Cultural Predispositions: Being in born in Canada, I grew up with the word ‘culture’ meaning sometimes my friends’ parents had strange beliefs, and that they would, often unsuccessfully, badger their […]
Yame Tea Map Yame city, Fukuoka is a consistent origin site of Japan’s best gyokuro teas. In the very dark green (looks black) is an outline of every tea farm […]
If you’re a follower on my instagram you’ve surely been tired of seeing my random posts of art, especially if you’re actually here for the tea. If you feel that […]
The Tengu of Aokigahara by Josh Linvers, December 11th 2024 As you may have heard, there is a particular forest in Japan that is, for many visitors, the final destination […]
Kappa of Tajimi by Joshua Linvers December 10th 2024 Sometimes the reasons why we do things are lost to time. Reasons become traditions, and while traditions can be wonderful, younger […]
This story was written because of recent comments I heard about an art piece I did about 2 years earlier, and a successful storytelling debut at Heliopolis cafe. The picture […]
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Hagakure is a Japanese philosophical text written between 1709 and 1716 by a samurai named Yamamoto Tsunetomo. It is a reflection on the samurai way of life, its morals and […]
Matcha Blending Attempts in 2024 I’ve gotta say: grinding matcha is a lot of work. It’s worth it when you can drink your creation, or see the look of happiness […]
Alas, there should be much more. Things get lost to time, but finding an old file on my computer has regailed me with long past thoughts. Jin Jun Mei: 1 […]
A Test of Love A Classical Japanese Story Reimagined by Joshua Linvers, 2024 Long ago in Kirishima, Japan, there lived a samurai so poor that all he possessed was a […]
Kazutoyo and the Tanuki Reimagined by Joshua Linvers, 2024 One gloomy and overcast day in the south of Kochi, a noble samurai Kazutoyo and his retainer went to the coast […]
The Jellyfish and the Monkey Reimagined by Josh Linvers. 2024 It is said that at the bottom of every ocean lies a dragon king in his palace, but this story, […]
Tokutaro and the Foxes of Maki Moor A famous Japanese story reimagined by Joshua Linvers Nearly 400 years ago today, in the lands between the modern-day cities of Ueda and […]
Gan and BrisknessWhy traditional black tea drinkers from around the world would love Shui Xian I don’t consider myself a traditional black tea drinker, but over my career in tea […]
Hello! I have purchased and tasted through 4 teas from India at the selection of Praveen from TeaGardenia — an excellent source for high quality Darjeeling’s. These teas are available […]
I am not Buddhist, though I am interested in knowing more about it. I will embark on a Buddhist-centric pilgrimage in April and want to feel less ignorant about the […]
Milk and Sugar in Tea. A generally ignored topic in my mind. Friends, I’ve been sitting on these notes for a couple years. Hidden away in a folder, in a […]
I was teaching a tea class for a couple of folks as a late Christmas present yesterday and was asked: when I’m at home, what kind of cup do I […]
Introduction:So I’ve spent another irresponsible amount of money on tea cups. This purchase will include my 4th Jianzhan aka Temmoku style cup, which I am quite excited to test out. […]
I was driving home from a delivery today, listening to some AI generated covers of songs (currently wandering a rabbit hole here) when I had some intermingling of thoughts. I […]
October 5th 2023 by Joshua Linvershttps://www.sommerier.com/?p=3463 I think it’s best as an analogy. As a person who brews tea, you’re not an artist, you’re more of a manager. It’s up […]
So it’s said that the story of Japan starts with a guy named Jimmu. Now Jim’s lineage is a bit crazy, and really the full story goes back 6 generations, […]
Well, I intended to do a YouTube video about this, but after months of sitting on this write up, I feel that it may never happen. It’s a tremendous waste […]
I was listening to a podcast recently (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTJYETp-seM) and during a segment that they were speaking about Ayahuasca and psychoactive compounds I heard something that gave me the nudge I […]
Yi Wu Mountain produces the ‘Queens of Pu’Erh tea’. When aged properly until the tea reaches maturity, Yi Wu promises an olfactory experience near the pinnacle of what Pu’Erh can […]
What an experience. I’m grateful to Carino for allowing me to participate independently as ‘sommerier’ while they all worked their asses off. The night before I spent nearly 4 hours […]
What a resounding success, thanks to everyone who made it out. Let’s do it again sometime.
I’ve prepared my Bai Mu Dan white tea for hundreds of people over the years, but my most recent preparation uncovered a significant trail for my mind to wander down. […]
Shikoku Tea Map: Since I began doing my ‘subscription box’ which is not a subscription… due to lack of eCommerce skills… I’ve had to double down on making educational content. […]
Genmaicha (making my own blend) The famous Japanese blend of rice and tea. I’ve made my own versions several times but its always been fast and loose – an unmeasured, […]
Note: this is quite personal and introspective. Unless you’re looking to get deep into my head, maybe you’ll be better off reading another article. I posted this here just to […]
When we sit down with a cup of tea, we continue a journey enabled by millions of years of evolution in both our bodies and the tea plant. Physical and […]
“The nose knows things that the mind does not understand” – Blaise Pascal The benevolent reason for tasting notes to exist and be shared is to inform our colleagues/friends/customers about […]
Chinese Tea Terminology Note: The Gregorian dates presented in this post are only relevant in 2021 as they are based on the Lunar calendar. Hello everyone! Let’s run through an […]
It’s all or nothing with me eh? I’m seeing the light! The shop is starting to flourish again with all the 2021 teas coming into stock. I have received my […]
Overview:Perched atop a rocky cliff and gazing into the vast expanse of forests, waterfalls, lakes and rainbows. Can you imagine the aroma in the air? This is Plitvice Lakes National […]
It’s Wednesday morning and my daughter is in school. I finished reading my novel ‘Buddenbrooks’ thanks to a stint of several 4+ hour reading sessions. It’s a quite lengthy classic […]
First, you have to understand what appeals to me about this tea in order to understand why I would go through all this. Da Hong Pao was one of the […]
So, trying to get this tea business to be my main driver of income for the first year has had its share of challenges. Fortunately, I’ve found solutions to many […]
Matcha Cultivar Comparison As some of you may know, I am planning to get into the world of selling matcha on this site and preparing it in my tea room […]
It was a memorable year! Unfortunately, I didn’t have the luck to get to visit Japan before the world ground to a halt. I don’t think I’ve ever spent as […]
(Pictured Above: Shino Tea Bowl) Mino Province, the now defunct name for an area just Northeast of modern-day Nagoya constituted the lower part of Gifu Prefecture. Mino pottery was made […]
If I tried to tell you what this tea smells like, I’d say a blend of Nesquik powder (powdered chocolate drink mix), brulee’d sugar (the caramelized sugar on top of […]
(short answer: yes, but) I want you to come to your own conclusion, and to help you do that, I’ll lay out as much relevant information as I’m able to. […]
The Connoisseur MarketCigars, Whiskey, Wine, Coffee, Sake, Cocktails, … Tea? Why is it that someone will spend $40 on an ounce of whiskey? A person might argue the fact that […]
Tea is the most popular beverage in the world with huge amounts of production coming out of the worlds most populated areas: China, India, and Japan. The US makes a […]
I’ll make no claims of tea preventing cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, low blood pressure, etc. This is not a topic that I am interested in, nor one I want to […]
https://www.sommerier.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Yellow-tea.mp4
A little series I’ll start doing, hopefully soon with a better mic and a script. 🙂
The art world, so intriguing. A few weeks ago I picked up a book called ‘The Mindful Artist: sumi-e’ and read through it cover to cover. Sumi-e is ink bush […]
I’m starting to get it.. How to be a waiter. I’ve done it for what’s coming up on 9 years, it’s about time. Those of you who know me from […]
Here’s what’s new:1) Part time job at Carino2) Sommerier Tea Selections finally stocked with everything it needs to succeed, no more excuses!3) High Tea and Catering Events taking off4) Possibility […]
Iron Goddess of Mercy (Tie Guan Yin) has a very specific flavor in the world of tea, especially when it’s made in the modern style (like the one I sell). […]
Drinking and recording my notes of drinking the phoenix oolong ‘Wudong Mi Lan Xiang’ that I sell (the cheaper of the 2), I made some interesting observations. All of the […]
Today I had a lot of tea. I got into my bag of Bai Mu Dan and tried to figure out how to brew it the best I can. It […]
I was drinking a Soufuu sencha sample yesterday, one of the many single cultivar creations by Ashikubo Tea Works that I can consider to pick up in a future order. […]
Kobashi Toshimitsu is the creator of the first tea cup I’ve ever bought. I went to visit him in 2019, and wrote a little about it. Bizen is a town […]
Over the past weeks, I developed a new way to taste tea. I’ve covered it already in 2 other posts so I wont get into it here past a brief […]
Brewing tea well equates to consistency, and this consistency can be developed in two ways: with technology or intuition. In the video above, water temperature is deduced by the size […]
In June 2017 I wrote a small fictional piece about gyokuro as the highlight of our tea menu at Q Haute Cuisine. Today I was browsing reddit and saw a […]
Above: 0.15g (roughly) of kosher salt, thumbnail for comparison. Adding a pinch of salt to tea to improve its flavor was already common knowledge to tea drinkers by the year […]
Do you have green tea which you bought years ago still sitting in the cupboard? If yes, it’s probably not very good anymore. Rather than throwing it out you can […]
What happens to tea over time? What can you do with old tea? You might have heard that tea has a shelf life and the claim that you should drink […]
A disclaimer before we begin: This is not a science, this is entirely opinion based. Over the years of discovering how to assess tea better I have arrived at a […]
A Musical Analogy:This is still a work in progress, but I think if you could imagine such an abstract concept that tea is music, and that each tea type (eg: […]
I’m still trying to process the emotions for this. In November 2012 I left the Consulate of Japan to embark on a journey of wine as a sommelier for the […]
Part 1) Introduction:If a person has only experienced unsalted bread for their whole life and was then exposed to bread with an appropriate amount of salt, I believe their life […]
Today on reddit I saw an article comparing wine and tea [link here]. I responded to the post with my comments on his article, but I feel I can do […]
I was thinking: What are the best tea’s I’ve had from memory and where do they come from? I made a list! You can hover over the names for a […]
If you would rather watch a video of me talking than reading this, a good amount of this article is presented as a video. I’m new to making videos, it […]
Several years ago I embarked on a translation project of a Japanese publication called “kaori fuukei 100 sen” which mentions 100 locations across Japan which have particularly noteworthy fragrances for […]
With my most recent shipment of tea for business I purchased a couple hundred grams of various highly esteemed green teas for personal consumption. I’ve had a strange sleeping schedule […]
Gyokuro is on my short lists of favorite teas. I’m reading a book called ‘Tea of the Sages’ by Patricia Jane Graham which included the origin story of gyokuro. I’ll […]
Recently on MarshalN‘s blog I came across a very interesting article about the origins of Gongfucha (China’s ceremonial tea preparation). I’ve included a summary of what I think the important […]
Following up on my previous post I would like to share information about brewing different teas with water boiled in an iron kettle vs a silver kettle. The test was […]
I’ll eventually add to this (I think), I didn’t proof read it yet and decided to pump this out before I hit the bed (4:30am wooo….) There are a couple […]
Generally not up so early but my brain went off on a tangent and I couldn’t get back to sleep. I started writing things down and eventually came up with […]
Months ago, I wrote an article about my experience comparing water boiled in silver vs water boiled in iron. In the past few days I have had some motivation to […]
Something I have decided to study for 2020 and beyond is how to showcase more of our unique Canadian agricultural products, especially those which are practical to grow in Alberta. […]
I decided to tackle one of Japan’s most famous literary works. This would be my 4th culturally significant book behind The Journey to the West, Musashi, and Shogun. In hindsight […]
Recently I have found myself in a position to purchase a 990 grade silver tea kettle. It has been my goal for many years to contribute to the discussion on […]
I’ve procrastinated writing this due to the sheer amount of information I have to post. Water was a topic I did quite a bit of studying of back in 2016. […]
A can of worms indeed. Today as I was thinking about Hibiscus tea and wondering if I could put it through a Malo-Lactic fermentation similar to what is done in […]
Today I showed up at work 2 hours earlier than I needed to because I misread my schedule. Naturally I sat down with a flight of hibiscus and drank until […]
Well this was unexpected. After the article about Chamomile I felt I should get to know 2 other major herbal ’tisanes’ — Lavender and Hibiscus. Herbal teas have always been […]
Of all the 2019 teas I have imported, my sampling this year starts with Chamomile. It was surprisingly hard to brew a tolerable or even acceptable flavor. To reach the […]
As mentioned before, for someone not used to writing a journal or keeping a blog it’s surprisingly hard to keep one active. Too many other priorities in life, but here […]
Literally the transcript from the dream: (For storytelling sake, I didn’t clean up anything I said in my half asleep state) Keanu reeves and girlfriend maybe came for dinner at […]
As I was enjoying a bowl of matcha whilst daydreaming on one sunny afternoon, I thought that doing a flight of matcha is akin to starting a fantasy adventure in […]
I recently purchased a ‘comparative set’ of matcha from yunomi.life ranging from ‘culinary grade’ to ‘master class ceremonial’ It’s Saturday June 30th, before I started work I flew through all […]
So I’ve started planning out the tea selection for our next ‘Modern Tea’ event at Q Haute Cuisine. Generally the focus of ‘Modern Tea’ is education of the tea and […]
On a recent episode of Shokugeki no Soma (‘Food Wars’ in English) the students were studying regional foods of Hokkaido, Japan. A tea made of ‘Magnolia Berries’ aka Schisandra Berries […]
a follow up to the previous post Observation 1: Brewing with 30g:450ml the result was 380.7ml of brewed coffee. This would need 210.14g of sucrose to prevent freezing up to […]
I’ve seen a video recently; this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIbbJV-grHg In short, it was inspiring. To be fair, a lot of things in Japan are inspiring but this particular video gave me […]
Finally something important I feel I can contribute to the tea world — my poor habits of caring for my iron kettle (tetsubin) I am starting to develop some bad […]
I brought in some tea so that people (maybe you!) can do a taste comparison between low, high, and very high quality tea of the same type and see in […]
Hey everyone, skip to the bottom if you are just here to see what I’ve got to sell. It’s been a wild few months (since June really), everything great. The […]
Four-Dimensional Space: “Being three-dimensional, we are only able to see the world with our eyes in two dimensions. A four-dimensional being would be able to see the world in three […]
‘The Geisha’ 2017 Phoenix Oolong Dan Zhu Jiang Hua Xiang (The Fragrance of Ginger Flowers) A beautiful young woman in tragic circumstances began to work as a geisha. She practiced […]
I’ve been drinking tea again lately, I recently got several different Sencha’s from Japan. One of them gave me the idea of a dish so I went out to buy […]
Feeling a little sick, I guess this is something I’ve been fending off while I was busy with the ‘Big Taste’. I had a nap today, now I’m up at […]
I’ve lost some important notes, likely because I procrastinated too long to write this post. I did a salt tasting a few months back and had the intent to post […]
Dream Friday February 24th 2017 Q Haute Cuisine, a wedding during the evening for a bunch of similar looking blonde white women of all ages wearing matching 1980s light purple […]
Our service at Q went extremely well on Friday and Saturday, I’d say they were both nearly perfect. I got great vibes from all customers, especially those that did the […]
Today on a whim I decided to make the trek to Zigarren and load up my humidor with cigars. It’s a thought I have several times a year, but alas […]
We encounter so many things a day, from smells, thoughts, ambient sounds, what makes something memorable? I think the short answer is consciousness, and in particular; Reading the atmosphere and […]
So, this time I’m at it alone. No help from someone more knowledgeable than me in the field. It is about time I stop relying on others. I felt I […]
Already the title sounds poorly translated. fml.I was watching a documentary from NHK about the importance of aroma in Japanese culture, there was mention of a list created by the […]
I wasn’t originally planning to taste these but felt it would be a missed opportunity if I didn’t. Here are the results. Everything with brewed at my tea testing strength. […]
Original Article: Strawberry Leaf Cracking open the jars, it was pretty disappointing for the most part. I felt for 2 of them the aroma was unpleasant without any redeeming qualities, […]
I was watching a documentary on Saturday evening about the perfume industry, it would be an adventure to get into an industry like that, maybe in another life. I thought […]
Personal: Where did you learn? I’ve learned what I know from books, blogs, forums, and of course a lot of focused tasting. teachat.com hojotea.com marshaln.com The Tea Companion by Jane […]
Digging through a bunch of old pictures right now, I might as well upload these! Summer Fall Fall
Last year (2015) I took all the strawberry leaves from my backyard, wrapped them in tinfoil pouches, and baked them until they were dark brown. I blitzed them up in […]
Shitty situation. I opened a bottle of wine for a customer, 2009 Tignanello. It’s like $200 for them to buy, a pretty sizable purchase I’d say. Immediately upon pulling the […]
Ever since watching Black Lagoon while I was in high school, I wanted to drink and enjoy rum. We have 4 — lets say ‘premium rums’ to offer at Q, […]
Let me start by saying my work life and home life are polar opposites when it comes to tea. At Q Haute we brew our tea in a wine carafe, […]
:/ Brick wall. Work life has gotten kind of boring. I can keep on trucking along and doing what I’m doing, but I don’t really feel any satisfaction — I’m […]
After many months of neglect, I have resumed the journey of understanding incense. I got into the premium pack from Shoyeido and took some notes about them. I included the […]
Some of our wonderful regulars came into the restaurant for lunch today and got into the duck shit tea (it was in the building for less than an hour, and […]
Soon enough, our tea list will hit a plateau. There isn’t much I feel I could change to diversify it without just being nitpicky and careless with our money. With […]
After a bit of practice, I did a demonstration for my coworkers on siphon coffee. The point of which was to see what I expect of them if they were […]
Well, I’ve got a crazy amount of caffeine in me, and definitely wont be sleeping for quite some time (now 4:00am) I decided to make the coffee list at Q […]
Aside from the great food and company, the weather has been gorgeous. Shopping has been steady, as there is a lot to buy, we nearly go out every day to […]
Uguuuu this is going to be an expensive trip. (Edit: 5 years later✔✔) To jot down a list of the sake’s I’m hunting for: Yamatogawa Genshu from Fukushima Reijin Koshu […]
Chaka, Chaka, Chaka, Chaka Khan Chaka Khan, Chaka Khan, Chaka Khan Chaka Khan, let me rock you Let me rock you, Chaka Khan Let me rock you, that’s all I […]
First of all, holy shit — it went well. It was very different in terms of preparation from any other event dinner we’ve done. I spent approximately 8 hours on […]
After working with my clay for a bit, there are some observations that I have made. – You can’t rush the drying process (with a hair dryer for example) without […]
Today I went to eat some pho for lunch. After I was finished I went into the market and bought some fruits I’ve never seen before — both melons. Hami […]
First of all, this was either the theme song to the dream or the first thing that came to mind when I woke up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70QJa_SwmEc What I’ve wrote below is […]
Step 1: Aquire wine and butt pictures ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Step 2: Drink the wine in a small, hot room at 1am Step 3: Record impressions, no matter […]
I’ve spent the last few days preparing a cocktail pairing for the Natura menu at Q. It can be frustrating when things don’t work. It’s creatively tough with the sheer […]
Life’s just too good sometimes. They don’t happen often, but days like this literally make months at a time for me. #hyperbolictimechamber, #horyshet, #icame Chateau de Chevalier 2004 Domaine Jean […]
For the glorious records Outkast vs Deadmau5 – Ghosts over Baghdad DATA – Don’t Sing Flairs – Truckers Delight The Shoes – Time to Dance Kavinsky – Testarossa Autodrive (SebastiAn […]
Coming up on mothers day, some very special customers are coming in for brunch at Q. They had such a great night when they attended dinner the last time, that […]
Fuck, now I’m going to forget the name of all the songs I like. Quick, write them down! Justice – Stress Justice – Dance K391 – Journey K391 – Summertime […]
Sick of playing video games, my cycle of habits is back to creation. It’s 1am, I was digging through my cupboard for the wheat berries I thought I bought 3 […]
Grape Varieties A test I wrote for myself many years ago, likely when I was first starting to cram wine. It was lost in time between all the files in […]
Susan at Wildflower Arts Center did some test firings for me to see the vitrification point of my backyard clay. I really like Cone03, it’s a beautiful red, exactly what […]
In all fields of retail, especially those that dabble in luxury there are certainly those that wish to take advantage of ignorant customers. I’ve had my fair share of meeting […]
Nose: Honeysuckle, fresh grass, blooming bushes, fish Palate: Light bitterness like Chinese brocolli Sunflower heads at the time you pick the seeds out Mild flavours with a rich texture The […]
Dry Stick Aroma: Old comic books, long extinguished firewood Locker room at Mike Miles Muay Thai when it was downtown, star anise, cinnamon Dads basement, musky carpet, rain Smoke Aroma: […]
Fu-In Kyara (50 Stick box) 風韻の伽羅 Stick Aroma: Bengay/Tiger balm/RubA535 (Menthol/Mint, Camphor, Cinnamon) Antique Store (Old wood, Old silk) Diesel Cologne from high school (Cinnamon, Vanilla Coke) Dry ginger, anise, […]
I’ve made 2 small projects with clay so far, more for testing purposes than anything else. Both turned out ‘ok’ to some degree. A shitty tea cup that looks like […]
Finally my first shipment of Incense from Japan arrived. Soon enough I’ll systematically go through the list and review each one. Buying in an assortment has pitfalls, with all of […]
This menu was a fucking masterpiece, hands down one of the best ‘event dinners’ that we’ve done. I’ve gotta be one of the worst procrastinators around, deadlines are certainly my […]
I’ve been a fan of ‘daruma’ since the first time I went to Japan in 2007, I usually buy them as gifts for others but never for myself. Conceptually it’s […]
It’s been one of those [it’s 12:00pm, I have the day off and nothing to do. I am not in the mood to read or learn, everyone else is working, […]
I’d first like to say that I didn’t write this, and I don’t know where I found it. In any case, if you think you know a little bit about […]
Beauty: April 28th 2015 I’ve recently read a book called “The Unknown Craftsman”. While I feel I need to read it again to understand it better, I’d like to summarize […]
A run over 9 scotches over @ Kensington Wine Market with Alex. Some initial (and very personal mind you) tasting notes to plan the menu off: Nikka Coffey Malt (love) – […]
X-Post from an older blog which I cannot access anymore, but didn’t want to lose this writeup. I wanted something unique to start a collection of Japanese ceramics so I […]
Cultivars of Japan, the future of Japanese tea Josh Linvers, Umijoshi @ teachat.com ————————————————————————————————————————————— In the 1970s, alongside the economic growth of Japan, drinking green tea was getting more and […]
I’ve read into the anti-oxidant stuff around the forum, and while the popular opinion seems to be AO’s are bullshit or bad for you, my knowledge and thoughts on them […]
It all started in the ‘plus 15’ bridged area between TD Square and whatever the name of the building Holt Renfrew is in (I guess this is where Town Shoes […]