Shiuwen Tai of Floating Leaves Tea (left) and me
It was great (though too brief) to catch up with friends whom I see only once or twice per year. In addition, this year I participated in new ways. I hosted a tasting on bowl-style brewing and had a great time with those folks exploring a simple yet profound way of drinking tea. I also helped Shiuwen Tai of Floating Leaves Tea with the discussion of the 5 most common teas of Taiwan: Baozhong, Oriental Beauty, Dong Ding, TieGuanYin and Alishan (presented in the order of the tea's emergence in Taiwan).
Many of my local friends also hosted events this year: Wu-Wo tea, and tea classes and tastings. I feel so honored to be among so many smart and generous tea friends!
One of the things that really struck me this year was how friendly everyone was - and I mean everyone, including the big names. For example, I was in the "green room" prepping for my tea tasting and Michael Harney came up and introduced himself to me. Same thing with Lorna Reeves, editor of Tea Time Magazine.
Our local tea group headed to Seattle a few days early and had so much fun at the pre-tea party! (We visited 4 local tea shops.) I'll share pictures from that soon. For now, I'm still unpacking all my new teas and tea toys and expressing my gratitude for living so close to this great event!
It was a great festival...wsn't it! Nice post for a favorite thing!
ReplyDeleteRuth
Sounds like you had a great time! The North West has a really vibrant tea community. I really wish that we had something like it on the East Coast. The biggest event we have is a very commercialized coffee and tea festival.
ReplyDeleteIt was lots of fun and oh so educational.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear the tea festival was so successful and encompassing new people.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to hear you speak, Steph. I know you'd be very informative.