Cascadia Tea Festival 2025

The Cascadia Spring Tea Festival was held on April 11, 2025 in Everett, Washington. This was a successful 4th year for the small volunteer-run event whose focus is to connect with community by sharing tea and its traditions.

The festival returned to Forest Park, a lovely woodland setting, with vendors and focused tea tastings in Floral Hall. New this year were classes and the welcome expansion into Lions Hall which hosted even more tea tastings.

This year there was also a Tea Pet Licensing station and it was vitally important that I get my new tea pet, Beep, licensed by Osmanthus Tea Bunny.

Lions Hall Tea Tastings

Diarmuid Fahy & Sam Culwell shared several teas from their collection.

Ancient Tree Red (Yunnan)

Shan Lin Xi

30 Year Aged Roasted Oolong

Li Shan

Josh Brock (The Empty Tea Cup) was pouring a white tea from Crimson Lotus.

Yunnan Bai Cha

Gabriel Lukeris (Tea Dive) shared several teas from Japan.

Hojicha

Wakoucha (Shizuoka)

Kukicha

Thanks to everyone who made this wonderful community event possible!  I had a fantastic time!

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!

Tea Review: Dark Heaven (Mad Hat Tea Company)

Dark Heaven

Mad Hat Tea Company
Type: Flavored Black Tea, Flavored Puerh
Origin: Not Provided
Product Description: 

One of our most ordered Puerh blends. The closest thing to coffee in the shop!

Temperature: 208° F
Amount: 3 grams
Steeping Time: 3 minutes

The dry leaf blend includes puerh, roasted mate, chocolate, and black tea.

The liquor is reddish brown with a rich aroma of chocolate, smoke, earth, and fruit.  The taste is dark, rich, and earthy with light chocolate notes and a long, dark, roasty finish.

This does bear similarities to coffee, especially in the finish.  While I was happy with the results from a 3 minute infusion which had no notable astringency, this blend can easily be steeped longer with more leaf for darker and more bold results.

This tea was purchased by me.

Tea Review: Caramel Toffee Puerh Tea (Whatcom Tea)

Caramel Toffee Puerh Tea
Whatcom Tea
Type: Flavored Puerh
Origin: Not Provided
Product Description: Not provided.

Temperature: 208° F
Amount: 3 grams
Steeping Time: 3 minutes

The dry leaf aroma has rich notes of caramel, chocolate, and marzipan.

The liquor is dark reddish brown with a rich aroma of buttery caramel and chocolate.  The taste has notes of caramel, dark chocolate, and a hint of earthiness.

This was tea was surprisingly smooth with flavor and aroma notes reminding me of caramel hot cocoa and earthiness from the puerh in the background.  I've had mixed results from similar tea blends and this was definitely a winner. 

This tea was purchased by me.

Tea Review: Scottish Caramel Pu-erh (Everything Tea)

Scottish Caramel Pu-erh

Everything Tea
Type: Flavored Puerh
Origin: China
Product Description:

A nicely balanced blend of aged Chinese black tea with almonds, infused with caramel for an overall earthy character brightened by sweet highlights.

Temperature: 208° F

Amount: 3 grams
Steeping Time: 3-5 minutes

The dry leaf blend includes puerh, almonds, and caramel flavor.

The dark reddish-brown liquor has a rich caramel and earthy aroma and flavor.  

I had good results from steeping this tea for a minimum of 4 minutes with caramel and increasing earthy notes throughout three infusions.

This tea was purchased by me.

Tea Review: 2011 Huang Pian Puerh (Floating Leaves Tea)

2011 Huang Pian Puerh
Floating Leaves Tea
Type: Puerh
Origin: China, Fujian Province
Product Description:

The broth is soft and smooth, with chocolate and dried fruit notes. Classic date fragrance. Body is not as rich and syrupy as our Da Xue Shan 2006, for example, because the material doesn't contain young leaves and buds. But the flavor is clean and the energy is grounding.

Temperature: 208°
Amount: 3 grams
Steeping Time: 3 minutes

The dry leaves have and aroma of salt-cured food, tree bark and moss.

The dark red infusion has an aroma of moss, freshly turned soil, and wood.  The taste is thick, rich, and smooth with notes of wood, moss, and earth.

This puerh was delicious, notably smooth, and flavorful throughout multiple infusions, leaving a warming sensation at the finish.  The liquor darkened by the second infusion and brightened by the third.  On a more personal note, I was reminded of collecting moss for a neighbor's floral business when I was a child.

This tea review was written in 2021.

This tea was purchased by me.

Tea Review: 2022 Gingerbread Man (White2Tea)

2022 Gingerbread Man
White2Tea
Type: Puerh
Origin: China
Product Description:

Our 2022 Gingerbread Man is a shou Puer blend that's easy on the wallet and packed full of sticky sweet molasses flavor and aroma. A great introductory shou Puer tea for anybody in a need of a hefty morning cup who has a penchant for sweet baked goods.

Temperature: 208° F
Amount: 3 grams
Steeping Time: 3 minutes

The dry leaf aroma has notes of dried mushrooms, smoke, and salt-cured food.  

The dark reddish-brown liquor is opaque with a savory aroma of moss, dried mushrooms, and wood pulp.  The taste is smooth, rich, and almost sweet with notes of earth and wood and a finish that is earthy with just a hint of spice cookies.

This was one of the smoothest shou puerh I've had the opportunity to taste and the dry leaf aroma left me with a distinct craving for smoke-cured food.

This tea was a gift from a third party.

Tea Review: Spice It Up (Pippa's Real Tea)

Spice It Up

Pippa's Real Tea & Cafe Tenby
Type: Flavored Puerh
Origin: Not Provided
Product Description:

This tea will wake you up in more ways than one!  Like a Mexican hot chocolate with a kick of chili at the finish.

Temperature: 208° F
Amount: 3 grams
Steeping Time: 3 minutes

The dry leaf blend includes puerh, cinnamon, honeybush, cacao nibs, safflower, chili flakes, and chocolate.

The liquor is dark reddish-brown with aroma notes of cocoa, sweet cinnamon, spicy chili, and buttery caramel.  The taste is smooth with notes of cocoa, cinnamon, chili, and caramel with a chili and caramel finish.

This tea blend was definitely a treat.  The chocolate notes were most pronounced in the first infusion, reminiscent of Mexican hot chocolate.  Following that, buttery caramel notes took over and I was reminded of the delicious chocolate covered chili caramels I used to get from a local chocolatier.  While the best flavor was in the first two infusions, the third was smooth and quite enjoyable.

This tea was purchased by me.