About JeffFuchs
Bio
Having lived for most of the past decade in Asia, Fuchs’ work has centered on indigenous mountain cultures, oral histories with an obsessive interest in tea. His photos and stories have appeared on three continents in award-winning publications Kyoto Journal, TRVL, and Outpost Magazine, as well as The Spanish Expedition Society, The Earth, Silkroad Foundation, The China Post Newspaper, The Toronto Star, The South China Morning Post and Traveler amongst others. Various pieces of his work are part of private collections in Europe, North America and Asia and he serves as the Asian Editor at Large for Canada’s award-winning Outpost magazine.
Fuchs is the Wild China Explorer of the Year for 2011 for sustainable exploration of the Himalayan Trade Routes. He recently completed a month long expedition a previously undocumented ancient nomadic salt route at 4,000 metres becoming the first westerner to travel the Tsa’lam ‘salt road’ through Qinghai.
Fuchs has written on indigenous perspectives for UNESCO, and has having consulted for National Geographic. Fuchs is a member of the fabled Explorers Club, which supports sustainable exploration and research.
Jeff has worked with schools and universities, giving talks on both the importance of oral traditions, tea and mountain cultures. He has spoken to the prestigious Spanish Geographic Society in Madrid on culture and trade through the Himalayas and his sold out talk at the Museum of Nature in Canada focused on the enduring importance of oral narratives and the Himalayan trade routes.
His recently released book ‘The Ancient Tea Horse Road’ (Penguin-Viking Publishers) details his 8-month groundbreaking journey traveling and chronicling one of the world’s great trade routes, The Tea Horse Road. Fuchs is the first westerner to have completed the entire route stretching almost six thousand kilometers through the Himalayas a dozen cultures.
He makes his home in ‘Shangrila’, northwestern Yunnan upon the eastern extension of the Himalayan range where tea and mountains abound; and where he leads expeditions the award winning ‘Tea Horse Road Journey’ with Wild China along portions of the Ancient Tea Horse Road.
To keep fueled up for life Fuchs co-founded JalamTeas which keeps him deep in the green while high in the hills.
Few have had quite the leaf influence upon me, as has Mr. Gao (aka Dr. Gao, Master Gao, or just Master). From his understated approach to communicating to his intuitive understanding of the vital ‘fry’ his has been a calming … Continue reading →
Posted in The Tea Sessions
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Tagged China, classic tea, Jeff Fuchs, LBZ, Pu'erh, puer, Tea, Tea Frying, Tea Master, tea production, tea sourcing, The Tea Sessions, yunnan
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Her’s was the last tent in the windblown nomadic community of Ala Dhotok (Stone Roof), before we headed up the snow pass of Nup Gong La. It was another morning of cold along a portion of the Tea Horse Road … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Mountains, Tea, Tea Horse Road
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Tagged Churned butter tea, Faces of the Himalayas, Himalayas, Jeff Fuchs tea, Nomad, portrait, Tea, Tea Horse Road, tea horse road chronicles, Tibet
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A few thoughts shared in a recent interview with Tea Biz here. In the great rush of tea paraphernalia and in the increasingly creative marketing and usage of fantastical descriptions and flavour wheels; in a time when the ‘names’ of … Continue reading →
Posted in Media, Tea
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Tagged Interview, Jeff Fuchs, Jeff Fuchs tea, Pu'erh, puer, Tea, tea and mountains, tea biz, tea culture, tea history, Tea serving, Yunnan tea
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One of the most exquisite pieces of tea porn I’ve come ever across was this compressed mass of large leaf material, formed into seven gourds, sized in ever-descending size to form a large pyramid of vegetal fuel. It was also … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Tea, Tea Horse Road
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Tagged Compressed Tea, Jeff Fuchs, Pu'erh, puer, Simao, Tea, tea culture, tea history, Tea Horse Road, tea horse road chronicles, The Ancient Tea Horse Road, Yunnan tea
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The mind wanders back to a mountain pass, a blizzard, and that wonderful thing that exists still: instinct. On a day of few words along a portion of a trade route in Ladakh as a blizzard piled in at 5000 … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Mountains, Tea
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Tagged chai, Expedition, exploration, Himalayas, Jeff Fuchs, mountains, Pashmina, Photography, Tea, tea and mountains, trade routes
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The horseman assured Sonam and our team that he would appear at 7am sharp the next morning. He promised over several cups of tea, and that was usually the sign of a deal that was done and agreed upon. The … Continue reading →
Posted in Mountains, Tea, Tea Horse Road
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Tagged Asian History, Expedition, Food History, Himalayas, Jeff Fuchs, portrait, Tea, tea and mountains, Tea Horse Road, tea horse road chronicles, The Tea Explorer, Tibet, trade routes
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“When you walk through mountains, you appreciate any arrival. When you walk to a place, you can speak about a place”. An interview about the Tea Horse Road which turned into a sumptuous afternoon with tea about far more than … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Tea Horse Road
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Tagged Asian History, Black and White, Himalayas, Interview, Jeff Fuchs, portrait, Tea, tea and mountains, Tea Horse Road, tea horse road chronicles, tea trade, trade routes
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The final destination along the Tea Horse Road, both for our own expedition and for the great journeys of the past, was Kalimpong, in Western Bengal. It became for many muleteers and tea traders a kind of plush retirement community; … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Mountains, Tea Horse Road
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Tagged Asian History, Cha Ma Gu Dao, Himalayas, India, Jeff Fuchs, Kalimpong, Tea, tea and mountains, Tea Horse Road, tea horse road chronicles, The Ancient Tea Horse Road, trade routes
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A simple tea room in Weishan, Yunnan, and one of the only tea rooms in my life that I failed to actually have tea in. Weishan was another of the understated hubs along the Tea Horse Road, and it marks … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Tea, Tea Horse Road
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Tagged China, Commodities, Tea, Tea Horse Road, tea horse road chronicles, trade routes, Weishan, yunnan, Yunnan Province
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Continuing my tea-fuelled series for Outpost Magazine, The Tea Sessions, as it takes a (brief) break from Puerh and into Japan’s fabled world of umami as it plays out in a stunning Gyokuro serving session in Kyōtanabe. Article here: Gyokuro Trip, … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Tea, The Tea Sessions
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Tagged food, Green Tea, Gyokuro, japan, Japanese Tea, Jeff Fuchs, Kyoto, Kyotonabe, tea sessions, The Tea Sessions, Umami, Yamashita's Gyokuro
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