Upcoming Tea Events in the Pacific Northwest

Bowl-style Brewing

Join my colleague and me for this free tasting/class at the NW Tea Fest!

A few upcoming events in the Pacific Northwest. Let me know if you'll be there!

Sept 29 - 30, 2018

Northwest Tea Festival

Seattle Center

As part of the Global Tea Tour Series, I'll be teaching a class on the
Art & Etiquette of the British Afternoon Tea at the Jasmine Pearl.

Sunday Oct  28, 2018

Global Tea Tour - England

1:00 - 3:00 pm

Jasmine Pearl Tea

Let me know if you'll have the opportunity to be at either of these events.  I'd love to see you! Also, I'm on Instagram @stephwtea. 

NW Tea Fest 2017

 A fantastic year at the NW Tea Fest 2017!  We celebrated the 10-year anniversary of the event in a larger venue, allowing for new vendors and instructors.  I've been fortunate to attend 7 out of 10 years, and my love of tea has grown with each year. Here are a few highlights from 2017:

Ephemeral filter, from the skeleton of a Bhodi tree leaf

Miro Tea

Ingrid explains the Indiegogo Campaign for a Global Tea Exchange

from Young Mountain Teas

(I've donated!  Consider an investment in tea's future.)

Brewing in the Wu-Wo tea ceremony, gifted with glorious sunshine

Celebrating friends - Shiuwen and staff from Floating Leaves Tea

The vendor floor, and Portlanders drinking tea

Zuo Wang Tea

Oolong Owl Blogger Char

Aged white tea that Char brewed up

Excited to taste teas from Colombia, too!  More on that to come.

I was a panelist in a Blogger forum, and co-taught a class on Bowl Style Brewing.  Fun!  And thanks to my co-instructor Ana!

Congratulations and thank you to Julee, Doug and the team that has made this event fantastic for 10 years.  Lifting my teacup to many more!

Change of Seasons and Upcoming Events

Changing of Seasons
Have you noticed the changing light as we tilt toward Fall?  The afternoon sun comes in at a slant for us, and it's beautiful. I love noticing the light and where it shows itself in our house throughout the year.  Right now, it's lighting up the hanging scroll in my 2-mat tatami room.  This is a new space and I'm so happy with it!  I can practice my tea skills and keep my knees and ankles fit for sitting on the floor.  The scroll above shows the characters for Wa, Kei: Harmony and Respect. It's the first half of Wa-Kei-Sei-Jaku, the four principles of tea (Chanoyu, Japanese Tea Ceremony).

Upcoming Events
I am very happy to share that I'll be participating in the following two events!

Bowl-Style Brewing Class at Jasmine Pearl Tea Merchants
This Sunday, Sept 20th at noon, Portland, OR.  Registration. We'll practice one of the oldest, simplest and most profound styles of brewing. Nothing but tea leaf, a bowl and hot water.  And of course, you.


Northwest Tea Festival
Saturday and Sunday, October 3rd and 4th, Seattle, WA.  Information. Along with my Sensei, Marjorie Yap, I'm teaching a class on How to Be a Guest at a Japanese Tea Ceremony.  Also  happy to be participating in the Wu-Wo Tea Brewing. This is a GREAT event, full of classes, tea tastings, tea things for sale and wonderful people.  It's one of the highlights of my year.


Happy Autumn!

Smacha Tea in Bellvue, WA

As part of the grand weekend associated with the NW Tea Fest, some tea friends and I visited Smacha Tea in Bellevue, WA.  This shop is modern and inviting.  Clean lines, lovely teaware and a wide range of teas to taste and purchase.  Owner Jason Chen is an expert in Chinese teas and has written books on the topic including A Tea Lover's Travel Diary and  Four World-Famous Chinese Green Teas.  

The tea bar is made of beautiful wood, into which an attractive drain has been fitted (I think the drain is copper) to handle the pre-warming of pots, the rinsing, and all the liquid fun associated with brewing good tea. 

Jason has also invented the Smacha Automatic Tea Brewer (below) which simplifies the brewing process by controlling the timing and volume of water moving through the tea.  I think this is a useful solution for an office or other situation when you don't have the time to bring out all the "stuff" associated with making tea in the small pot style.

Here we are, enjoying tea and snacks. 

Jeffrey Macintosh, another really smart tea guy, is preparing tea for us.  He also explained how Jason spends a lot of time with his partner tea farmers to ensure the processing methods yield the quality of tea desired.

I brought home a Phoenix oolong, Yellow Branch variety.  

Smacha is a tea shop worth visiting.  I respect the care and attention that goes into the growth, production and selection of each tea.  The next time I visit I would like to dive into some of the Chinese greens.  See, I'm already planning a trip!

NW Tea Festival 2014

Shiuwen Tai of Floating Leaves Tea (left) and me

The 2014 NW Tea Festival has come and gone.  It was a great year with record attendance.  I was very busy this year and failed to get any photos during the event itself.  Thank you to my friends who provided these (CW and Marmalady)! 

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!

Come and See Me at the NW Tea Fest

If you're in the Seattle area this weekend, come and see me at the Northwest Tea Fest!  My Portland tea friends and I will be very involved this year, supporting many tastings, classes and events.  I'll specifically be involved with the Wu-Wo brewing, hosting a tasting focused on bowl-style brewing and assisting Shiuwen Tai (Floating Leaves Tea) with her class on the World of Taiwanese Teas.  

See the program: http://www.nwteafestival.com/program14.php  

This weekend is always one of the highlights of my year!

NW Tea Fest 2013 Summary

NW Tea Fest 2013
Click image to enlarge

The NW Tea Fest has become an annual highlight of my tea life.  This year's event was wonderful.  And by event, I mean not only the actual Tea Fest, but also the surrounding visits with Seattle tea professionals and the in-person meeting of blog friends from far away.  It's a weekend of sipping and sharing and wonderfulness!  

Visit some of my friends in the tea biz (listed alphabetically by first name):

Asia Pacific Cultural Center:  Korean Tea Ceremony
Darlene: Tea Lover's Archives, I loved meeting this blog friend in person!

Dewey: NW Wu-Wo Tea Association

Emeric: Harney & Sons tea

Grace:  New Century Tea Gallery

Guitian: Guitian's Tea Club

Jeffrey: McIntosh Teas (unfortunately, the late night tea drinking photos didn't turn out)

Kyohei: Sugimoto America

Roberta: Experience Tea (not shown in photos; Roberta helped bring in the Korean Tea Ceremony)

Shiuwen:  Floating Leaves Tea

Tea Euphoria

Guitian preparing tea

Living the tea life at the NW Tea Fest!  Euphoric is the right word. Tasting all day and drinking tea with friends late into the night. Above, a moment of beauty and transcendence with Guitian. http://www.guitiansteaclub.com/ 

Thank you dear tea friends. 

Tea Cupping Part II: Country of Origin

A nice set of oolong teas, ready for tasting
(courtesy the group to my right during our class)

A few days ago, I wrote about the International Standard of tea tasting.  Now let's break those rules.  ;-)  In the Advanced Tea Tasting class at the NW Tea Fest, we took a look at country-of-origin methods of tasting and grading tea. 

Oolong teas, from light to dark

The International Standard is useful for doing business across country (even continental) lines.  At the same time, within the tea-growing regions, tea farmers and business people use local methods of tasting teas.  These local methods take into account the unique properties of the tea from that region. 

For the oolong tea cupping, the procedure was very simple.  We used what Suzette called "Farmer's Style."  The dry leaf, 7 grams, went into the open bowl and we filled it to the top with boiling water.  We used a porcelain spoon for tasting.  (Porcelain doesn't interfere with the taste or aroma.)  Here's a good tip I learned:  When breathing in the aroma, breathe in with both your nose and mouth.  Then turn your head away from the tea to exhale, out of politeness for the others.  We started tasting at about 5 minutes and kept tasting further along.

We also did a second cupping using the full tea cupping set (Internatioal Standard) and performed what we called "Patience Testing."  That's to test the multiple infusions and see how long the tea would continue giving. 

Now onto Japanese greens...

Japanese Sencha

For the Japanese sencha, we used 4 grams of tea in a mesh filter in the open cup and poured hot water to the top.  At about 1 minute, we lifted the screen to enjoy the aroma, then put it back.  At 1.5 minute, we removed the screen.

See the heart?

Cloudiness in the Japanese green teas is desired.  The particulate is added back during the processing.  We only did one steeping here.  The Japanese senchas are meant to be consumed promptly after drinking.  They don't sit well, and there's no expectation of multiple infusions, like with the oolongs.

----

Tea is so fascinating to me!  I feel like I've stumbled into the best-kept secret ever.  I've found a fascinating topic that will give me a lifetime full of pursuits!

Tea Cupping Part I: International Standard

International Standard Tea Cupping Set

"Tea cupping" is the phrase used by professionals to taste and evaluate tea.  Common characteristics that are judged include the flavor, of course, but also the look of the dry leaf, the aroma, the color of the liquor and the look of the wet leaf.  I've had the great good fortune to sit through several tea cupping seminars, starting with Tim Grafton in London, several times on the Asia Tea Tour and then for the past two years with Suzette (Rishi Tea) at the NW Tea Fest.

The International Standard is:

• 3 grams of tea
• 150 ml (~5 oz) boiling water
• 5 minute steep
• Here's a great video for the mechanics of it!

Dry leaf, liquor, wet leaf = the ingredients to make an evaluation of the tea

Consistency is super important here. Each tea you are comparing must be treated in the same precise manner. "But 5 minutes for a green tea?!" you might justifiably exclaim! Yes, it's true, as an industry, we've finally gotten traction when it comes to educating people to brew different teas at different temperatures.  Why now break this rule?  Because professional cupping has a very different purpose than drinking for pleasure.  (Please keep brewing those greens with cooler water for your home enjoyment!)

The Differences  Professional tea tasters have well developed palates that allow them to notice subtle differences between teas.  Those differences are what the taster is after.  S/he compares many similar teas side-by-side.  Perhaps it's a blind tasting that compares different vendor's teas for selection.  Or perhaps it's at the tea farm and samples of the same tea varietal are being tested from the same harvest, the only difference being the location of where the samples were grown.  By "pushing" the tea, meaning treating it to a very long and hot soak, the subtleties shine through.  Likewise, any weaknesses in the tea become apparent.

Do Try this at Home!  Have you ever tried tea cupping?  If you get the chance to do so, it's very fun!  And just because the International Standard is as described above, it doesn't mean you have to buy the fancy equipment.  For your personal tasting, the most important factor is to be consistent.  Pick two or three teas to compare (maybe three black teas, for example), and find brewing vessels of the same size.  Use the same amount of leaf, same temperature and volume of water, and brewing time and see what you think!



Orange Oolong Crepe

Orange Oolong Crepe:  a fun, unique and delicious dessert for anyone who likes to make crepes.  I think this would be a great thing to make at a party.  I had this yesterday at the NW Tea Fest.  In hindsight, it was perhaps not the best choice for lunch (very sweet), but how could I not try it?  ;-)  The crepe maker was very kind to answer all my questions. 

First, he poured the very thin crepe batter onto the griddle and spread it paper-thin with a special tool. (I use a cast iron crepe pan at home.) 

He let is set and then sprinkled on sugar, which he caramelized with a torch. 

 Then he added the fresh juice of half an orange.

 He sprinkled on the dry oolong tea leaf and let the crepe cook a little longer.

Done and delicious!  It had a crunchy texture from the caramelized sugar and tea leaf, and a tangy-sweet flavor.  Some of the sugars, now warmed and combined with the citrus, melted into a delicious syrup.

I think I will try to recreate this, though I will leave off the caramelized sugar.  As much as I have a sweet tooth, it was a bit too much for me.  Instead, I will use a nut filler (maybe walnut?).  I think the rest is good.  What do you think?

Wu-Wo Class at NW Tea Fest

Mother Nature blessed us with a warm, sunny day as we shared Wu-Wo with tea friends at the NW Tea Festival today.  Quiet joy prevailed as we shared cups of tea under the Space Needle.  (Click image to enlarge.)

Pre-Festival Fun

What a perfectly glorious day to begin the NW Tea festivities.  Weather was bright, warm undertones with a bit of cool in the air.  Aaahhh.

We started out right with a dim sum lunch in the International District.  We took our own pu-erh tea for the pot and enjoyed many rounds of greens, dumplings, eggplant, shrimp, green beans with black bean sauce, and my favorite - the egg tarts. 

Then off to New Century for a tasting with Grace.  New Century has a nice selection of Chinese-style teas, teacups, pots and serving vessels, gaiwan, tea trays and all the fun stuff that comes along with it.

New Century Tea

Shiuwen at Floating Leaves

Later in the evening, many folks headed to Floating Leaves to taste again with Shiuwen.  She carries some of the best Taiwanese oolong teas a girl could hope to find in the US.

A really great day!  Tomorrow begins the conference.  If anyone is interested, our group will be doing a Wu-Wo session at 1:30 pm on Saturday (10/6).  Please come and join us!  We have space for 10 brewers and many observers.  No charge - just come and brew.  No experience necessary.

Anticipating NW Tea Fest

I'm very excited to attend the NW Tea Festival this weekend!  I'm trying something new this year - I'll be tweeting, sharing quick snippets of what I'm seeing and tasting at the event.  I hope you'll follow along!  My Twitter name is StephWTea and you can follow my posts from this blog, in the section to the right.

Here are some photos from last year.     

Tea Cupping class with Suzette Hammond of Rishi Tea

The passionate Brett Boynton of Phoenix Tea leads a tasting session

Always enlightening to hear James Norwood Pratt

Tea Roasting class with Shiuwen Tai of Floating Leaves

The Expo

Meeting Pearl

Steph and Pearl Dexter, Editor and Publisher of TEA A Magazine

Photo by Lauren Hall-Stigerts

I remember my first year of subscribing to TEA A Magazine.  When the current edition would arrive in the mail, I would read just the cover and inside page, then put the magazine away.  I would do the same for each article, reading one at a time and saving the others for later.  In this fashion, I could extend my reading pleasure for as long as possible.  That was over 10 years ago, and I must confess, my practice today is much the same.  I enjoy this magazine and I don't want to be rushed when I read it.

I had the opportunity to meet the editor and publisher, Pearl Dexter, at the NW Tea Festival in October.  What a special thing for me!  Pearl and I had a long conversation about the pros and cons of publishing magazines online. 

I've recently become an online subscriber to TEA A Magazine (and given up several other magazine subscriptions), an effort to align my values of living gently on the earth with my consumption habits.  Please don't misunderstand.  I miss the glossy pages and colorful images.  I miss receiving the magazine in the mail.  Yet the bigger picture swayed me, and I have been quite pleased with the online version.  The images are equally as colorful and I can review the magazine on my laptop even when I'm not connected to the Internet.  My archives become electronic, saving precious shelf space since we've downsized.  It's a winning proposition for me.

As for meeting Pearl, I was impressed at how she took the time to converse with me, at length, about my experiences with the online version and agreed enthusiastically to be in the photo (and on the blog).  I'd also like to give special thanks to Lauren Hall-Stigerts, who happened to wander near and snapped the photo for us.

Do you subscribe to any online magazines?  I'd like to hear about your experiences.  Alternately, if you subscribe to TEA A Magazine, tell us what you love about it.

James Norwood Pratt: A Call to Action

Steph and James Norwood Pratt

Norwood has a new book - the Ultimate Tea Lover's Treasury.  We both have stories in the Tea Reader.

I had the chance to hear James Norwood Pratt speak twice in the past week, and I am the better for it.  I heard him first at the Northwest Tea Fest in Seattle.  Yesterday, he spoke at the Chinese Garden in Portland as part of the Tao of Tea's month-long Essence of Tea celebration. 

Listening to Norwood speak was delicious.  He regaled us with stories of tea's history, transitioning smoothly to the present by calling us to become tea ambassadors.  "Each one of us needs to reach one of them [non-tea drinkers]."  I agree with Norwood and found myself inspired!  Tea offers so many cures for today's social ills of being over-sugared and over-busy. I find myself contemplating how I can further share this message with my community and be of service. 

Veerinder Chawla, founder of the Tao of Tea, introduces Norwood

Norwood signed his book, "To my colleague Stephanie."  It's a small thing, but hugely meaningful to me because of this man's large influence in the American tea industry.  To be called a colleague is gracious, inviting, inclusive.  It motivates me to do my part.   

James Norwood Pratt inviting us to become tea ambassadors