Back

Tempest in a Teacup| Revisionist History podcast with Malcolm Gladwell E3/S4 (Transcript)

Tempest in a Teacup

Episode 3| Season 4| Revisionist History
Length: 37 mins | Released: July 4, 2019

To see the full transcript, go here.

NOTE: Episodes 3 -11 are contained in one interactive project. Click the down arrow to the right of the episode name to select it.

Malcolm Gladwell: All right, what do we want to start with?

Tony Gebely: We have to start with green.

Malcolm Gladwell: Okay.

Malcolm Gladwell: Just like if we were doing wines, we'd start with whites and then go to reds. I don't think we should blow out our palates too early. I mean, if youÔøΩ Do you want to get to most of this? Do you have time?

Malcolm Gladwell: Not long ago, a man named Tony Gebely came to my apartment. Young guy, dark hair, grew up in New Jersey. He runs something called Tea Epicure, which does for specialty tea. What Robert Parker did for wine: analyzes it and rates it. Tony had a big backpack with him and carefully unwrapped its contentsÔøΩ a thermometer to make sure we didn't overheat the water, a mini Chinese teapot called a gaiwan, some special Norwegian teacups, and tea, six kinds. Green, yellow, white, oolong, black, and fermented. Oh, and a seventh guide. We'll get to that.

Malcolm Gladwell: So this is called lobea?

Tony Gebely: Lubao and it's from Guangzhou Province and this tea was produced in 2009.

Malcolm Gladwell: Do you have to steep fermented tea for a long time?

Tony Gebely: No, typically not. I mean, it instantly colored the water, right?

Malcolm Gladwell: I was going to say, yeah.

Tony Gebely: Look at that.

Malcolm Gladwell: You call that the liquor?

Tony Gebely: The liquor, yes.

Malcolm Gladwell: Yeah. And if somebody put milk and sugar in this tea, you wouldÔøΩ You would shoot them.?

Tony Gebely: I do not like tea snobs. Like I am against tea snobbery.

Malcolm Gladwell: But I was going to say, but this tea is special. It came from this famous collector, you're down to your last little bits of it. If I were to walk in and pour like, you know, a big chunk of half and half in it and two sugar cubes, you would be a little upset.

Tony Gebely: I would say, Malcolm, you're not fully appreciating this tea, but I respect your preferences.

Malcolm Gladwell: Tony inhaled deeply into his teacup then looked thoughtful.

Tony Gebely: All right, I'll let you both just lift up the lid and sniff that.

Malcolm Gladwell: Ooh. I'm getting a little bit of a spinachy feel from that.

Jacob Smith: Oh yeah, almost like a Swiss chard or something.

Malcolm Gladwell: Yeah. Never gotten that from a tea before.

Malcolm Gladwell: We had had a lot of tea by this pointÔøΩ me, my producer Jacob, Tony. Tony says it's an actual phenomenon called being tea drunk Jacob and I would definitely tea drunk.

Malcolm Gladwell: Oh, it is interesting. Okay, tell me, Tony.

Tony Gebely: There's like a forest leaves, like a mat on the forest floor of brown leaves. I get that bit of earthiness with aÔøΩ there's like a roasted carrot going on in there for me. That's the vegetal note I'm getting from it. And then a little bit of like tire fire.

Malcolm Gladwell: That proves you're from Jersey when you drink some tea and you're reaching to tire fire.

To see the full transcript, go here and select the episode.

Transcripts for the entire Season 1ÔøΩ ÔøΩ4 podcasts of Revisionist History are available here.

Simon Says is an automated transcription service. We assist people and companies, such as those in the media, to swiftly transcribe audio and video files so they can find that meaningful dialogue. We are not associated with Revisionist History or Panoply Media; we are just big fans. And we highly recommend you listen to the podcast if you can. We have provided the transcript below as a supplement. Enjoy!

Get Started
Swiftly transcribe and caption any
audio or video
Learn more

Related Posts