Teance Spring Harvest Parties

Teance is quickly selling out of seats for their Spring Harvest Parties. I went to a Fall Harvest Party there last year and HIGHLY recommend it. Details from Teance:

ASIA ADVENTURES
May 29th 7pm
Spring Harvest Tea Party I

Celebrate the Spring Harvest with us at Teance. Our tea buyer will share stories from this year's tea trip during a slide show and a tasting of rare teas. She will speak extensively about farm conditions, the tea market in China, and of course entertaining anecdotes of the lives of the tea producers she meets along the way will be included. Each trip is full of surprises!

Rare Phoenix Oolongs
Maojian Green
Taiwan Oolongs

Space is limited. PLEASE RSVP. $18 per person

RARE TEAS FROM THE HARVEST
The Art of Tea reaches its zenith in the form of these rare teas, produced each year in extremely small quantities by only a few remaining qualified artisans. They are usually commissioned by the Central Government of China for gift-giving, and never available for sale. Even the most die-hard tea aficionados may never get a chance to taste such rarities.

Anxi White Tea
Keemun Spring Bud
Nanjing Yu Hua Rain Flower


Space is limited. PLEASE RSVP. $25 per person.

Make a reservation here.

NYC Coffee & Tea Fest

If you (unlike me) are in NYC next weekend (I'll be speaking at a wellness conference in AZ), visit the NYC Coffee & Tea Festival! You can check out cool tea companies like Tavalon (say hi to Chris for me!), Tay Tea (say hi to Nini for me!), SerendipiTea (ditto Linda), Harney & Sons, Biscottea (and Laurance), Adagio (Christine), Zen Green Tea Liqueur, Hancha Tea, Srina, Tea Classics and Te Light. Tea writer Ellen Easton will also be there (hi, Ellen!), as will my favorite beverage magazine, Imbibe. As a thank you for being my personal messenger, here's a promo code for $10 off admission -- enter "VEETEA" (without the quotation marks) during online checkout. Enjoy the show!

Tea in Phoenix

I'll be speaking at a nutrition & wellness conference in Phoenix next month and I have just enough time for a handful of tearoom visits in Phoenix and the surrounding area. So far, I've got Urban Tea Loft, Souvia, Mandala, White August, Arcadia Farms... Where else would you suggest?

Spring Tea Party

Teaspoons & petals and Vintage Connection in Philadelphia are having a Spring Tea Party. I can't make it, but if you're in the area, I hope you can!

Valentines Day Tea

Valentine's Day can be a great way to enjoy tea! Here are a few ways you can combine the two:

Kulov Tea Festival

Ladies-Only Tea to Combat "Man Drought" in Australia

A V-Day flowers and cookies class over afternoon tea

Girls-Only Tea (or Tea & Spa) Events in DC

Sipping Romantic Teas with a Loved One (Feel free to add to my list!)

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Modern Teaism

Last night, I saw a lecture on Modern Teaism at the Japan Society. Fascinating! It was given by Sen So'oku, who Rona Tison (of ITO EN) refers to as a sort of "tea rock star." He is really shaking things up in the tea community of Japan by trying to place the tea ceremony into the context of everyday life while elevating its status so it is special without being extraordinary, rather than the other way around. Great stuff! He was introduced (and joined in tea) with Ellis Avery, the author of The Teahouse Fire. I had the chance to interview Sen So'oku and hope to interview Ellis Avery soon. More on that later!

Lipton Event Photos, Part Two

A continuation of last week's photos... More from the Lipton Tea event!

The "Mind" Room coming to life -- This is where we learned about tea and the brain













The "Body" Room -- The Wii Fit, pilates balls, yoga mats and tea helped with physical fitness













The Teabar in the "Spirits" Room -- This is where I held tea tastings and pairings














Displays in the "Spirits" Room














Lounge Area in the "Spirits" Room (before guests arrived, obviously)













Dr. Tea introducing me and Peter Goggi to one of the groups













Me Lecturing on tea tasting














A group tasting tea














Time for the pairing!













The tea-chocolate truffles were amazing! (You can read more about pairing tea and sweets on World Tea News.)













A group taking notes on tea pairings














Another group tasting paired teas and foods. There were five lectures through the day, with three different sets of pairings depending on the time.














Tea cocktails were served at the end of the day. (You can read more about tea cocktails on World Tea News.)














You can contact me for tea events at vee at veetea dot com, or read more on Vee Tea.

Lipton Event Photos

Some of you may remember that I did an event with Lipton a few months back. It was a media immersion event that provided tea education to the press with regard to tea and brain activity, tea and health and tea tasting/pairing. I lead a tea tasting and pairing that matched Lipton's newish pyramid bags (which are much more sophisticated blends than their flat bags) and PureLeaf RTDs with tea-based and regular foods. Editors and writers were lead by "Dr. Tea" through four different rooms, each with a different feel -- a Lipton "store" where they could fill bags with Lipton merchandise, a "classroom" where they learned about tea and the brain, a "gym" where they played on a Wii Fit and learned about tea and weight management and a "lounge" where they learned to develop their palates and taste different teas. It was put on with a lovely, creative group of people from Ogilvy, the international PR company. Needless to say, this was a fun event to be a part of. Here are a few photos from the day. I'll be posting more from the event next week.

The "Store" Window














Cool Fruit and Spice Display













The "Store" Interior






































Peter Goggi, who is Lipton's buyer, a professionally-trained tea taster and a writer for Tea, A Magazine, at the tasting bar in the "Store"














The Lipton Tea Bar














More next week!

All In This Tea

All In This Tea will kick off a Les Blank film festival at Film Forum in NYC on Thursday November 14th. What a great way to begin! It will show at 1, 4 and 7 PM, and Les Blank and co-director Gina Leibrecht will be present for the 7 PM showing.

2008 NYC Chocolate Show

The 2008 NYC Chocolate Show opens tomorrow at Pier 94. Exciting! The line-up includes Charles Chocolate (they make amazing tea truffles with teas from Teance), NYC's own Jaques Torres, Serendipitea tea company, Valharona and more. Any of you readers going? Let me know if you spy any great tea chocolates or tea and chocolate pairings!

Lipton Event

I'm off doing an event with Lipton today. Sorry I've been so brief in my posts. Extremely busy with writing, classes and events these days. I'll be back soon, I promise! In the meantime, the first person to email me with two changes I made on Vee Tea in the last month (outside of new blog posts, of course) gets a one of the following (your pick):

Five boxes of assorted Lipton teas (including their newer pyramid bags with larger leaves and more refined flavors)
Assorted samples sent to me by various companies (I've tried them and reviewed them or taken notes for reviews and no longer need them.)
A tiny sample of Makaibari Reserve Silver Green (Incredible!!!)
A tiny sample of a fantastic First Flush Taiwanese Oolong
Two of my tea seeds

Tomorrow at the Asian Art Museum (SF)

There's a cool tea event at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco tomorrow. If you're in the area, check it out! Details below:

Thursday, September 4
5 to 9 pm
FREE with museum admission ($5 after 5 pm)

Still dusty from its annual trek to Burning Man, Tealchemy's Tea Temple will be erected inside the Asian Art Museum for MATCHA. Everyone can sip earthy tea inside this mammoth atmospheric, communal space, which celebrates the centuries-old nomadic trade and travel of the Silk Routes. Elsewhere in the museum, taste teas from India, Persia, and Tibet (courtesy Samovar) or those along China's Tea and Horse Roads (courtesy Teance).

Discover how these different blends are brewed and grind your own spicy chai (Indian tea), mortar and pestle style. Learn about tea and its cultural influences, see art of the spice routes on a guided tour, and view Power & Glory: Court Arts of China's Ming Dynasty before it closes (Sept. 21).

Slow Tea

The Slow Food Movement (kind of the opposite of fast food, with a focus on local, sustainable produce and the enjoyment of food as an essential element of culture and communion) has recently embraced tea, even when it is not grown locally. As you may already know, sustainability is an issue close to my heart, so this is a big deal to me. In my opinion, if a quality product can only be grown far away and it is a beneficial component of your diet and lifestyle, it can be OK if offset by other things (especially if it is fair trade and organic). I'm thrilled to see that tea will be included in the upcoming Slow Food Nation event in San Francisco this August-September. If you're in the area or planning on attending, they're looking for tea volunteers. From their latest post, "Tea People Needs: We need to work out a schedule with 5 tea enthusiasts plus 5 facilitators at each of the 5 sessions of the Taste Hall." If you are (or know) someone who can help, check it out!

Tango @ the Teabar

What a fun event! Here are a few photos before I end my mate high and go to sleep. :)


Just as yerba mate is the national drink of Argentina, aflajores (pronounced alfa-CHOR-eys) are the national cookie. They are kind of like shortbread cookies with dulce de leche and coconut, though they are made differently in other parts of South America (no coconut, dipped in chocolate or white chocolate, etc.). Delicious! They went very well with the iced mate, which is how they are often consumed during a sort of Argentinian late-afternoon tea-meal.


Empanadas--an Argentine staple! I live near an empanada place in NYC and it is my favorite meal-in-a-hurry place in all of New York. These are baked rather than fried. Yum! You can see some of the crowd (there were 30-40 people total) in the background.


Here's a little more of the crowd. They loved the iced mint mate and the hot lemongrass mate. Yum! They didn't mind my speech or the wine tasting too much either. ;)


Tango @ the Teabar would not have been complete without the tango. These dancers were fantastic! They also did a rhumba. Cool!

Time for me to go to sleep. More tomorrow!

Yerba Mate

I'm preparing for the Urbana yerba mate/Argentine event today. (Mmm... alfajores, how I love your dulce de leche filling and coconut flakes.) I'll post pictures late this evening. Have a great day and enjoy your tea!

Chocolatea, Tea & Chocolate

One of the products I really enjoyed at the World Tea Expo was Chocolatea tea chocolates. It would seem that the chocolate and tea trend is growing quickly. At the Expo last year and this year, Pearl Dexter's tea and chocolate pairing course was a big hit. More and more tearooms are blending the two on menu items such as tarts, cookies, and chocolate-tea cocktails. Smile Chocolatiers brings the two into one line of products with Chocolatea, very dark, dark, milk, and white chocolate bars with powdered teas and tisanes as flavors.

At a choclate event at the International House in Charlotte, NC (my hometown, where I am currently visiting for tea lectures and tastings), I got to talk about the relationship between tea and chocolate, and to give out samples of Chocolatea bars. The Rosemary is a love it or hate it flavor (I love it). The Coconut Green Tea is also quite popular. Personally, I find that the White Tea (in very dark and dark) doesn't allow the flavor of the tea to shine through, but people liked the flavor and the antioxidants. As I've said before, good tea chocolates can be hard to find. I was thrilled to find these at the Expo, even if I don't lovelovelove every single flavor.

The areana of tea and chocolate pairings is fascinating to me and I'm glad to see it advancing. My lecture at the International House briefly covered the parallels in tea and chocolate's histories and production, and then addressed their similarities in health and mood benefits and in flavor profiles. Later, I discussed the major flavor profiles of tea and (using Pearl Dexter's "friends" and "lovers" paring philosophy*) discussed pairing tea and chocolate. The lecture also covered how tea blenders make chocolate teas, some of the major tea chocolates on the market, and how to make tea chocolates in your own kitchen (something many of the chocoliers at the event were interested in trying). It was a fun lecture to give and it seemed that the group of about 80 got a lot out of it, too. Here's a photo of the event as the room started to fill up:



If you're in Charlotte this Wednesday, come check out my yerba mate tasting (with an Argentine wine tasting and tango dancing demo) at Urbana. Call 704.543.1700 for more details. You can also arrange a personalized tasting (with a focus on tea history, processing, benefits, flavor profiles, pairings, or whatever other tea interests you may have) of six of Urbana's 100 teas with me through the 25th by calling Urbana.

*Of course, I credited Pearl during the lecture.

Coffee & Tea Festival: Misc.

Today's post: Coffee & Tea Festival miscellanea I haven't covered already.

Cup for Education is doing some great not-for-profit work in coffee-producting regions. It reminded me of a tiny, independent version of The CHAI Project in India. Starbucks' Tazo and Mercy Corp. joined up for the CHAI Project in India, and it is currently the largest not-for-profit agency in the country. I wonder when this type of program will spread to other tea-producing regions.

Ceylon Treasures had some cool handmade elephant-covered metal tea caddies from Sri Lanka. (Due to a very strange experience with a Ganesh statue in San Francisco and my visit to India last summer, elephants are one of my very favorite animals.)

There were Himalayan Salt Crystal Lights at the Festival. They don't directly relate to coffee or tea, but I found it interesting that they were there because Urbana Cityspa & Teabar (where I used to manage the teabar and still hold events sometimes) carried them.

The Hudson Healing Wisdom School had a long line for tea leaf readings the whole time. I wish I hadn't waited for the line to die down, as I missed my chance for a reading. Oh, well. Maybe next year!

Harshita Designs had some lovely block- and screen-printed textiles with tea motifs (leaves, pots, etc.). The georgette and charmeuse were very good quality and the colors were very vibrant. (My textiles background leaves me thinking it was dyed with acid dye.)

Tay Tea's "Better than Sex" rooibos blend was a big hit again this year. With a name like that, everyone made sure to stop by and try it. Although I don't usually sweeten my tea, I was a big fan of Tay's saffron rock candy. Yum!

Tea and alcohol seemed to be matched often. Between the Coffee & Tea Infused Cocktails, Chris Cason's remarks on the future of tea drinks, and Zen Green Tea Liquor (by the Japanese company that makes Midori), it was well-represented. I'm looking forward to seeing where this trend takes us.

Tea Classics/Hancha Tea focused on Korean tea, which is much bigger on the West coast than it is here in NYC. They also put on several demos of the Korean tea ceremony. Although traditional Korean "teas" are usually tisanes (herbal), there are some fantastic Korean green teas produced in Korea. It is my hope that they will be more readily available in the US soon.

Georgia's Bakeshop (located here in NYC) had some fantastic sweets (French macaroons, mini walnut souffles, etc.). I took a few home with me, and I can't wait to visit their shop!


Harrisons & Crossfield had a variety of types of tea in both pyramid and flat bags. I was saddened to see that they are one of the (way too) many companies carrying pomegranate white tea. I am so over this trend. When will it end?!?!

SerendipiTea carried a variety of tea blends (City Harvest was a favorite, and a portion of the proceeds go to City Harvest), tea soaps, Bodum pots (I love their designs), and Amai cookies (Amai's tea/bake house just won Time Out's "Best New Tearoom" award!). Cool.

Don't forget to celebrate Earth Day over the weekend and on the 22nd. Do something more sustainable--plant something, buy organic/local, try an alternate means of transit, or . . .

Coffee & Tea Festival: More Lectures

Today I'll run through two more lectures of note that I caught at the Coffee and Tea Festival, Green Tea 101 and The Future of Tea.

Green Tea 101--Tafu Tea (NYC staff and visiting Japanese teamaster)

Although this presentation was a bit heavy on the advertising of Tafu, it was interesting to attend. Most of the information was a very basic rundown on Japanese tea. Chinese tea and other green teas were not addressed. However, the teamaster clearly knew his tea extremely well and there were a few gems doled out in the lecture. My favorites:

Notes on brewing sencha included the saying, "If you are sweet to it, then it will be sweet to you."

An emphasis on the aroma of houjicha and genmaicha (Americans are rarely taught to focus on the aromas of their foods and drinks)

Information on cooking with tea and pairing foods (especially desserts) and teas from Kyotofu... yum!


The Future of Tea--Chris Cason (Tavalon)

Somehow, I had never been to an event by NYC's Chris Cason before. I was glad to see he lived up to his reputation of delivering lively and fun lectures. After covering some of the basics of tea, he discussed ways in which tea can be integrated into mainstream American culture. These methods of "making tea accessible" included:

Educating peole about tea (Obviously, I'm a big advocate of that!)
Baking and making candy with tea
Cooking with tea, and doing so in unusual ways, like poaching halibut with brewed chai in lieu of water, or using lapsang souchong leaves with wood chips to smoke foods
Making tea cocktails (which I talked about yesterday)
Incorporating tea into the spa (I used to manage a teabar at a spa, so this is an area of interest for me, too)

Chris is working on a book about his ideas on new approaches to tea and tea trends in the US. Exciting! Maybe you'll get to see an interview or book review on Vee Tea before it comes out.


Tomorrow, I'll be wrapping up a few loose ends with the Festival. Don't forget that it's Earth Day this weekend! Do something to make your life a little greener, and enjoy your tea!

Coffee & Tea Festival: Lectures

Here are some notes on a few of the lectures and demos I caught at the Coffee & Tea Festival this year. I won't be giving away TOO much, as I'd hate to see my many hours of work distrubited on someone else's website without my consent. However, this should give you a "taste" of the tea events at the Festival.

Coffee & Tea Infused Cocktails--Kara Newman (food and drink writer and lecturer) and Beniot Cornett (of Sanctuary T, NYC)

Obviously, both of these lecturers know their stuff when it comes to making tea cocktails. They discussed the trends of "extreme cocktails" (those with Red Bull and other energy drinks), sweet/savory blends, super-fresh ingredients, and pairing cocktails with desserts. They listed some major considerations in creating your own tea cocktails: whether it should be hot or cold, what its caffeine and tannin levels will be, and how to balance the flavors. They went on to please the crowd by mixing (and distributing) several tea and coffee cocktails. Unfortunately, there were only enough samples for those who REALLY wanted them (which a lot of people did!), so I didn't get to try them. However, my bartending experience, previous experiments with tea cocktails, and reading of The Art of the Bar by Absinthe's fantastic bar chef Johnathan Raglin told me that they were solid recipes. A few more hints they gave and I stand by: vodka and gin infuse well with tea, and homemade flavored symple syrups are one of your best allies at the bar.

Afternoon Tea for Fun and Profit--Ellen Easton (Afternoon Tea Consultant)

Ellen Easton's approach to tea is VERY different from mine, however, I have the utmost respect for her expertise in the tradition of afternoon tea. She delivered a fascinating lecture on afternoon tea from its rules of ettiquite to balancing a tea menu to tea's relationship to the suffragette movement and, finally, the "fun and profit" aspect of afternoon tea. She dispelled myths (The most controversial: "A raised pinkie is a sign of arrogance." Not true!) and even dipped into the oft-overlooked realm of the politics of tea. I'll be reviewing her book some time in the next few months. Look out for it.

Tea Blending: An Elusive Art--Nini Ordoubadi (Tay Tea, NYC)

Nini is a professional tea blender and I can tell that she is one of the rare few who loves her job. (We can sense our own!) She discussed the art of tea blending as an almost spiritual endeavor. "Think of it as a meditation," she advised. The basic steps (examining the dry elements, adding hot water, watching the elements infuse, "drinking the tea with your nose," decanting into a clear container, tasting the isolated flavors, blending, tasting, and evaluating) are simple enough, but it is an understanding of the essence of the tea that is complex. She maintains that it is something that everyone can do, provided they do three things: be completely honest in your evaluation of each blend, be patient, and keep a notebook. I have the feeling that at least a few members of her audience will be following her advice in the near future.

Tomorrow, I'll continue this train of thought with a post about two more lectures, Green Tea 101 and The Future of Tea. Right now I'm off to brew some tea and write some tea descriptions!

Coffee & Tea Festival: Ito En & Tafu

Two major Japanese tea companies were represented at the 2008 NYC Coffee and Tea Festival: Ito En and Tafu.

Ito En was unveiling two new products, Mint Green in their Teas Tea line and Oi Ocha, which is the #1 selling RTD (Ready-to-Drink, a.k.a. "bottled" or "canned," depending on the packaging method) tea in Japan and was only available in specialty stores in the US until now. The Mint Green seems like a good tea for soothing the stomach or for a new tea drinker. The Oi Ocha is a robust tea, best-suited for more serious tea drinkers. It is double brewed for maximum catechins and a strong umami (astringent) taste.
Oishi! <--Japanese for "delicious."

Tafu was promoting their NYC tearoom, which serves a variety of teas and tea sweets. Their tea sweets are made by Kyotofu, which (of course) serves their tea and uses their tea to make delicious tea sweets (think white chocolate matcha cupcakes, black sesame sweet tofu with houjicha green tea sauce). They also flew in their 7th generation tea master, who spoke at several events and freshly roasted houjicha especially for the event. (I bought some. It's fantastic.)


Matcha cupcake with lecture notes and some sequins on one of my salwar kameez (tunic, pants, and scarf outfits) from India





Tafu's 7th generation tea master roasting houjicha





Tomorrow, I'll talk about some of the lectures at the Coffee and Tea Festival. Until then, drink up!