All In This Tea: A Tea movie
It’s not often that I can review a movie about Tea, but it does happen. In this case, there’s a new documentary entitled All In This Tea starring David Lee Hoffman as himself. And the movie is pretty good.
The movie follows David, a well-known tea importer, as he makes a trip to China in an attempt to find and import the best teas available. It takes you on a journey from the tea plant to the cup and offers a rich tapestry of tea facts and information as well as insight into China. The movie does a great job of showing everyone involved in the tea process from the small farmer to the large Chinese manufacturers. And it gives a passionate appeal to fresh, loose-leaf teas - preferably organic. Watching this film is a great way to learn just a bit more about teas without having to read a boring book or force yourself to study! This movie is fairly short - about 70 minutes long - and keeps you involved by moving the process along.
As far as documentaries go, it’s pretty good. As you can see from the bottom of the image, it’s won several industry awards. And I do promise one thing: you won’t walk away from this movie without wanting to try some Oolong tea, in particular! Oolong is the hardest tea to process and requires real talent, so David takes extra time in trying to find great Oolong teas. You also won’t forget the magnificent beauty of the Chinese countryside, as Mr. Hoffman tropes through from one area to another.
All in all, it’s definitely worth watching. IMDB rates it a 6.8 out of 10 (which is good for IMDB). You can also read a professional review at the NY Sun or one at the NY Times. At this point you’ll have to search to find a theater playing it, but it should be on DVD in the near future. I’ll update this post once it’s released on DVD.
[...] that Oolongs have more variation than most teas and are considered a sort of art form. The movie All In This Tea points out that Oolong teas are also the most difficult to make well, so special attention must be [...]