Wednesday, May 20, 2015

World Tea Expo 2015 Day Three

The final day of World Tea Expo 2015 coincided with my birthday and what a happy birthday it was!

My day began with a visit with Charity Chalmers of ChariTeas who let me taste some of her Indonesian teas.  I have been planning a trip to the tea room in Sandy, Oregon and now I can look forward to tasting more of that delicious Grey Dragon tea.  

Bitaco is producing sustainable, organic tea in the high elevations of the West Andes in Colombia.   I was impressed with the unique character of their full-bodied black tea and am looking forward to tasting more.

DoMatcha's history traces back to the Andrews & George Co., the first foreign trade company based in Japan in 1891.  Through these long ties with Japan, they were able to partner with Kazunori Handa, a 16th generation tea master whose family has been producing tea for over 350 years.  DoMatcha's product line includes Ceremonial, 2nd Harvest (culinary), and Master's Choice matcha.  I'm especially looking forward to trying their Master's Choice which is a collaboration with Koyamaen, suppliers of matcha for Urasenke.


Sharp demonstrated their Tea-Cere matcha machine, due for release in August.  Tea leaves are ground into a fine powder in the compartment to the right.  Then, the powder can be poured into the compartment to the left where it will be brewed and whisked, or the powder can be used as an ingredient in baked goods, smoothies, and more.    


ITO EN introduced their matcha LOVE product line which includes Koicha, Usucha, Classic, and Organic matcha, as well as canned matcha shots.  


My final day at World Tea Expo 2015 ended on a fine note with a tea tasting tour lead by James Norwood Pratt.  We tasted Darjeeling from Rohini and Puttabong Tea Estates in India, "traveled" to Zhejiang, China to taste Super Premium Dragonwell, and finished with Da Hong Pao Premium from Wuyi.  


With a mind filled with new tea experiences and luggage filled with tea samples, I returned home.

World Tea Expo returns to its roots June 15-17, 2016 in Las Vegas!  I hope to see you there!


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