Issue 15

Two of the world's most storied tea regions are changing.

Issue 15 travels to Assam and follows the Darjeeling culture that somehow took root in Chiang Mai, Thailand — asking how place, people, and politics shape what ends up in the cup, and what it means when a tradition migrates.

Chang Ching Yuan makes ceramics without a plan or a signature. In a world of constant self-promotion, his refusal to brand himself is its own kind of argument.

The Book of Tea was not born in Kyoto. Its origins lie in the intellectual salons of Boston, where Okakura Kakuzo wrote it for a Western audience at a particular moment in the history of empire and exchange. We go looking for that context.

Teaware from 1660 to the present: how the objects made for brewing have reflected — and sometimes led — shifts in aesthetics and meaning.

Tanzania grows tea that most of the world never hears about. We follow the growers and the factories, and make the case for paying attention.

Tea in Japanese fiction, from The Tale of Genji to Murakami: what the cup holds on the page.