Tea Fest PDX 2025

Tea Fest PDX was held on June 28th at the World Forestry Center in Portland, Oregon.  

The festival was held a month earlier than in prior years.  The weather was beautiful and the temperature was much more comfortable.  The outdoor vendor area was fully covered this year and there was a generous amount of space between each row so attendees could move more easily from booth to booth.  

This year I prepared in advance by checking out the vendors and presenters on the official website so I could hit the ground running, visit the booths I was most looking forward to, and take time to experience everything the festival had to offer.

Oregon-grown tea plants for sale

A presentation at the British Tea Tent

Tea eggs from Red Robe Tea House

Gateway to classes and workshops

There were musical performances throughout the day and I was able enjoy a beautiful koto performance by Masumi Timson.

Heritage Teas of Việt Nam with Anna Ye (Anne Ye Teas)

Anna Ye is based in New York and has been sourcing teas from Việt Nam since 2021.  While she couldn't attend the festival in-person this year, she was able to join us by video.  Anna presented a tasting of two teas harvested in April from old growth heritage tea trees, with the assistance of festival volunteers, and sharing information about the growing regions and tea farmers. 

Wild Silver Tips (Suối Giàng, Yên Bái Province)

Misty Highland Green (Tà Xùa, Sơn La Province)

Teaware in Residence, Shigaraki Japan with Jonathan Steele (Jonathan Steele Studio)

Jonathan is a Pacific NW-based artist who has been making pottery with a focus on gongfu teaware since 2009.  For this presentation, he shared his recent experiences as an Artist-in-residence in Shigaraki, Japan.  

Much of his time during the residency was spent in Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, also known as Tougei no Mori (陶芸の森/Ceramic Forest), and working with the Anagama kiln there.

We learned about pyrometric cones, a measure of kiln heat that deforms at certain temperatures relating to the number of the cone, and the variance between the cooler 9-12 cones preferred by Shigaraki Ware artisans and the hotter 12-13 cones preferred by many Pacific Northwest artisans.  Jonathan tends to prefer firing with higher cones which produce a glassier finish.

We also saw examples of Jonathan's work from his residency and examples of Shigaraki Ware like Kohiki, a textural technique where a water-heavy white glaze overlaps a contrasting clay. 

First Teas from India's First Farmer-Owned Specialty Factory with Raj Vable (Young Mountain Tea)

Raj Vable introduced us to Kumaon tea, its people, history, and the tea factory.

Kumaon is located in the Northern Indian Himalayas. Tea was planted there by the British in the 1840s and cultivation ended in the 1940s because the nearest ports were too far away to make the venture profitable. The surviving tea plants were allowed to grow wild until the 1990s when a government program revived tea cultivation in the region. From then, it took about 30 years to prune the tea trees back down to cultivation-friendly bushes.

While Kumaon farmers own the land and the tea plants, the harvested leaf has, until recently, always been sent elsewhere for production. Many people from the region, especially the younger generation and predominantly men, left to find work in the cities.

Raj founded Young Mountain Tea in 2013 with a focus on partnering with growers from Kumaon to process the tea where it's grown, working toward a model that supports the entire chain of production. The tea factory was built with funding from a USAID grant and was completed before the program was shut down, with tea production beginning in 2021. The local farmers, approximately 90% of whom are women, have partial ownership of the factory and will eventually have 100% ownership.

During the presentation we watched videos (also available on the Young Mountain Tea website) about Kumaon Tea including a look inside the tea factory. We also enjoyed tasting two infusions each of first flush white, green, and lightly oxidized black teas harvested in April from 160-year-old tea plants and processed by the Kumaon tea factory. Tea Fest PDX was the first public tasting of these first flush teas.

Thanks so much to the volunteers, presenters, and vendors for making this a great experience!