Change Log: 8/15/2026

Book:

• No Changes.

Other Content:

• Published High Modernism in the Ancient Arbor: Tea Technique Research Trip 2026 – Menghai, Yunnan - Part 1 on Cult of Quality Blog.

Updates:

• I've finally finished this year's trip report; this is the major ~80+ page article that's kept me from focusing on the Yixing book chapters, in preparation for book 3 on pu'er. It will be published in 3 sections, about a week or two apart. The editorial team and I will will host a live AMA on these topics a week or two after the final section - you can comment here, email your questions in reply, or post them to our instagram page - we're looking forward to the community response.
• Thank you for everyone who came out to last week's TTT on Menghai tea! We compared a Laomen'e sweet and bitter gushu, and ended on an amazing Pasha micro-garden select pick.
• Our next special edition of Talk, Taste, Triage is scheduled for August 19th at 6pm - 8pm. We will do a blind tasting on a commissioned experimental set to learn about processing variations of sheng - these teas inform a lot of the research in the just published trip report and Book 3, so this is a good opportunity to experience the experimental commissions first hand.
  • Talk, Taste, Triage is a recurring small group gathering of tea practitioners where readers can ask questions, request experiments, and learn about specific types of tea. Guests are welcome to bring tea and tea wares for identification, troubleshooting, and critique.
  • Subscribers are also most welcome to join us without any topics or troubleshooting in mind - there's always good tea from my collection to taste and enjoy together.
  • To help us with capacity planning, we ask everyone to RSVP: if you plan to attend a Talk, Taste, Triage event, please reply to the Change Log email or text Jason. If you have special requests for tastings or experiments, please include the idea in your RSVP - this gives me a chance to select teas and plan out the best way to accomplish the ideal tasting sequence; incomplete ideas are totally OK, we can figure it out together. No need to over-plan: I can usually handle tea and ware ID without prior research or references, so don't feel bad about grabbing a last minute tea or a recently arrived ware.
  • Subscribers are welcome to bring 1 guest.