and every place have a story to tell, and the stories of lesser teas may be the most interesting of all.
May 2009
Tracing Tea, Pakistan's Fledgeling Tea Industry
Separation from East Pakistan (modern-day Bangladesh)
in 1971 turned Pakistan overnight from a tea exporter to
an importer, a situation that continues today. However, a
tepid relationship with India, concern about over-dependence on
Kenya, and the availability of large amounts of suitable land for
tea cultivation within Pakistan itself are motivating change in
the subcontinent: Pakistan has set its sights on self-sufficiency
in tea production.
May 2009
GREENER VIEW, a fresh perspective
SCOTLAND'S ONLY DEDICATED MAGAZINE FOR GREENER LIVING
Tracing Tea
March 2009
Tracing Tea
TV documentary Tracing Tea crosses two continents on its epic pursuit of some of the ancient tea trading routes from Darjeeling to London. As if that weren’t challenging enough, the team’s making this mammoth journey across
18 countries and three mountain ranges by the humble tuk-tuk. Air Astana is one of its corporate sponsors, and tengri looks at the expedition’s progress so far from Darjeeling to Bishkek.
December 2008
Living of the Land
Throw away
your artificial
pesticides and fertilizers,
and instead look to bridging the
material and spiritual world as the solution
to your problems. In the year before his death
in 1925, the Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner
delivered eight lectures titled “Spiritual Foundations for
the Renewal of Agriculture.”
December 2008
Tracing tea
In the 23 years that the Kunjerab has been
open to foreigners, hundreds of Landrovers,
buses and cyclists have passed through, but
the world’s highest border crossing remained
off limits for auto-rickshaws – until now.
On October 31, ‘Tracing Tea’ members Andrew
Daynes, Max Lovell-Hoare, Sam Datte-Paulin
and Sophie Ibbotson completed the first
auto-rickshaw crossing of the 4,693m pass
between Pakistan and China.
December 2008
Jainism and the legendary Delhi bird hospital
The story of Delhi's Jain Bird Hospital begins, as all fairytales should, with a king in his palace in the East. The king, a follower of the Jain religion, is a pigeon fancier with a thousand birds, but one in particular has his heart...
September 2008
‘Tracing Tea’ :
Director, students share across the globe
Max Lovell-Hoare is on what can only be described as the world’s most ambitious field trip.
The documentary film director and his crew will drive from Darjeeling, India, to London, England, through 18 Asian and European countries, to investigate tea, travel and culture, and they are taking a seventh-grade class from Mountain View’s Graham Middle School along for the ride....
August 2008
Tea on wheels...
KOLKATA, Aug. 22: India’s tea exports may have declined but tea to the English is still picnic outdoors. A nine-member group, comprising four students and the rest technicians travelling from Darjeeling to London, through a documentary, Tracing Tea, ....
August 2008
An Epic Journey, Tracing Tea in Pursuit of the Ultimate Cuppa
How far would you go for the peerfect cup of tea?. Across the street?. To the end of the block?. How about 15,000 miles? ....
August 2008
An 15,000km trip follows the history of tea across world
A GRADUATE has embarked on a 15,000km journey across 15 countries in a motorised rickshaw for a film tracing the cultural roots of tea. ....
August 2008
An Epic Journey, Tracing Tea touring Darjeeling
As part of a project titled Tracing Tea, four students and a film vrew are following the leaf from Darjeeling's Makaibari Estate, through 18 tea-drinking nations to Britain. ....
August 2008
A 15,000km trip for a cup of tea
A GROUP of adventurers has begun a seven-month expedition exploring the world’s tea routes – in a tuk tuk. ...
August 2008
Tuk-tuk travels to trace tea
A tea-mad Isleworth man is preparing to hit the road in a tiny tuk-tuk to trace the popular beverage's long history ...
July 2008
Tea Tasting at the Top
In July Brenda and Jessica from Tea at the Top (top of the Antiques Markets in Catherine Street) held two tea tasting sessions in conjunction with 'Tracing Tea' an organisation that, remarkably, is taking two tuk-tuks across 15,000 miles overland from Darjeeling to London, followed by a professional film crew to record this incredible Journey.
February 2008
A London Taxi in Tehran
Where are you from? England? ...Good! Welcome to Iran! Leaning from out of their car windows, this friendly call followed us down every street in Teheran. A second later our new acquaintances, ... Read full article
11 May 2008
'Tea with Mussolini' museum in a stew
A London entrepreneur is drawing plans to safeguard an internationally renowned colection that pays homage to the tea trade, following the death of the man who assembled it ... Read full article
July 2007
Tea Holidays
When considering the tea bag or glass of chai in their hand, few people think of anywhere other than Assam and Darjeeling; such is the hold that India has on popular imagination. It is well-known that Assam's tea plant
8 March 2007
Students plan 10,000-mile tea break to bag rickshaw record
A group of Cambridge University undergraduates plan to travel from Calcutta to Cambridge by rickshaw in a recordbreaking gesture of appreciation for the great British cup of tea.
The six students started their journey on
the 23 February and will spend 160 days on
a ten thousand mile route tracing tea’s
cultural history. Far from simply jumping in a
jeep, however, they plan on making the
entire journey in three-wheeled motorised
rickshaws with a top speed of 30mph. If
successful, they will break the record for the
longest distance ever covered in their
(somewhat bumpy!) chosen form of
transport. ... Read full article
