Episode Details

HEAR THE HEADLINES – Globally, Tea Consumption is Regaining its Momentum | West Lake Longjing Digital Authentication Launches March 1 

| Tea Acquisitions, and Mergers Were Few in 2021, a TEAIN22 Forecast  

| GUEST – Christine Folch, assistant professor of cultural anthropology at Duke University in North Carolina  

| FEATURES – This week, Tea Biz travels to Duke University in North Carolina, where Jessica Woollard explores the cultural underpinnings and growing interest in drinking Yaupon tea. Yaupon is made from the caffeinated leaves of a species of holly tree native to the Americas. Close relatives include Yerba Mate and Guayusa. 

The Cultural Heritage of Yaupon – What makes one beverage more popular than another? What makes a beverage take hold at one moment in history over another? Christine Folch, assistant professor of cultural anthropology at Duke University in North Carolina, explores these questions through her research on three beverages of the ilex, or holly, genus: yerba matte, yaupon, and guayusa