Teatime for Hoffman

New Orleans, LA – Recently, I watched Les Blank's fascinating film about California tea importer David Lee Hoffman. It is called All in This Tea. It opened my eyes to the intricate history of tea production in China, and Hoffman's Kafkaesque ordeal bypassing bureaucracy to purchase tea directly from farmers. I also discovered a local connection. Regardless of the variety, all teas are members of the camellia family. Get this, there are a number of amateur tea growers throughout the Deep South. In nearby Mississippi, J&D Farms have just put their first tea plants into the ground. Might we soon be brewing local tea from our local farmers markets? Or better yet, maybe David Lee Hoffman can fight bureaucracy in Louisiana. For the WWNO Farmers Market Minute, this is Richard McCarthy.