Blogivation

Jennifer Sauer/Author/Photographer/Tea Journalist for Bon Teavant

I have been a professional media provider for more than 20 years, and happen to be extremely passionate about artisanal, handcrafted tea. My blog, Bon Teavant, originated as a continuation of my communication to an unseen “audience” who bought my book, The Way to Tea: Your Adventure Guide to San Francisco Tea Culture, which is really more of a photo documentary of the blossoming tea culture in the U.S. from its epicenter in San Francisco than a guide book (which it is also).

Most people can remember a moment in time when they heard a string of words connected together that changed their thinking or their lives forever. When I happened upon the words “tea culture” I was wowed to the core. So much so that within just a couple of months of hearing these words, I devoted myself to writing a book on tea culture in San Francisco. As a professional photographer, but a novice tea connoisseur, I decided my goal would be to document tea culture in my community and share my tea adventures with others. In effect, I would become a “tea journalist”.

Now several years later, I bring to my blog all of the skills I developed over the years as a media person—digital video, still photography, interviewing, and writing—to share information, guidance and inspiration from tea masters, farmers, chefs, and other authors and merchants, with those who love tea. I am a what you might call a “bridge person”, the one who helps others to consider new ideas and ways of thinking as well as the one who connects people to each other.

Bon Teavant gives voice to a cross-section of people who wish to share their knowledge and perspective on tea with others. Tea masters share brewing techniques, rituals, and their knowledge of farming and processing tea. Authors share history, folk lore, and stories, as well as their own experiences with tea. Chefs share their ideas on cooking with tea and pairing tea with food, and herbalists share their knowledge of traditional plant medicine.

Following my personal fascination with the intersections between plants and humans, and more particularly, the role plants play in traditional medicine, tea has become my vehicle for continuing my exploration in these areas, and I have become the vehicle for tea….disseminating as much practical and practice-able information as possible through the many voices that all sing for tea.

-Jennifer Sauer