The Assam Malt Authority
The independent guide to Assam, the malty black tea of the Brahmaputra valley.
The Ministry of Rooibos
The independent guide to rooibos, the red bush of the Cederberg.
The Order of the Seventh Steep
The independent guide to oolong: the partly oxidized teas, and how to brew them.
The Silver Needle Trust
The independent guide to white tea: the least processed leaf, and the craft of leaving it alone.
One thing worth your time from each chartered institution of the Federation.
The Earthquake Still Eating Assam's Tea Gardens
A 1950 earthquake widened stretches of the Brahmaputra from a few hundred metres to several kilometres, and it has been taking garden land ever since.
Oolong Stays Floral Even Fermented Into Kombucha
A 2026 five-tea kombucha comparison found oolong's floral, fruity character survives the ferment intact, the most pronounced of any of the five, while black and pu-erh give way to the culture's own earthier profile instead.
The Rooibos South Africa Keeps for Itself
Roughly two fifths of the accounted rooibos crop never leaves South Africa, which is the figure the export headlines never carry.
The Cool-Water Rule Lost the Blind Tasting to a Boil
The water temperature tea shops recommend for silver needle was the least-liked of five temperatures in a real blind panel, and the full boil that beat it only won when the steep stayed short.
The United Federation of Tea Taxonomy is a small federation of independent, single-subject tea institutions, each chartered to one leaf and edited entirely on its own. The Federation maintains the taxonomy and no opinions; opinions are the business of the member institutions, which hold exactly one subject each and defend it at length. There is no shared newsroom and no house line. What the charter binds every member to is a method: say something true and useful that a knowledgeable tea drinker would respect, cite where it comes from, and publish nothing that cannot be sourced. The register below is the whole of the Federation's jurisdiction. Each institution keeps its own subject, its own voice, and its own hours.