Steep It Loose

By Nicolas Stecher for Maxim  Whether to gift or stash for yourself, the best American Single Malts, Ryes and Bourbons to seek out this holiday.  We’re not gonna lie, we get a lot of whiskey pushed across our desk. Nowadays most of it is is worthy as standards escalate, very few are swill, but even fewer rise to truly exceptional status. We sampled our way through over a hundred bottles to bring you this list here, an update on our "Best of American Whiskey" breakdown we crafted last year. Every bottle counted here is new to 2020 — from small boutique distillers...

  Written by Jordan Overlie and Maria Uspenski Our sourcing team was most fortunate to visit China last year, and spent a week during that trip in Yunnan, traveling and bushwhacking with local farmers in search of wild tea trees. Yunnan Province is in the southwestern corner of China, vast in size, largely wild and undeveloped. It has legendary status as the birthplace of tea, and touts Ideal growing conditions: rich soil on mountainous terrain with excellent drainage, strong sun, cool nights and humid air, and strong plant diversity. These conditions allow wild tea trees to develop and produce high...

By Debbie Stoller and Callie Watts for BUST Magazine  Cozy up ith these Cottagecore pieces that will have you pining for your own cabin in the woods. We have the lesbian community to thank for the proliferation of this pastoral aesthetic, which invokes cozy cottage life—getting back to nature, comfy sweaters, and cuddling up in front of a fire. Cozy up with these cottagecore pieces that will have you pining for your own cabin in the woods.  ... 3. Meditative Mind Rosebud & Jasmine Tea, $3, theteaspot.com   

By Aaron Kiel for World Tea News  What are the most important issues in the tea industry today? Sustainability? Transparency? The decline of specialty retailers, or educating consumers about specialty tea? In part one of this multi-part series, World Tea News asks some of the industry’s leading experts and influencers to share their thoughts on the subject. Here’s what they had to say.    Peter F. Goggi, President, Tea Association of the U.S.A., Inc.: “The tea market faces four key issues: 1) Supply continues to outstrip demand 2) international trade is becoming much more of a challenge to the entire supply...