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.
Since 1951, the Law Has Promised Care. The Health Record Says Otherwise.
Assam's tea estates have been legally required to run hospitals since 1951. A 2026 review of the health record finds disease among the women who work the gardens has kept rising anyway.
The Instrument That Detects Huigan Measures Friction
The sweetness that returns after a good steep may not be a taste. Researchers measured it on a rig built to test engine lubricants, and found it tracks friction, not flavor, in the tasters who can feel it at all.
Rooibos Bushes Keep Turning Up Insects Without Names
Three leafhoppers new to science were collected off cultivated rooibos bushes between 2020 and 2022, and not one of them does the plant any harm.
Rats fed white tea gained less weight on a high-fat diet
A twelve-week trial gave obese rats white tea. One hormone linked to burning fat went up. It went up in the untreated rats too.
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.