🎧 Teatime with biocultural collections expert Aurora Prehn
Are you a tea-lover? There is a dazzling array of tea types out there to taste—but do you know where these teas come from and how they are made?
This week, I speak with Aurora Prehn, an expert tea taster to learn more about the flavor and history of different teas. Aurora is the Biocultural Collection Manager in the William L. Brown Center at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis where she has been since January 2021.
About Aurora
Aurora is the Biocultural Collection Manager in the William L. Brown Center at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis where she has been since January 2021. She completed her BA in Anthropology and Environmental Studies from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 2013 where her research and subsequent publication examined local food culture, health, and the environment. Following graduation she spent five years in the organic tea and botanical trade finishing as a tea taster and educator. In 2019 she completed her MSc in Ethnobotany at the University of Kent and the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew in the United Kingdom. Her research took her to the country of Georgia where she spent three and a half months researching the biocultural relationship between Georgians, their landscape, and the grapevine. She has been researching the tea and teaware objects in the Economic Botany Collection at Kew since December 2019. Aurora is continuing her plant culture themed career with a PhD in Geography commencing this fall at Royal Holloway, University of London and Kew Gardens focusing on the biocultural diaspora of tea.
Listen to the interview
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Watch the video
Available exclusively on the Teach Ethnobotany YouTube Channel, you can catch the full video version of this episode and others! Enjoy!
Yours in health, Dr. Quave
Cassandra L. Quave, Ph.D. is a scientist, author, speaker, podcast host, wife, mother, explorer, and professor at Emory University School of Medicine. She teaches college courses and leads a group of research scientists studying medicinal plants to find new life-saving drugs from nature. She hosts the Foodie Pharmacology podcast and writes the Nature’s Pharmacy newsletter to share the science behind natural medicines. To support her effort, consider a paid or founding subscription, with founding members receiving an autographed 1st edition hardcover copy of her book, The Plant Hunter.