Coyle's Bakeshop

Coyle's Bakeshop, located in Seattle's Greenwood neighborhood on the corner of Greenwood Avenue North and NW 83rd Street, first opened its doors in March 2015.  Owned by pastry chef and culinary instructor Rachael Coyle, the bakeshop offers after-hours events including cooking classes and afternoon teas like the one I attended on August 12th. 

The space is filled with natural and interior light.  Indoor seating is at tables and at window counters with additional outdoor seating available when weather permits.

Coyle's Bakeshop specializes, as you might guess, in pastries, cakes, and other baked goods.   They also offer a lunch menu with sandwiches, salads, and soups.

In addition to baked goods, loose leaf teas, house-made jellies, and marmalades are available for purchase.

Coyle's Bakeshop offers a selection of black, green, and herbal teas, as well as drip coffee and espresso.  All teas are sourced from local tea shop B. Fuller's Mortar & Pestle and are served in single or two-person teapots.   

Since we arrived early during regular business hours, I took time to enjoy a single-serve pot of Mint Blend.  Tea is presented with a timer, which was a nice touch for those of us who can get a little distracted while chatting.

We left for a walk around the neighborhood when the bakeshop closed and returned after setup for the afternoon tea was complete.  Since the weather was warm and the building doesn't have air conditioning, every guest was provided with a lovely wood fan.  The afternoon tea doubles as a tasting session, with each course introducing items that may appear on the menu in future.

The Savory Course featured Genmaicha from B. Fuller's Mortar & Pestle paired with a cucumber and radish salad, boiled egg with herbed mayonnaise and parmesan crisp, and a savory "shortcake" with cherry tomatoes, basil, and ricotta.

The Pastry Course featured Pettiagalla Estate Golden Ceylon from Perennial Tea Room paired with currant scones served with gooseberry jam and brioche toast with thyme and nectarine jam.

The Desserts Course featured Bai Hao Oolong from B. Fuller's Mortar & Pestle paired with a Santa Rosa plum and almond tart with crème anglaise, a lavender, lemon and blueberry macaron, and a summer pavlova with marionberry sorbet, fresh cream, blackberries, and peaches.

Reservations are required and seats do fill up quickly.  Note that every available seat will be used, so you may be seated with your party at a counter or at a table.  

Check the Events Page for upcoming afternoon tea events and cooking classes.

Address:
8300 Greenwood Ave N, Seattle, WA 98103

Hours:
7:00am to 4:00pm 

LaPostte

LaPostte is located in Las Vegas' Chinatown on Spring Mountain Road near South Lindell Road.  The tea room opened, rather appropriately considering their logo, on Valentine's Day (February 14th) in 2018.

The tea room is light and welcoming with seating at tables and in armchairs.  Free wifi is available, as well as board games and reading materials.  

LaPostte specializes in fusion desserts and beverages.  Their menu includes tea (green, oolong, black, flavored blends, and tisanes), tea lattes, milk teas, fruit teas, coffee, and soda.    

For this visit, I made a reservation for the High Tea and my tea selection was a delicious Dark Roast Oolong.  

True to its name, La Postte also offers a postcards to the future mailing service.  Purchase one (or several) of their lovely postcards, write a message to yourself or to someone else and decorate it at the rubber stamp station, then drop it in the mail slot that matches the month and day you want it to be sent.

Before leaving, I picked out two adorable postcards, mailing one to myself far enough in the future that I had forgotten about it.  When my message from the past finally arrived, it was a fun surprise.

Reservations are recommended for High Tea which is served all day.

Address:
5410 W Spring Mountain Rd suite 102, Las Vegas, NV 89146

Hours:
11:00am to 11:00pm

Mandarin Oriental Tea Lounge 2018

Last June, I re-visited the Tea Lounge at Mandarin Oriental (now the Waldorf Astoria) in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Since I was traveling with a friend who had not experienced this afternoon tea before, a visit to the Tea Lounge was almost required.

As always the decor, table settings, and teaware were all beautiful.  My tea selection was, appropriate to the venue, the mandarin-flavored Eros.  

The food was delicious as always and the view from the 23rd floor is still unbeatable.

The Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas transitioned to Waldorf Astoria in late 2018.  They have made only minor changes to the Tea Lounge, including the tea menu, so you can still look forward to a great afternoon tea experience.

Reservations are required and may be made online or by phone.

Address:
3752 S Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89158

Hours:
11:00am to 4:15pm

Afternoon Tea is served every day as follows:
1st: 11:45am, 12:00pm, 12:15pm
2nd: 1:45pm, 2:00pm, 2:15pm
3rd: 3:45pm, 4:00pm, 4:15pm

Tea Shout-Out: Beijing Noodle No 9

The Tea Shout-Out highlights restaurants and other businesses who go the extra mile to serve good quality tea.

This Tea Shout-Out goes to Beijing Noodle No. 9 in Caesar's Palace Las Vegas.  Instead of the standard house tea, this restaurant offers a variety of options including green tea, jasmine green tea, oolong, and pu'erh.  For this visit, I enjoyed a delicious pot of Tung Ting Oolong while watching the chef prepare the hand-pulled noodles for my Shrimp Chow Mein.

Tea Shout-Out: Makers and Finders

The Tea Shout-Out highlights restaurants and other businesses who go the extra mile to serve good quality tea. 

This Tea Shout-Out goes to Makers & Finders, located on Main Street in the Las Vegas Arts District.  They're a Latin cafe and coffee/tea bar offering hot and iced teas and matcha and their Tip Cup Premium Tea Service features a selection of direct-trade teas curated by Tealet.  Premium tea is only available in-house and is served in a tipping cup (thus the name).  By design, the cup tips slightly to one side for the hot water to be poured over the tea leaves in the built-in filter.  When the tea is fully steeped, you can tip the cup to the other side to prevent over-steeping and enjoy! 

Satemwa Dark Puer

Avocado Relleno

Matcha Cafe Maiko (Las Vegas)

Matcha Cafe Maiko is a recent addition to the Las Vegas' Chinatown neighborhood, opening its doors in April 2018 on South Jones Boulevard near West Desert Inn Road.

Seating is plentiful at tables and on stools and the room is filled with natural light.  

Matcha Cafe Maiko uses matcha from Harima Garden in Uji, Japan.  Their menu includes shaved ice and kintoki, soft serve, parfaits, hot and iced hojicha and matcha, hot and cold lattes, frappes, and floats.  

My selection was the best of all worlds, the #33 Hojicha Float with Vanilla & Matcha Swirl Ice Cream.

For events and updates, be sure to visit Matcha Cafe Maiko's Facebook page.

Address:
3400 S Jones Blvd #3, Las Vegas, NV 89146

Hours:
12:00 pm to 10:00 pm (Sunday-Thursday)
12:00 pm to 11:00 pm (Friday-Saturday)

World Tea Expo 2018 Day Three

Day Three at the World Tea Expo was spent entirely in the Exhibit Hall.  

ITI Presentation

At the ITI booth, Bhavin Shah (ITI), Vishal Shah (Jay Shree Tea), and James Norwood Pratt discussed 2nd flush Darjeeling teas, accompanied by a tea tasting. 

Darjeeling makes up less than 2% of world tea production.  Green flies arrive very briefly between the 1st and 2nd flush.  Some crops are lost, but if they can harvest some of the bitten leaves the tea will develop the prized, rare muscatel notes.  Skill and artistry really come into play during the 2nd flush with intricacies like rolling and firing.  Where first flush takes 5-6 hours in the factory, 2nd flush takes 9 hours.  

Someone noted that the Darjeeling is lighter this year and this is due to unseasonable freezing temperatures in April/May.  

Darjeeling 2nd Flush

Mangalam Estate Assam, 2nd Flush

Meleng Estate Assam 2nd flush

Exhibitors

All Japan Matcha & Organic is an association of 42 Japanese tea farms and factories that have come together to offer their teas for direct sale overseas.  They accept small and large wholesale orders.  

At the same booth, Yoshimura Package Partners/Japanfan Station's lovely Kawaii Zipper Bags were on display.  They're resealable and airtight, decorated with traditional patterns and whimsical scenes and useful for gift-giving, food storage, or any occasion when you need a decorative airtight bag.  I've used them for tea storage during a tasting event where they added a nice decorative touch to the tea table.  Though I don't have a photo of the display this year, you can view last year's display.

They were also offering samples of tasty matcha flavored roasted soybeans.

Eat More Tea is based in Ann Arbor, Michigan and specializes in tea-infused foods.  At the Expo, they presented their tea spice blends and tea-infused baking mixes and their online store has even more to offer.    

Harney & Sons introduced their most recent tea blend, Venetian Tiramisu, which has made its way onto the short list of flavored teas that I enjoy.

At the Guizhou Taicha Tea Co., Ltd. booth, Sheldon kindly offered me a tasting of tai cha (苔茶), a varietal native to Guizhou.  This is sometimes described as purple tea due to the purple tint that develops on the leaves during the summer.  I don't have tasting notes, but I remember being enamored with the flavor and aroma and I would love to see more of this tea reach the US.  I was told that copper tea kettles like the one used by Sheldon are ubiquitous at tea tables in the region.

Sugimoto America has been improving and expanding their line of green tea and matcha blends.  The Hibiscus Matcha was a pleasant surprise, as well as the Yuzu Matcha Kukicha.  I also learned that Sugimoto has begun promoting single cultivar teas like Yabukita.  It was great to catch up with Noli (preparing a bowl of Ceremonial Matcha in the photo below) and Kyohei, and to meet Adrienne.

Kotodo introduced their line of white birch tea canisters which are currently wholesale-only, but will hopefully be appearing in US retail locations.

Onward to World Tea Expo 2019!

World Tea Expo 2018 Day One

World Tea Expo 2018 Day Two