We went to Salem to see an exhibit of modern Indian art at the big Peabody-Essex Museum, and to view the rest of the collection related to the China tea trade that built so much of that old city.

The Salem waterfront and museum district has some interesting shopping and dining among a host of witch-related shops, but my real foodie interest was excited by the Tea connection.

I like tea. I drink a lot of it. On days that I work from home, I make a big pot of tea to drink through the day. The selection of tea varies with the weather and my mood. That's what I like best about tea: the sheer variety of it.

The tea clippers that came into Salem a century and a half ago were specially-built, high-tech ships. There was prestige and money in being the first to land a cargo of favored teas.

Although much of the tea trade is now dominated by a few big conglomerates selling mostly dusty dull stuff in tea-bags, there is plenty of good tea available for the discerning drinker. There are still importers within the range traveled by the Foodie Pilgrim.

Mark T. Wendell Tea Company in Acton, MA is best known for their famous Hu Kwa brand of smoky Lapsang Souchong Tea, but they sell a wide range of loose and bagged teas.

Harney and Sons is not quite in New England (about 2.5 miles down Route 44 into NY beyond the CT border) but their full range of teas is readily available at gourmet shops and tearooms throughout New England.

Mem Tea Imports is based in Watertown, MA, but I have not been able to discover much about them. They attend events around Boston and Somerville and have an online store and a Facebook page.

My favorite New England-based tea importer is Upton Tea Imports, now based in Holliston, MA. I have been a customer since around 1991. If you enjoy learning about the history and lore of tea, then in my opinion, there's no better place than their website.

Their labels are a very model of efficient communication, including how much to tea use per cup, the best temperature for the water, and how long to steep it. Their Brief Guide to Tea deserves a Pulitzer.

Upton Tea Imports really knows their stuff and shares the information. Their Upton Tea Quarterly includes a chapter on the history of the tea trade along with an extraordinarily comprehensive catalog of excellent teas (from TC05 Ceylon BOP for $4.80/125g to TD70 Margaret's Hope Estate FTGFOP1 Second Flush Darjeeling for $34/125g to TT89 Jade Oolong Imperial for $58/100g). It's an adventure just reading the catalog! 

When I think about the technology and the efforts of those tea clippers like Salem's Friendship, about the fortunes that rose and fell, it can seem slightly absurd - all that for tea! But then I read the Upton Tea Quarterly and I sit with a cup of truly excellent Tea (TT86 Tung Ting Jade Oolong as I write this) and it's easy to understand the madness. Upton Tea Imports gets Best of Show this week!