Mary Lou Heiss (1950 - 2017) was an American tea connoisseur, historian and author.
Tea is an aromatic beverage commonly prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis, an evergreen shrub (bush) native to East Asia. After water, it is the most widely consumed drink in the world. There are many different types of tea; some, like Darjeeling and Chinese greens, have a cooling, slightly bitter, and astringent flavour, while others have vastly different profiles that include sweet, nutty, floral or grassy notes.
She was born in 1950.
She completed her Bachelor's Degree in English from UMass Amherst in 1972. [1]
The University of Massachusetts Amherst is a public research and land-grant university in Amherst, Massachusetts. It is the flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts system. UMass Amherst has an annual enrollment of approximately 1,300 faculty members and more than 30,000 students. It was ranked 26th best public university and 70th best national university by U.S. News Report in 2019.
She died in 2017 due to complications from MDS, a rare blood cancer. [1]
She and her husband Bob started their careers as food entrepreneurs in 1974 on Green Street in Northampton with a coffee, tea, & spice shop under the name Coffee Gallery. They became experts in sourcing tea, coffee and many other specialty foods during their 40 years operating their brick & mortar store in Northampton, MA. Theirs was one of the first specialty food stores in the US. [1]
The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population of Northampton was 28,549.
In 2000 they started traveling extensively to East Asia to source the premium teas that were just starting to become available for export from China, and also Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. Mary Lou made numerous solo journeys to East Asia to both source and photograph tea and the tea culture of that region. Mary Lou was one of the first premium tea merchants to insist on providing the harvest date on the seasonal teas offered by their tea company Tea Trekker. [2]
She has been nominated for the James Beard Award for Reference and Scholarship for their co-authored book The Story of Tea: A Cultural History and Drinking Guide, published in 2007 by Ten Speed Press, a division of Random House. [3]
She and her husband have been described by the New York Times as 'The Professors of Tea' . [4]
Her notable books are: [5]
A drink is a liquid intended for human consumption. In addition to their basic function of satisfying thirst, drinks play important roles in human culture. Common types of drinks include plain drinking water, milk, coffee, tea, hot chocolate, juice and soft drinks. In addition, alcoholic drinks such as wine, beer, and liquor, which contain the drug ethanol, have been part of human culture for more than 8,000 years.
Green tea is a type of tea that is made from Camellia sinensis leaves and buds that have not undergone the same withering and oxidation process used to make oolong teas and black teas. Green tea originated in China, but its production and manufacture has spread to many other countries in Asia.
Lapsang souchong, sometimes referred to as smoked tea (熏茶), is a black tea that is originally from the mountainous Wuyi region in the province of Fujian in China. It is distinct from other types of tea, as the leaves are traditionally smoke-dried over pinewood fires, imparting a distinctive flavor of smoky pine.
Cott Corporation is an American beverage and foodservice company based in the USA. Cott's platform across North America and Europe is supported by sales and distribution facilities and fleets, as well as wholesalers and distributors, servicing residences, businesses, restaurant chains, hotels and motels, small and large retailers, and healthcare facilities. In bottled water, Cott offers brands including Sparkletts, Hinckley Springs, Kentwood Springs, Canadian Springs, Labrador, and Eden Springs. In office coffee services, Cott offers products under brands including Keurig, Mars Alterra, Starbucks Coffee, Caribou Coffee, Peet's Coffee & Tea, Javarama, and Lavazza. In coffee roasting and tea blending, Cott sells the majority of its manufactured coffee and tea products under retailer or foodservice brands to customers who own the trademarks associated with those products.
The history of tea is long and complex, spreading across multiple cultures over the span of thousands of years. Tea likely originated in the Yunnan region during the Shang dynasty as a medicinal drink. An early credible record of tea drinking dates to the 3rd century AD, in a medical text written by Hua Tuo. Tea was first introduced to Portuguese priests and merchants in Lebanon during the 16th century. Drinking tea became popular in Britain during the 17th century. The British introduced tea production, as well as tea consumption, to India, in order to compete with the Chinese monopoly on tea.
Franck is a Croatian coffee, tea and snacks company.
The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf is an American coffee chain founded in 1963. It is owned and operated by International Coffee & Tea, LLC, which has its corporate headquarters in Los Angeles, California. As of 2017, the chain has over 1,000 self-owned and franchised stores in the United States and 31 other countries.
Tea culture is defined by the way tea is made and consumed, by the way the people interact with tea, and by the aesthetics surrounding tea drinking.
American tea culture encompasses the methods of preparation and means of consumption of tea within the context of the culture of the United States.
A roasted grain drink is a hot drink made from one or more cereal grains roasted and commercially processed into crystal or powder form to be reconstituted later in hot water. The product is often marketed as a caffeine-free alternative to coffee and tea, or in other cases where those drinks are scarce or expensive.
Argo Tea is a chain of tea cafes that was founded in the Lincoln Park community area in Chicago, Illinois, in June 2003. It is now headquartered in Chicago's Loop community area. It had more than a dozen locations in the Chicago metropolitan area before expanding in 2010 to New York City, where it opened four locations that year and then expanded to St. Louis and Boston. As of October 2011 the chain had 26 locations and distribution in over 3,000 grocery stores. In its first decade, it has grown simultaneously with the tea market. Its expansion into grocery stores occurred in 2010 and 2011. Arsen Avakian is the current chief executive officer. By spring 2013, it had opened in Beirut with plans to add locations in five Middle East cities by year end.
Ginger tea is an Asian herbal beverage that is made from ginger root. It has a long history as a traditional herbal medicine in East Asia, Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
Mengding Ganlu or Ganlu tea is a tea from Meng Mountain, Sichuan Province in the southwest part of China. Meng Shan is reputed to be the place where tea was first cultivated. Mengding Ganlu means "Sweet Dew of Mengding" where Mengding refers to "the top of Meng Shan".
Capital Teas is an American specialty tea brand, based in Annapolis, MD, which primarily sells premium loose tea and tea-related products. The Capital Teas brand was founded in 2007, closed its entire retail operations in August 2018, and in October 2018 Anchor Beverages, Inc. started offering Capital Teas products online and through wholesale channels.
Sencha (煎茶) is a type of Japanese ryokucha which is prepared by infusing the processed whole tea leaves in hot water. This is as opposed to matcha (抹茶), powdered Japanese green tea, where the green tea powder is mixed with hot water and therefore the leaf itself is included in the beverage. Sencha is the most popular tea in Japan.
Santomean cuisine comprises the cuisine, dishes and foods of São Tomé and Príncipe, a Portuguese-speaking island nation in the Gulf of Guinea, off the western equatorial coast of Central Africa. The country consists of two archipelagos around the two main islands: São Tomé and Príncipe, located about 140 kilometres (87 mi) apart and about 250 and 225 kilometres, respectively, off the northwestern coast of Gabon.
Anji bai cha or Anji white tea is a green tea produced in Anji County, Zhejiang Province, China.
The Ceylon Tea Museum is located in the former Hanthana Tea Factory, which was originally constructed in 1925. It is situated 3 km (1.9 mi) south of Kandy.