Munichiello - A Tea Reader: Living Life One Cup at a Time

About the Author

Katrina vila Munichiello is a freelance writer, blogger, and tea lover. After nearly a decade working in public health and non-profit administration, she launched a new career as a writer. Specializing in writing about tea, parenting, and food allergies, she has been published in Yankee Magazine , The Boston Globe Magazine , Living Without , among others. Other interests include knitting and crafts, cooking, and, of course, tea. A native of Maine, Katrina, her husband Michael, and their three children now live in Massachusetts.

About the Writers and Artists

FIRST STEEP:
Tea Reveries

Frank Hadley Murphy was born in Boston and is the author of the 2008 book, The Spirit of Tea . He is the owner of Jade Mountain Tea Company in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and he has served as a judge at a Chinese tea competition and an international tea competition. He lectures nationally and has contributed to TEA: A Magazine and The American Tea Journal . Murphy graduated from the American Tea Masters Associations tea mastership program and is a senior student of tea master and Taoist priest Roy Fong. He is currently working on his second book, a piece of comedic tea fiction set in New Mexico.

Stephanie Wright is a psychologist and writer living in South Carolina with her three daughters and fellow psychologist and partner Michael. She is the author of The Witch War Histories, Volume I which was published in 2004. She and her writing can be found on the web at wrighterly.com, wrighterly.livejournal.com, sixsentences.blogspot. com, and other locations.

The Outlook Editor-in-Chief, Lyman Abbott (18351922), is likely the author of the uncredited essay: The Spectator on Tea. The son of writer Jacob Abbott, Lyman left his law practice to study theology. He was ordained as a minister in 1860. He became the Editor of the Illustrated Christian Weekly in 1870 and later served as Editor-in-Chief of Henry Ward Beechers Christian Union. The latter publication became The Outlook in 1893. Lyman Abbott succeeded Beecher as minister at a church in Brooklyn, New York. There were three other editors of The Outlook during this period: Ernest Hamlin Abbott (18701931), Hamilton Wright Mabie (18461916), and Francis Rufus Bellamy (18861972).

Peter Anthony Motteux was born in the early 1660s in Rouen, Normandy, France with the name Pierre Antoine Motteux. He left France when the Edict of Nantes was revoked, making Protestantism illegal. He settled in London, England and became an author, playwright, and translator. Motteux is best known for editing a translation of Francois Rabelaiss works with Thomas Urqhardt. He was also the editor of Englands first magazine The Gentlemans Journal from 1692 to 1694. He died in 1718, leaving a wife and three children.

Roy Fong is the founder/proprietor of San Franciscos Imperial Tea Court, the first traditional Chinese teahouse in America. A native of Hong Kong, Mr. Fong was introduced to tea early in life, and has spent many years developing close relations with tea growers and producers in China and Taiwan. He is an ordained Taoist priest and he previously served as Head of Research and Development for the International Tea Masters Association. Fongs writing has been published in The New York Times , Forbes , Gourmet , TEA: A Magazine , and other publications, and he has appeared on the National Public Radio program Talk of the Nation . He lives with his wife Grace and their two daughters in the San Francisco Bay area. His book, Great Teas of China , was published in 2010.

Babette Donaldson is the author of five books in the Emma Lea childrens series, including Emma Leas Magic Teapot and Emma Leas Tea with Daddy , as well as the booklet Family Tea Time . She has a B.A. in Creative Writing and a B.F.A. in Ceramic Art from San Francisco State University and received her tea certification from the Specialty Tea Institute, the education division of The Tea Council of the United States. She is currently the director of Tea Suite, a nonprofit organization supporting art education. She is co-founder of the International Tea Sippers Society.

Lu Tung (790835) was a poet born in northern China and lived a reclusive life, referring to himself as Y-chuan-tz, the Philosopher of Jade River. Tung composed the Song of Tea during Chinas Tang Dynasty (A.D. 618907) A great lover of tea, he unexpectedly received a package of Yang-hsien tea from a member of the imperial court. He was overwhelmed by this gift as Yang-hsien was grown solely for use by the emperor. He wrote his poem in honor of the occasion. Tung died during a mass execution at the capital where he was visiting at the invitation of Emperor Wen Tsung.

Stephen D. Owyoung was born in San Francisco and is a graduate of the University of Hawaii. He served as a curator of Asian art at museums including the St. Louis Art Museum. He has spent twenty years lecturing on Chinese and Japanese tea and writing about the history, literature and poetry of tea in China.

Kien-Long (also Qianlong ) (17111799) ruled China from 1736 1795, making him one of the longest ruling emperors in history. His given name was Hung-li. In 1795 he abdicated his position to his son so as not to surpass the length of his grandfathers reign. Kien-Long was a great lover of the arts, an essayist, a calligrapher, and a poet. In his lifetime he composed more than 40,000 poems.

Aaron Fisher graduated from university, where he began studying tea and Eastern thought, with a Bachelors degree in anthropology and philosophy. After a decade traveling the world, living in several countries, he settled in Taiwan. Fisher is the senior managing editor of all English publications at Wushing Publications, Ltd. and contributes to The Art of Tea . He is also a co-founder and the editor-in-chief of the online magazine The Leaf . He has contributed to Puerh Teapot , Enjoying Tea , Fresh Cup , and some smaller publications. In 2008, he helped translate and edit The Ancient Tea Horse Road by Sian Yan Yun and his books Tea Wisdom and The Way of Tea were published in 2009.

SECOND STEEP
Tea Connections

Jodi-Anne Williams-Rogers is a qualified and experienced environ-mentalist, social development officer and freelance writer living in Johannesburg, South Africa. She has a keen interest in writing, poetry, spirituality, nature and researching South African heritage and life histories of the late 1800s. She has had articles published in Renaissance Magazine (Republic of South Africa), Vision Magazine (R.S.A.), and Kindred Spirit Magazine (U.K.)

Anne Thackeray Ritchie , born in 1837, is the oldest daughter of William Makepeace Thackeray (author of Vanity Fair ) and Isabella Creach Shawe. Ritchie published a dozen texts and spent her life among some of Englands best known authors, including the Brownings, Alfred Lord Tennyson, and the Carlyles, among others. She died in 1919.

Julie L. Carney has worked as an animal control officer, an elected city council member, an online bookseller, and as a volunteer at the Sun-dance Film Festival. She enjoys writing and photography, and living in the most beautiful part of Upstate New York.

Stephanie Lemmons Wilson enjoys many forms of creative expression including dancing, sewing, tea parties and writing. Find out more about these endeavors at her blog, Stephs Cup of Tea (stephcupoftea.blogspot.com).

Louisa May Alcott , born in 1832, was the famous novelist daughter of transcendentalist Amos Bronson Alcott and his wife Abigail May Alcott. She spent much of her life in Massachusetts, most notably in Concord near Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. The most famous of her thirty books and story collections include Little Women , Little Men , and Jos Boys . In addition to being an author, Alcott was a suffragette. Alcott died in 1888 at just 55 years of age.