I really love documentaries about food, so when I noticed All in This Tea was available to watch instantly on Netflix last week, I decided to give it a go.
Right away, I was captivated. The film follows world-renowned tea connoisseur David Lee Hoffman to some of the most remote regions of China as he searches for the best handmade teas in the world.
Check out the trailer:
A major focus of All in This Tea is the conflict between artisanal tea and factory-produced tea. Tea making is an art and tradition that goes back thousands of years in China. Hoffman’s mission is to support struggling small farmers by bringing the rest of the world their amazing handmade teas.
Since I work on an artisanal farm where every aspect of production is “hand-made,” from putting labels on wine to picking out every seed from 20 pounds of sunflower shoots to washing eggs, I was most interested in the movie’s depiction of traditional tea farmers. Let me tell you, the level of knowledge and skill required to produce good tea blew my mind. It’s really incredible to watch.
Image courtesy of lylevincent via a Creative Commons license.