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.
Trekking along the Khampa Route, along the eastern flank of Mustang, Nepal Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Mountains, Tea
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Tagged Culture, Jeff Fuchs, Khampa, Lo, Magar, mountains, Mustang, Nepal, Outdoors, Sherpa, Tea, Tibet, Tibetan culture, Trade Route, Trek, Yak
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Tea and Mountains – The Buzz that leads to the Sky Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Mountains
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Tagged Ba Ma, Boudhanath, Expedition, fuel, Himalayan Expedition, Himalayas, Jeff Fuchs, Jing Mai, Kathmandu, mountains, Nepal, Pu'erh, Sheng Puerh, Tea
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When, a few years ago, I left northwestern Yunnan to join my wife Julie and live here in Hawaii, there were concerns that I’d somehow be removed from what had been my base close to mountains and tea and of the … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Media, Mountains
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Tagged Akahiao, Akahiao Nature Institute, Big Island Camp, Design Thinking, Farm to table, Gems Program, Jefftea, Mamaki, mountains, nature camp, Nature Immersion in Hawaii, Outdoor Programming, Tea, Tea Time
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The Llama’s ass, tea leaves, and a mountain where the Royal Incas came for guidance from the still-reverent spirit world. Our last instalment (here) of the ‘In from the Outpost’ (on tea’ journeys through the Andean world. Pariaqaqa, a mountain … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Mountains
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Tagged Andes, Ayni, Coca, exploration, Jeff Fuchs, Jefftea, llama, llama caravan, Pariaqaqa, Peru, Reciprocity, South America, Tanta, Tea
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“The tea caravans would come from the north and they would come in Spring and even winter. The Khampas who accompanied the caravans could frighten and impress us. They were unpredictable and without fear. Their journeys made them indestructible”. Words … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Mountains
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Tagged Asia, Asia history, butter tea, Himalayas, Jeff Fuchs, mountains, Tea, Tea Horse Road, The Tea Explorer, Tibet, Travel
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A little moment of respite for our incredible hostess who remains still, one of most formidable characters in my memory palace. While running around researching the Tea Horse Road, a friend who was from the Yi minority invited me to … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Mountains
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Tagged China, Himalayan Portraits, Interview, storytelling, Tea, Tea Horse Road, The Ancient Tea Horse Road, whisky, Woman, yunnan
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Second Part of our recent ramblings through Peru and the Andean world, with a visit to the village of Chawaytiri here. More sips of tea, more coca offers, still more coca…before an offering of a tea cake to the elders, which … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, In from the Outpost, Mountains, Tea
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Tagged Andes, Ayni, In from the Outpost with Jeff Fuchs, Jeff Fuchs, mountains, offerings, Peru, Tea, The Tea Explorer
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Every single year on the tea foraging and sourcing missions I go on, there is a tea that – for any number of reasons – I miss out on acquiring. Here, I’m speaking about good teas that ‘hit’ me. The … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, JalamTeas
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Tagged classic tea, Green Tea, Jeff Fuchs, Lao Banzhang, Menghai, Old tea, Pu'erh, puer, Puerh tea, Sheng Puerh, Tea Buying, Tea Hunting, Tea Sharing, tea sourcing, The Tea Explorer, yunnan
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Abu is chatty. Not prone to overly long sessions of speaking, Abu, when he is talking, usually has something to expel and it is always a treat watching it begin to emerge. Weeks in and heading west out of old … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Mountains
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Tagged Adventure, climate, environment, Glaciers, Khampa, Lo Gekar, Lo Manthang, Mustang, Nepal, Outdoors, Samduling, Tea, Third Pole Water, Tibet, Travel, trekking, Water
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Part 1 of our journey into the Andean world and my own slight obsession with the concept and Quechuan word, Ayni, here. The Quechuan word ‘Ayni’…a sublime and old Andean idea; a responsibility that one has to one’s community. A … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, In from the Outpost, Media, Mountains, Tea
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Tagged Adventure, Andes, Ayni, mountains, Peru, Qapaq Nan, Quechua, Reciprocity, Share, South America, Trek
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