Queer eye for the tea table; bubble tea buyouts
News from the tea world.
Leafhopper has to take an unscheduled break this week—I’ve been on the road and working on an exciting magazine story that will come out later this year—so here are some tea news stories to fill your cup. I appreciate your support as always and will see you back on the 18th!
What does Japan think about the global matcha boom? I like this take and raise some similar points in a feature story for Saveur running this fall. [Perfect Daily Grind]
Queer Eye’s Tan France has a new furniture line with an unexpected item: a low-slung tea table for sharing tea on the floor. Apparently Justin Theroux and Courteney Cox have similar models. [Architectural Digest]
A new report documents systematic labor abuses on Sri Lankan tea estates. Pluckers are routinely underpaid for their work or denied payment entirely, with threats of violence for those who speak up. [Amnesty International]
Researchers in the United Arab Emirates are looking to turn waste products from date farming into tea, using unripe dates and palm shoots that are trimmed during fruiting. No word yet on how they taste. [TV Brics]
De’ang sour tea, a tribal fermented drink in Yunnan, is getting a facelift. This style is new to me; the leaves remind me of lactofermented awabancha from Japan. [Xinhua News]
Investment firm Bain Capital is buying bubble tea chain Gong Cha for an undisclosed figure, but possibly up to $2 billion. Boba has become big business. [Reuters]
How South African rooibos became a global tea staple. In 2021, the tea was given protected designation of origin status from the European Union, making it the first African food product to receive such accreditation. [CNN]