About
Mary Lou Heiss and Robert Heiss are adventurous tea trekkers, freelance food and travel writers and specialty food retailers. Their deep respect for and passionate interest in artisan food products, traditional foods and the history and evolution of food and cooking in world cuisines brings a global perspective to their work.
When not traveling to far-corners of the world sourcing tea and other ingredients for their shop, the Heisses can be found in their specialty food store Cooks Shop Here in Northampton, MA.
Together and individually, Mary Lou and Robert present professional and vocational seminars and classes on tea culture and history, lead tea tasting workshops and conduct cooking and educational food tasting classes.
Mary Lou and Robert have co-authored the 2008 James Beard Foundation Book Award and the 2008 IACP Cookbook Award nominated book :The Story of Tea: A Cultural History and Drinking Guide (October 2007, Ten Speed Press), a comprehensive and educational book that brings readers into the fascinating and intricate world of tea and tea production. They have also co-authored: Hot Drinks: Cider, Coffee, Tea, Hot Chocolate, Spiced Punch and Spirits ( October 2007, Ten Speed Press), and Mary Lou is the author of Green Tea: 50 Hot Drinks, Cool Quenchers, and Sweet and Savory Drinks ( April 2006, Harvard Common Press).
Robert has two lively radio programs about all things food that can be heard each week: Around the Pantry, on WRSI 93.9 FM and Off the Burner, on WHMP 1400 AM.
I appreciated reading about the outdatedness of teaballs, as I never could use one properly anyway. I am a novice to tea and I find your blog interesting. I also liked the article about picking green tea before the rain. I have so much to learn!
My husband and I are avid tea lovers but definite novices. We recently wrote two songs about tea and its health benefits for a scholarship competition and we learned so much. Tea is awesome and there is so much more to it – whichever type you prefer – than I ever realized. If you are interested, here are our two songs and music videos about tea:
From YouTube:
The Teacup Tango: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOmoshHoQU0
The Scale of Tea: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4VFblIDgNI
We’d love to hear what you think.
Elizabeth,
Wow…..the tea songs are great. Quite witty and well done: I love the goofy purple teapot with the quivering lip and roving eyeballs.
I worry about you though, if this is what you two do for kicks ! Just kidding…keep’em coming…..tea needs a ‘lighter’ image.
Hi Tea trekkers,
I am a designers currently working on a new product that will be able to steep tea more effectively than conventional tea balls or pinch tea steepers.
Please contact me at http://www.theclosedloop.org. I would like to get some feedback from tea experts.
Keep up your blog! Very interesting.
Krystal Persaud
Hi Krystal,
Excellent! There is always room for tea steeping improvement. I will be in touch about your idea.
Mary Lou