tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-275066792024-03-07T16:43:41.505-08:00The Mandarin's Teatokihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17022633186053977362noreply@blogger.comBlogger249125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27506679.post-88052154257418256172014-04-15T12:16:00.000-07:002014-04-15T13:27:24.690-07:00The Kitchen
MTR guises under a variety of names—The speakeasy, At 21, The Tea Room, Salon, The Mandarin's—and just about everything else bestowed upon this magnetic space form the series of creative guests that rotate through our door.
The radical metamorphosis of MTR before my eyes finally inspired me to take some time for extreme reflection, thus causing a mini-hiatus from posting. Firstt and foremosttokihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17022633186053977362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27506679.post-64115933967924436562013-07-26T13:08:00.001-07:002013-07-26T13:08:06.418-07:00The Legal Nomads
Live your life fully!
Thanks Jodi for the inspiration.
http://youtu.be/joTiDQcEncctokihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17022633186053977362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27506679.post-64568612714926739212013-06-01T18:00:00.002-07:002013-06-01T18:00:21.007-07:00Yixing 2013
Last time I did a collection check was in 2007.... Been too long.
Private collection from ROC to Culture Revolution period. Mainly 1970's Factory 1 masters.
Enjoy the Summer!tokihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17022633186053977362noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27506679.post-22078578645649005932013-03-12T08:42:00.000-07:002013-03-12T08:45:24.459-07:00Prayers & New Beginnings
Remembering 2 years ago yesterday.... A past that we are still healing, but an opening for new hopes, dreams and gatherings.
Congratulations to Ippodo Tea Company NYC. A nearly 300 years old dream for American tea lovers.
Photos Courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/wrongfucha/tokihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17022633186053977362noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27506679.post-50802304786304887442013-03-08T11:02:00.003-08:002013-03-14T15:33:34.557-07:00Cigar and Tea
http://www.steepingaround.com/show102/
http://teamag.com/articles/a-good-cigar-%26-a-cup-of-tea/
High Fired Anxi Tikwanyin Fall 2012. Two grades, paring with a 2004 Muralla.
Thank You Steepingaround for the introduction.
2012 Guoyan Raw Puerh.
Enjoying....
tokihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17022633186053977362noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27506679.post-47065551299596197312013-02-13T12:22:00.002-08:002013-02-26T08:42:24.324-08:00OOLONG-PU<!--StartFragment-->
As
you may know, I started this blog as a tea journal, a visual (and vivid I hope)
diary of what I have learned from tea masters, farmers, judges, vendors, students,
friends and fellow lovers of the leaf. The blog has documented my wide-ranging tea
journey since 2006; it has helped me to understand the ever-changing world of
tea.
Compared
to the teas of Korea and tokihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17022633186053977362noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27506679.post-21612410641912857932013-02-13T10:03:00.000-08:002013-02-13T10:06:48.064-08:00Reminiscing the Year of the Dragon....
http://www.facebook.com/events/112381968924061/
http://www.mechanicsofstyle.com/tea-time/
tokihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17022633186053977362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27506679.post-83152142662281760012012-10-12T11:52:00.000-07:002012-10-12T14:08:43.940-07:00The Sweet Taste of Bitterness
Camellia Sinensis is an evergreen plant which is bitter by nature. I am sure no one likes bitterness in the beginning. A child will spit out healthy steamed vegetables due to their bitter flavors. It is just a natural instinct, animals will not eat bitter plants since most of it might be poisonous. It is a way of survival. So why do the Chinese love tea? I guess it's because of tokihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17022633186053977362noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27506679.post-33082194132554253592012-08-16T08:05:00.002-07:002012-08-16T08:45:40.053-07:00The Conversation.
It's obvious, writing tasting reviews on this
blog has not been top priority. Thinking of what to write that is
worth a fellow reader's enjoyment has been hard. Passing my own
standard of writing an educational tea article has been even harder.
Been more than a year now and I did a couple of drafts but at the
end, they weren't important enough to tokihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17022633186053977362noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27506679.post-39552827118500170152011-09-23T09:11:00.000-07:002011-09-23T09:59:55.069-07:00CONNECTIONS
After months of preparation, respecting the chaos, and the courage to allow what is to be... We finally came to a realization that when we force actions, you only struggle against ourselves and limit the scale of what can be accomplished. The time has come. Tea leads us to Friendship, Friendship enlightens oneself. PURE IS THE RESULT.
It is my great honor to introduce a great tokihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17022633186053977362noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27506679.post-13930416337277479602011-04-19T10:30:00.000-07:002011-04-19T10:30:23.005-07:00A Gift From Heaven
"All desires end in disillusion, all possessions are a disappointment, all pleasures are a mixed blessing. Love implies a partner (onanism is not love), alcohol leads to a hangover, war to death, gambling to ruin, greediness to obesity. There are no exceptions. In order to go sailing you need a boat; to hunt, a gun - or a horse and hounds. The pleasures of collecting are the most frustrating of tokihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17022633186053977362noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27506679.post-41593536853865812492011-03-18T08:51:00.000-07:002011-03-20T15:47:54.022-07:00A Prayer to Japan and all beings
The World we living in has changed. The rotation has shifted, but the center is always true to our heart.
Compassion is the source, not politicians nor corporate greed.Be Strong and fill with hopes my dear friends from Japan. A limitless energy and supports from us to all being is just a heartbeat away.
http://kizuna311.com/tokihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17022633186053977362noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27506679.post-60790899468520326402011-03-14T14:46:00.000-07:002011-03-14T14:47:07.846-07:00The Spirit of TeaProfound and Good... we always want more, more than what we all need. Nature answers all our needs, and keeps giving... unconditionally.
How easy is to give back? We can at least start to share, with others in need. That is a very good start to give back.
A Korean whom in tuned with nature made a clay plate hundreds of years ago, understanding the spirit of the earth. A broken tea leaf lay bare tokihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17022633186053977362noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27506679.post-47750657804089685762011-03-04T14:39:00.000-08:002011-03-04T15:27:05.640-08:00Rocco Dispirito
We fall in love with things we might not understand. Someone once asked what my favorite wine was. "The one I like..." I replied, "and the one I don't know I like yet."
True love takes time. Knowing I like something and explaining it in detail need more time. It's very easy to ask children what they like to eat. "Chocolate Ice Cream!" and why?.... "Cos' its good". Often, good is not tokihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17022633186053977362noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27506679.post-76905452408608541552011-02-20T21:20:00.000-08:002011-02-20T21:35:36.298-08:00Coffee and Tea Festival NYC 2011
Two amazing days of Hard Work but Fruitful Harvest.My heartfelt thank you to all the Mandarin's TeamMates and Tea patrons.
Photography courtesy of Wrong Fu Cha
tokihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17022633186053977362noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27506679.post-63716379647835988662011-02-17T14:28:00.000-08:002011-02-17T15:35:13.812-08:00The Year of Toki
Happy New Year of the Rabbit! The golden year of the Toki (Korean for bunny) is off to a busy start for the tearoom.
Just to kick start the new year, we sponsored a Virtual Yoga and Meditation conference the past week, hosted by Yogahub. This amazing virtual gathering, hosted more than 75 teachers worldwide and have over 2000 participants internationally.
Close friend and teacher, Neal tokihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17022633186053977362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27506679.post-87025144721799886112010-12-30T19:33:00.000-08:002010-12-30T19:35:57.647-08:00Good Bye 2010...
Some of my highlights of this year. Connecting with a new, old friend and fulfilling a dream tearoom....tokihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17022633186053977362noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27506679.post-23667713366628497692010-12-02T14:23:00.000-08:002010-12-02T14:24:16.273-08:00Trophies from China
As tea lovers who follow this blog would know... to be chosen for the Mandarin's Tea Selection, a tea must go through a long, intense and very discriminating process. Only by learning and understanding the foundation (tree, place, process, storage and history), and the character changes of a tea, I can teach more people about how to brew, what to look for, and how to appreciate the unique tokihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17022633186053977362noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27506679.post-55667264935009484822010-11-23T15:19:00.000-08:002010-11-23T15:19:50.501-08:00Almost 3 weeks now....
I can not be happier. Thank you all for your kind supports, and hope to see you in our new tea sanctuary.tokihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17022633186053977362noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27506679.post-43044425825492053462010-10-22T15:13:00.000-07:002010-10-22T15:18:41.465-07:00Our First Tea Tasting...Kick starting our new tea room with a tasting of a competition winning Wenshan Baozhong 2010.A generous gift from a dear Taiwanese artist/professor. All I can say is... Artists get the best tea!It tasted like a combination of a Wudong Dancong, Anxi TGY, a rush of a high mountain Taiwanese, with subtile profile and powerful qi.
Michael, Winnie, Dae was delighted to finally share our combined tokihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17022633186053977362noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27506679.post-46031965456126238232010-10-19T10:57:00.000-07:002010-10-19T10:58:09.665-07:00Fall for Tea...
Clay, Celadon and Stone.Tea, Water and Friendship. All falls into place naturally.If Art is to inform and delight, then Tea is to enlighten and unify. A long journey of friendship has finally fallen in to place. As Fall has harmonized both of our passions. I welcome The Tea Gallery with open arms and heart to be part of my life. This adventure so long overdue, my friends.... let this union tokihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17022633186053977362noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27506679.post-60277725731750231482010-09-13T20:56:00.000-07:002010-09-13T21:28:06.161-07:00Why do I use tea to meditate?
The first day I had the experience of being tea drunk was 7 years ago. I was on a leisurely afternoon walk through an old Hong Kong street. It was a sunny day in fall and there was a light, clean breeze traveling through the cobblestone alleys. Temples and colonial brownstones were interwoven with mulberry trees. A tea shop on a Qing dynasty stone street caught my eye.
It was a very ordinary tokihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17022633186053977362noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27506679.post-55886168370807668042010-09-01T12:43:00.000-07:002010-09-01T12:43:30.196-07:00First Reading on MeditationHave a moment for yourself, brew a cup of tea, and read and re-read this quote for 10 times. It will only take 30 mins:
"Ego is able to convert everything to its own use, even spirituality. For example, if you have learned of a particularly beneficial meditation technique of spiritual practice, then ego's attitude is first to regard it as an object of fascination, and, second to examine it. tokihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17022633186053977362noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27506679.post-53332621255446085282010-08-31T15:17:00.000-07:002011-01-01T09:01:27.705-08:00Tea and Meditation
Tea is my calling--or is it my fate to follow the leaf? I have been a book designer for over 15 years now. In the very beginning, novels and big book titles were my most coveted projects. Throughout my career, I've designed for every kind of book a designer could hope for. Spiritual titles were merely part of my workload until recently, when my calling began to reveal itself and the path that I tokihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17022633186053977362noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27506679.post-10671080552614969342010-07-21T18:52:00.000-07:002010-07-21T19:35:29.808-07:00Jin Jun Mei & The Rose Program ChocolateUnlike expresso with chocolate, tea and cocoa are not a common paring... or should it be?Over the last weekend, I have had the pleasure to meet with a wonderful author who celebrates healthy and finer things in life.Bringing up tea as my natural subject of choose, she rewarded me with a private commissioned chocolate bar made with 70% cocoa."I have travelled all over the world to find the best tokihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17022633186053977362noreply@blogger.com10