All In This Tea

The Tea Explorer

The Tea Explorer documentary follows the journey of tea enthusiast Jeff Fuchs along the Tea Horse Road, a 1300-year-old trade route in the Himalayas. It combines the author's passion for both tea and mountains, tracing the route's history, meeting the people who live along it, and exploring the significance of tea in the region.

Living Photograph: Chris with Teacup

The original Living Photograph on YouTube. Starring Chris, a teacup, a red lamp and a tasteful, yet mildly uninspired window treatment.

Gardens of the Orient

This portait of life on the tea plantations is decidedly rosy – clearly, there are no exploited workers here. However, the film provides an intriguing overview of tea production – from the planting of tea seeds to the final shipping of the precious leaves across the globe.

The Tea Trail with Simon Reeve

Adventurer and journalist Simon Reeve heads to Kenya and Uganda to uncover the stories behind Britain's favourite drink, meeting the people who pick, pack and transport tea.

Tea Company of the NILS in Pematang Siantar

A reportage about the tea company of the NILS (the Netherlands Indies Agricultural Syndicate) called Permanangan, on the east coast of Sumatra.

Look at Life: Everything Stops for Tea

A short documentary about the tea drinking culture in the UK and the industry behind it.

Tea War: The Adventures of Robert Fortune

In the 19th century, China held the monopoly on tea, which was dear and fashionable in the West, and the British Empire exchanged poppies, produced in its Indian colonies and transformed into opium, for Chinese tea. Inundated by the drugs, China was forced to open up its market, and the British consolidated their commercial dominance. In 1839, the Middle Empire introduced prohibition. The Opium War was declared… Great Britain emerged as the winner, but the warning was heeded: it could no longer depend on Chinese tea. The only alternative possible was to produce its own tea. The East India Company therefore entrusted one man with finding the secrets of the precious beverage. His mission was to develop the first plantations in Britain’s Indian colonies. This latter-day James Bond was called Robert Fortune – a botanist. After overcoming innumerable ordeals in the heart of imperial China, he brought back the plants and techniques that gave rise to Darjeeling tea.

Miraculous Leaf

Through the six major categories of Chinese tea, the film traces the historical origins of famous tea-producing regions and explores the lives of generations who have lived with and for tea. It celebrates craftsmanship, explores lesser-known tea-making techniques, and honors the wisdom, dedication, and philosophy of Chinese tea artisans — revealing a deep respect for nature and an unwavering commitment to cultural heritage.

Tea Making Tips

Tea drinkers will benefit from 6 tips for making tea, as well as other handy hints.

Bessho Tea Factory

A documentary directed by Hori Teiichi who was a production assistant on the 1994 documentary Otentousama ga Hoshii and has worked in a wide variety of genres from pink films to ordinary theatrical releases. The lifestyle and scenery of Osawa, a village situated 740 meters up on the mountainous slopes of Hamamatsu city's northern region in Shizuoka Prefecture, are the focus of this first installment to the "Tenryu-ku" series. It straightforwardly captures the tea harvest in late May and the tea processing conducted in a factory while showcasing mist shrouded tea fields drummed by rain as well as the beauty of the glistening green of the tea leaf shoots.

Tea

Director Scheffer registered a performance of the Tea Opera by Chinese composer Tan Dun (who won an Oscar in 2001 with his score for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). Scheffer interlaces the images with interviews with Dun, stage director Pierre Audi and librettist Xu Ying, about the opera and the role tea and oriental philosophy play in this work. Using monochrome, sometimes abstract images (in yellow, blue, red and green), close-ups of plants and flowers and images of the Chinese nature and people (sometimes accelerated or decelerated, sometimes in black-and-white), he mirrors the stylised opera performance and Dun's reflective music.

Thé mania

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Saints + Sodas

The rise of Soda Shops in Utah and the culture surrounding them.

Chillin' at the Bank House Cafe

Lucas tries the Chai Tea Latte at the Bank House Cafe.

The District Nurse

The diary of a typical non-stop working day of a wartime district nurse.

The Tea Alchemist

In the mountains of the Golden Triangle in Asia, The Tea Alchemist follows French tea expert Olivier Schneider on a journey to the origins of his work. For him, tea is not only something to drink, but an artistic medium: a way to touch time, memory, culture and emotion. Between tea gardens, wide landscapes and morning mist, a search begins to take shape: an attempt to transform leaves into an experience that no money can buy and no language can fully describe.

Tea Time

On a quiet afternoon an elderly woman prepares some afternoon tea for her and her husband. This short film was made on a single Super-8 cartridge, edited in camera, shot in sequence with only one take per shot. This was originally made for an Los Angeles film event called: "Attack of the 50 Foot Reels".

Tea Fight

A descendant of an ancient tea tribe heads to Taiwan to look for the legendary black tea to break the curse of a tribal rivalry. Meanwhile, in an "underground tea market" somewhere in Taiwan that sells rare expensive tea from around the world, tribe members have other motives up their sleeves regarding the black tea legacy. Each for their own cause, rival tribal members become tangled up in a web of love and hate.