Live tea expositions, seminars, and tradeshows are returning with vigor in China. The five-day China International Tea Expo (CTE) that opened in Hangzhou on International Tea Day (May 21) drew a crowd of 152,000 mainly domestic tea buyers. In aggregate they spent RMB6.4 billion purchasing 254 million tons of tea, a 14% increase compared to the previous event. The average value of transactions was up 20% to RMB223 million and orders topped 13,000.
Opening ceremonies
China International Tea Expo
By Dan Bolton
Live tea expositions, seminars, and tradeshows are returning with vigor in China. The China International Tea Expo (CTE) that opened May 21 is the largest live tea industry event since lockdowns force show organizers to cancel in May 2020.
CTE is the largest tea exposition in China. Buyers collectively spent RMB6.4 billion purchasing 254 million tons of tea, a 14% increase compared to the previous event. The average value of transactions was up 20% to RMB223 million and the number of on-site orders topped 13,000. In 2019 there were 10,787 transactions, suggesting pent up demand.
An estimated 152,000 attended, down 18% from the May 2019 third edition of the show which drew a crowd of 185,200. The 2019 expo attracted 3,425 foreign buyers from 46 countries. In addition, there were nearly 200 foreign VIPs from 42 countries and international organizations. In 2021 only a few in-country foreign buyers attended as travel restrictions apply.
In 2019 on-site transactions during the five-day event averaged RMB186 million. Sales totaled RMB5.4 billion for 222.9 tons of tea.
Chinese buyers purchase direct instead of at tea auctions. The largest tea order was valued at $188 million (RMB1.2 billion), according to the Expo and reports in the China Daily newspaper.
There were 3,432 booths on the 750,000 square foot (70,000 square meter) show floor. Buyers numbered 3,600. In May 2019 the expo set up 3,139 booths which included 2,793 tea and coffee related booths.
In 2019 exhibitors representing 25 domestic provinces, cities and districts, numbered 1,563 according to the Hangzhou News
The 2021 show floor was busy with high-value transactions demonstrating a return to normal. Since China is virtually virus free, precautions were not enforced. Attendees wore masks and careful attention was paid to hygiene, ventilation and crowd size.
Special thanks to Coco Xintong Lu who attended the show and provided photos and statistics. Coco is International Business Officer for the Tea Industry Committee, China Association for the Promotion of International Agricultural Cooperation.
Travel restrictions prevented foreign exhibitors from attending but local distributors displayed teas at 17 booths.
Foreign Tea Buyers Face Formidable Restrictions
Foreign guests joined the Opening Ceremony via pre-recorded videos and ambassadors to China, representing several countries, flew from Beijing to Hangzhou. On the show floor the International Pavilion featured 17 booths operated by domestic distributors of international brands.
In China COVID-19 rates are low thanks to an effective test, trace, and isolate policy. The country has reported 103,000 cases with fewer than 5,000 deaths.
China’s borders remain closed to all but residents of these 23 countries. Travelers must provide proof of receiving second of two shots at least 14 days prior to entry and they must present two negative tests PCR and antibody tests, taken within 48 hours of travel. Travelers are checked once again on arrival. Anyone failing the test will be isolated at a government facility. All others quarantine for 14 days, often at home, a approved hotel or government facility. In some regions the requirement is 14+7 (with the last seven days monitored by local community health officials).
Eligible vaccines include the World Health Organization approved Sinovac or vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson. Foreign nationals currently in China can travel freely as long as they have the required documents including ID (usually passport) and a green health code. The green code is issued after confirmation of receiving a vaccine using any one of China’s five domestically manufactured vaccines.
Restrictions vary by region depending on community spread. In Guangzhou, the quarantine policy is currently “14+7” (14 days centralized + 7 days community health monitoring). “Some destinations will not accept travelers from medium-risk areas such as Zhangjiajie and Ningxia. Some cities will be cautious about receiving tourists from Guangdong, even if you are not from medium-risk areas,” according to China Highlights.
The government is vaccinating individuals at high rates with goal of 40% of Chinese citizens in June. As of May, 400 million have been vaccinated. China aims to vaccinate up to 80% of its population of more than one billion by the end of 2021 or mid-2022.
The government is vaccinating individuals at high rates with goal of inoculating 40% of Chinese citizens in June. As of May, 400 million have been vaccinated at a pace approaching 10 million daily. China aims to vaccinate 80% of its population of more than one billion by the end of 2021 or mid-2022.
Entry restrictions are not likely to ease until February 2022 just before the Beijing Winter Olympics. The events are scheduled for February 4-20.
The State of Misiones, in cooperation with the government of Argentina and local tea firms, will host a virtual tea conference on Friday, May 21 from 8:30 am until 2 pm (UTC-03:00). The meeting is hosted here (webex). Attendance is free.
The half-day working conference is divided into two blocks, the first addresses tea in the domestic market with sessions on sustainable production, technology and local markets. The second block is a discussion of tea exports and trends in international markets.
Speakers include Octavio Ingaramo, director of INTA (National Institute of Agricultural Technology); Carolina Okulovich, owner of The Tea Route, a tea retailer and producer. Okulovich is the daughter of the largest tea producer in Argentina and president of the Center for Tea Makers.
Patricia Parra worked for the national Agricultural Ministry specializing in tea production. Luciana Imbrogno is Secretary to the Agricultural Minister. Helmuth Kunmritz is an engineer and independent tea producer. Lic. Emiliano Lysiak works at INTA Misiones, the state institute conducting tea research in Misiones. Edson Teramoto is an agricultural certification coordinator.
Horacio Bustos is founder of Gyokuro Circulo Argentino del Té and John Smagula, Assistant Dean, Graduate & International Programs; Associate Professor, China Rule-of-Law Program at Temple University. Dan Bolton is publisher of Tea Journey Magazine and host of the weekly Tea Biz podcast.
Program
8.45 hs. | Articulacion Institucional
9.30 hs. | Nuevos Mercados y Exportaciones
10.10 hs. | Produccion Sostenible del Te
11.20 hs. | Tendencias
12.30 hs. | Conclusiones y cierre
Join by video: Dial [email protected] or dial You can also dial 173.243.2.68 and enter meeting number 173 789 6796 (attendance is free)
On May 21st, viewers around the world will tune in to 11 hours of talks with tea professionals from the tea lands. The free event, which will be streamed on YouTube, is the creation of Shabnam Weber, president of the Tea and Herbal Association of Canada.
SofaSummit organizer Shabnam Weber
Virtual Tea Chat Unites Tea Commuity
Shabnam Weber, president of the Tea & Herbal Association of Canada is again hosting a SofaSummit to celebrate International Tea Day. The virtual event begins at 8 a.m. (EST) Friday, May 21.
Jessica Natale Woollard:You’ll be streaming for 11 hours straight. What can our listeners expect this year.
Shabnam Weber: Well, we started the SofaSummit last year out of necessity because of Covid and the inability to do anything in person. But it was such a big success that I’ve decided to do it again. So we’ve got, I believe, 24 or 25 guests from around the world and we will be traveling through about 13 or 14 different time zones chatting with a variety of people representing all parts of the supply chain.
Some are business owners, some are tea lovers and some are heads of companies. Some just have a deep passion for tea which is the tread that connects all of us.
Jessica: It sounds amazing. That’s a lot of speakers and over 11 hours.
Shabnam: It’s a long day and I can tell you from experience last year it is exhausting, but it’s worth every moment.
Jessica:Who do you think would find value in watching these sessions?
Shabnam: I think that because our guests represent such a wide range of the industry, I think everybody who has any interest in tea would be interested.
Jessica: Do you have any advice for avoiding information overload for viewers that want to experience the full 11 hours. Any tips on how people can get the most out of these sessions?
Shabnam: I think the best way is what people did last year. They sort of tuned in and tuned out because we’re on YouTube Live all day long. You can come and go as you please, whatever your schedule allows.
Another option is to tune into the topics or regions you find interesting. We’ll be posting the schedule in advance so you can pick and choose what you’re interested in initially. We record all 11 hours and segment it out so you can find the point on the video and fast-forward to catch whichever speaker.
This lets you dissect it after the fact. It’s not listen now or it’s gone forever, you always have the chance to go back and pick up things you may not have heard at the time.
Jessica:Your second year sounds extremely well organized and I understand that people can even watch last year’s SofaSummit, correct?
Shabnam: That’s right, if you go to our YouTube channel our our website you will find a link. Click on events to launch a microsite that we’ve created for International Tea Day. We will be sharing the link for the YouTube channel the week before the event and we’ll have that on our social media platforms as well.
It was a big leap of faith last year and a big testament to the tea industry that on a Monday morning I decided to do this and by Tuesday afternoon, everybody I sent invites to had said yes, I’m on board, count me in.
This year has been no different. Everybody wants to connect. We are part of this amazing industry we call tea.
Jessica:That speaks volumes to the contacts that you’ve built around the world. Canada isn’t a country strongly associated with tea culture or industry although we have passionate, devoted tea drinkers and tea professionals, why did the tea and herbal Association of Canada decide to be the one to organize this celebration of International Tea Day?
Shabnam: There are different events happening with different people in different parts of the world. There are many different associations doing different things. This just happened to be my brainchild and I just happened to be Canadian so that’s really what it boils down to.
Globally the celebration is a testament to tea. It’s ability to draw us all together is quite phenomenal. The people that you connect with are even more extraordinary. It is a business and they’re earning a livelihood but at the same time, there’s this deep deep love that connects everybody to tea.
Report of the FAO Intergovernmental Group on Tea | Current Market and Medium Term Outlook.
Tea and Sustainability
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are an urgent call for action by all countries – developed and developing – in a global partnership. They recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.
Winners of AVPA’s Teas of the World Competition (2019)
Tea competitions that “speak” for their respective markets are great for the industry. In the tea lands, skilled growers and tea makers can infinitely adjust their pluck, style, and grade for export but first, they must understand market preferences. Respected annual contests such as the Emei Dah Pan Competition in Taiwan and the Lu Gu Farmers competition, which dates to 1976, are a model for peer review but in France AVPA (Agence pour la Valorisation des Produits Agricoles) judges tea from around the world for excellence “based on gastronomic rather than standardized refereeing.”
The Paris-based, non-governmental, non-profit organization, annually determines the best in edible oils, specialty coffee, and more recently, the finest of chocolates processed at origin (new in 2021), is the first independent body in a consumer country judging tea solely to promote the good practices of production and trade.
Agence pour la Valorisation des Produits Agricoles (AVPA) 2020 Winners
Kevin Gascoyne, an acclaimed tea taster and one of the founders of Camellia Sinensis, a Montreal tea retailer, says “The hype surrounding Taiwan’s ‘Competition Teas’ is all too often focused on the price, but as a taster/buyer approaching these teas, it is the chain of events leading up to the result that really strikes me. Each grower in the association has selected his or her best batch of the year. Leaf by leaf it has been munitiously screened and sorted to perfection. Every batch in these competitions is imbued with the pride of the tea maker; a story of the minute subtleties of natural and artisanal variables in the terroir and technique. The magic meeting of chance and choice, that leads to each entry. Once entered the identity of each lot is carefully concealed removing the influence of reputation or prestige of a specific grower from the decision.”
See: Classic Tea Competitions, below
Competition teas command a high price precisely for the reasons Gascoyne states. AVPA is pragmatic, judging teas generally available to less discerning but critically important everyday consumers.
“In spite of the global enthusiasm for fine tea, the majority of tea consumers buy teabags from supermarkets,” observes AVPA. “For classic origins (China, India…) as well as new ones (Africa, South-East Asia…), the contest thus gives an equal opportunity to all producers by providing them with an additional marketing asset to enhance their work.”
Organizers encourage market growth through product innovation and praise for teas produced in non-traditional growing regions. AVPA writes that “as purchasing power increases in producing countries tea is seen more and more as a consumer product.”
This year’s juries evaluated 210 teas, including herbals representing 21 countries. There were 22 gold medals, 27 silver, 28 bronze, and 56 gourmet diplomas. Here is a link to the pandemic-altered YouTube awards ceremony Nov. 16. Previous ceremonies were held at the Equip’Hôtel in Paris.
Lydia Gautier, an international tea expert, author, and AVPA tea editor and president of the jury that evaluated this year’s Monovarietal Teas (limited to Camellia Sinensis) writes that “tea is a living product with its terroirs, its vintages, it is also a product with a very strong cultural dimension since, in many countries, its consumption is ritualized, always synonymous with hospitality, conviviality, and sharing.”
Winners of this year’s competition are mainly from traditional tea lands including China and Taiwan (Taiwan oolongs are generally favored in France). Nepal Tea received a gold, two bronze prizes, and “gourmet” recognition for its White Prakash; Lochan Tea in Siliguri, India, won silver for its Bihar Black Fusion. Closer to home, Marco Bertona in Piedmont, Italy took home a gold for his Verbano White Tea and two teas from France were recognized, Maison Emile Aute in Brittany earned a bronze for Thé Breton, and Les Jardins de Gaia in Alsace won “gourmet” recognition for its Les Premiums tea.
Lochan writes that while the French pallet is slightly different from the British, just as American taste preferences are different from Russia, the “award judgment criterion is the same everywhere – taste and flavor of the tea.” He mentioned that Carin Baudry, a trained flavor specialist at La Quint Essence, who is oriented towards the creation of aromas “has changed testing parameters in Nepal and Darjeeling.” Baudry chaired the AVPA jury of tea specialists who evaluated herbal infusions, blends, and flavored teas.
Speaking as a grower, Lochan said that, “cultivating a new tea is a lifelong achievement. The 2020 AVPA Silver Award is the highest recognition of my personal efforts and achievements.”
“In the past ten years, we have worked silently on this land, repaying the surrounding farmers with income, helping them to get rid of poverty, with a tea that is now available on the international market,” he said.
AVPA explains that any competition that rewards the quality of producers’ work helps “sustain a future that depends on many issues. It becomes critical to show trade professionals and the general public alike that tea holds a genuine gastronomic value,” writes AVPA. As in previous years, AVPA offered “exceptional” producers financial support who would not otherwise have the means to benefit from its services.
AVPA Gourmet Or
Classic Tea Competitions
During the initial phases of the judging process Lugu Farmers’ Association Dong Ding Oolong Tea Competition categorizes tea into four levels of quality: A, B, C, and D. Entries that fall into the D category are then disqualified (up to 45% of the total). The 20% earning a “C” are awarded two plum blossoms, a designation that increases their retail price well above comparable teas. Winners in the “B” Category (about 15% of the total entries) earn three plum blossoms and are sold for significantly more than their two blossom competitors.
The remaining “A” category entrants (about 20%) qualify for further judging and ranking by the senior team of judges. From this category, approximately 5% will be removed by the senior judges. These teas receive a three plum blossom ranking. The final 15% or so of total entries are ranked 3rd Class (8%), Second Class (5%), and First Class (?? ? 2%). The remaining top ten of the First Class entries along with the Champion Prize-Winning Tea are then ranked.
Tea workers in Kenya at the Tumoi Tea Estate
Kenya: A New Model for Tea
By Aravinda Anantharaman
It’s an unusual name – ChakanCha, a combination of Cha (tea) and Chakan (good), one a Chinese word and the other, Korean. The partnership itself connects Kenya, Korea, and the United States in an unusual cross-geography collaboration.
The story begins in Kenya when tea farmer and Chairman of the Kenyan Speciality Tea Association, Boaz Katah, decided that Kenya needs to shift from being a solely CTC (cut, tear, curl) producing country and diversify into speciality tea. This shift began about five years ago, provoked by the dropping prices for CTC tea. When the Kenyan Tea Board offered licenses for speciality tea production, Katah opted for it. He set up the Tumoi Tea Estate in the Nandi Hills in 2013 with a focus on research and innovation in plant breeding and tea manufacturing. Artisanal tea making in Kenya was taking root.
Meanwhile, in Korea, Daehyuk Park had set up the Global Problem Solving Program (GPSP) at the Handong Global University to nurture entrepreneurs who could solve global problems in a sustainable and scalable way. His research led him to the Kenyan tea industry where he found that 3 million tea pickers live in poverty. He felt compelled to help. Labor is the highest cost of production with rising energy costs and the price of fertilizer increasing as well. Yet farmgate prices are a small fraction of the retail price for black teas. During the past 12 weeks, the price at auction has stubbornly remained under $2 per kilo in a competitive market saturated with lower-grade CTC. One reason for this is the long and convoluted, multi-player supply chain over which it takes as long as six months for tea to make its way to the customer.
Living wages, a new global value chain for tea, and a life of dignity for tea pickers became the points of focus. ChakanCha was established to connect the farmers directly with customers, as part of an emerging global value chain for tea. Transparency, sustainable practices, and fair prices at farmgate can be achieved by harnessing the advantages that technology offers, particularly for transaction and logistics.
ChakanCha is the first GPSP project where students worked to arrive at a solution for poverty among Kenyan tea pickers. Forty-two students came forward as volunteers to assist ChakanCha.
Last Spring, Daehyuk met Prof. TW Suh, founder of the Entrepreneurial Innovator’s Group (EIG) at Texas State University. The two programs are similar, each working toward a self-sustaining social enterprise. They decided to collaborate.
In Kenya, the Tumoi Tea Estate was promoting single-origin artisan teas, grown without herbicides or pesticides. They were also focussing on the important issues of sustainability, including higher than average wages and sanitation projects on the ground. They were among the handful of licensed growers who had persisted in making artisan teas. Tumoi was fertile ground sharing a vision and purpose ChakanCha.
For Tumoi, ChakanCha became a customer but more significantly, it offered a platform that would connect the garden with consumers globally. ChakanCha brought visibility to Tumoi and, importantly, set high standards to follow. Says Daehyuk, “For ChakanCha to become a viable business, tea lovers of the world should use it to source their teas.”
There is a global market that will find these teas very attractive. Says Indian exporter, Pranav Bhansali, “Kenya has been doing so well in CTC production in the last decade; their obvious progression would be into orthodox production.” Kenyan growers could be serious competition in markets dominated by India and Sri Lanka because the crop and soil are very young. “If Kenya decides to diversify into quality production of Orthodox or speciality tea, it will be a bold decision,” he says, “and will show other tea producing countries that quality is indeed more prized over quantity, going into the future.”
Alan Hughes of Noble & Savage, tea merchants in New Zealand, says, “I personally LOVE Kenyan teas. Being the third largest producer of tea in the world, Kenyan specialty teas are greatly needed to not only add value back to the areas they have come from but to let the world experience the beautiful tastes that only specialty Kenyan teas can provide. I hope to see Kenyan teas standing strong in the marketplace fetching a high price for the growers.”
Tumoi created Chakan Black for ChakanCha raise funds. Katah describes the taste as light with hints of coconut and no astringency. To launch ChakanCha organizers turned to Kickstarter, setting a goal of $20,000. The project was funded on November 30, with $20,846 from 152 donors who received Holiday Gift Boxes. The team will use these funds to market and distribute Chakan Black to customers worldwide. Says Park, utilizing the new smart global value chain, “we will be able to pay living wages but also raise a village development fund for tea farmers. 5% of sales will be earmarked for this.”
The team is excited to have reached their goal, and what it enables. Adds Katah “The success of the project is critical to our industry. ChakanCha is walking with Tumoi today. When the project picks up, it will walk with other cottage industries.”
Nicole Burris puts on a good show. During the past few years, she has applied her expertise in live events to successfully launch the Kansas City and Chicago Tea Festivals – both unforeseeably canceled this year due to the pandemic.
In their place, Burris and Babette Donaldson teamed up to combine the two local shows into the more expansive 2020 International Virtual Tea Festival. The festival goes live at 9 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 7, and continues through Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m., Nov. 8. Registration is free with 1,500 signed up through October. The deadline to register is 6 p.m. Nov. 6. All times are CST. Since the event attracts a global following times for registered attendees will be listed according to the settings of their personal computer or phone.
The two-day event features free and paid workshops and classes with real-time tastings “simulcast” into the homes of participants. The Tea Lover Pass ($25) sold out quickly along with the Deluxe Tea Lover Pass ($37) but there are many more activities including roundtable discussions, panels with tea professionals, virtual book signings with tea authors, a candlelight tea meditation with Suzette Hammond and the Tea Bloggers Roundtable to keep the crowd entertained.
On Saturday and Sunday there are live raffles and tea themed tea parties.
Attendees register here, creating an account that gives them access to events and a virtual vendor show floor. Access links are emailed to attendees who can then sign up for paid classes and workshops. Payment is by credit card. Donaldson advises that “you MUST have at least a free General Admission pass in order to take any classes or watch any pre-recorded free classes. There will be no refunds possible if you purchase a class without having a GA pass to the event itself.”
One of the more appealing features of this event is the visibility of attendee profiles
Use this option to schedule MeetUps with speakers, bloggers, vendors, or random enthusiasts. Meet old friends and make new friends in tea. Meetings can be scheduled in advance of the event. Attendees can also schedule visits to vendor booths during the hours they are open for business.
Paid livestream classes are recorded and available to watch on-demand until Jan 31, 2021. The All Classes Recorded package includes all the recordings of the free Main Stage | Free pre-recorded sessions | Paid pre-recorded presentations “and as many of the paid livestream classes as we can secure permission to include,” says Donaldson.
“Tea business owners, staff, and individuals seeking to master the many facets of tea can take part for months to come, organizing content to serve their needs.”
Babette Donaldson
Donaldson is responsible for programming. Burris is overseeing administrative tasks and working with the more than 40 vendors that purchased virtual booths.
“The event features 30 livestream classes, some pre-recorded, some live,” says Donaldson who manages the International Tea Sippers Society and owns T Ching, a tea education blog.
“A dozen of the livestream classes are tasting events where guests received kits in advance to prepare their tea along with the group,” she said. Registered attendees number 1,500 so far and include guests from Japan, Great Britain, Canada, Mexico, China, India and more,” she said.
Link to the festival bookstore. Meet authors James Norwood Pratt, Jane Pettigrew, Kevin Gascoyne, Judith Leavitt and Dr. Virginia Utermohlen-Lovelace for a chat.
A Friday night pre-show social begins at 6:15 p.m.
A limited number of $25 Tea Lover Passes are sold out, but class slots remain.
SCHEDULE OF MAIN STAGE AND LIVESTREAM EVENTS
MAIN STAGE FRIDAY – Nov 6 Friday Night Pre-Show Tea Social 7 PM – 8 PM SATURDAY – Nov 7 Opening Remarks & Announcement of ITCC Tasting Contest Winners 9 AM – 9:30 AM Field to Cup (Shalini Agarwal) 9:30 AM Japanese Ceramics (Gabriela Sorgenrey) 10: 30 AM Tea in the Era of Climate Change (James Orrock) 11 AM The First US Tea Festivals (James Norwood Pratt) Noon Golden Ticket Drawing Winner 12:30 PM Tour Malwatte Valley Tea Estate 12:45 PM Introduction to Japanese Tea (Spanish – Ricardo Caciedo) 1 PM Growing for the Better – Organic Tea Projects (Daniel Mack) 2 PM Good Tea Needs Good Water: Understanding Water Quality (Rie Tulali) 3 PM Korean Tea (Sharyn Johnston) 4 PM Tea Blogger Roundtable: Blogging Through A Brave New World 5 PM – 7 PM
LIVESTREAM Why We’re Craving Tea in the Time of Corona (Maria Uspenski) Understanding Japanese Tea Types (Ian Chun) 10 AM – 11 AM Blending In to Stand Out: An Exploration of Unique Tea Blends (Leo Nima) A Day in the Life of a Tea Garden (Nishchal Banskota) 11 AM – 12 PM Afternoon Tea: How Did This Eccentric Ritual Evolve (Jane Pettigrew) A Deeper Look into China’s Teas (Tim Smith and Lydia Kung) NOON How We Experience the Flavor of Tea (Virginia Utermohlen) New Zealand Tea (Agnieszka Rapacz) 1 PM – 2 PM Pu-er Tea: Immersion & Tasting (Dan Robertson) 15 Teas Every Tea Lover Should Taste (Lorna Reeves) 2 PM – 3 PM Cooking with Tea: How to Infuse Your Recipes (Marlys & Alan Arnold) Opening Remarks & Announcement of ITCC Tasting Contest Winners 3 PM – 4 PM Discover Your Own Tea Blend (Brenda Hedrick) A Word On Japanese Black Teas (Gabriela Sorgenfrey) 4 PM – 5 PM Tea Cocktails (Agnieszka Rapacz) Terroir and Cultivars of Japanese Green Tea (Akiko Ono) 5 PM – 6 PM Candlelight Tea Meditation (Suzette Hammond) How to Enjoy Tamaryokucha (Tomoe Watanabe) 6 PM – 7 PM
SUNDAY – Nov 8 MAIN STAGE Health Benefits of Japanese Teas (Tomoe Watanabe) 9 AM – 10 AM History of Matcha & Japanese Tea Ceremony (Asami Iba) 10 AM Live Raffle (Must be present to win) 10: 30 AM Drinking Tea at the Activist Teahouse (Panel Discussion) 11 AM New European Tea Growers (Jane Pettigrew) Noon Matcha: Fact or Fiction (Noli Ergas) 1 PM Early Days of Specialty Tea (Roy Fong) 2 PM Musicali Tea (Dr. Sally Wei) 2:30 PM Virtual WuWo Ceremony 3:30 PM Closing Ceremony 4 PM
LIVESTREAM The Perfect Tea Tasting Event (Jane Pettigrew) Darjeeling Tea in Harmony With Seasons (Shalini Agarwal) 9 AM – 10 AM What is Caffeine & What is it Doing in your Tea? (Virginia Utermohlen) The Health Benefits of Tea & Tea Rituals (Emilie Jackson) 10 AM – 11 AM How Mississippi Sunshine – Yellow Tea is Made (Stacie Robertson) Women in Tea (Nishchal Banskota) 11 AM – 12 PM The Real Skinny on Tea and Weight Loss (Jane Pettigrew) A Deeper Look into China’s Teas (Tim Smith and Lydia Kung) NOON Hosting a Tea-Themed Party (Erika Shandoff) A Study of Ceylon Black Tea (Lalilth Paranavitana) 1 PM – 2 PM Essentials of Tea Tasting (Suzette Hammond) Foundations of Professional Tea Cupping (Dan Robertson) 2 PM – 3 PM Tea & Scones with Friends (Brenda Hedrick) Examining Elevation-Oxidation-Roasting Taiwan Teas (David Campbell) 3 PM – 4 PM Phoenix Dan Cong Oolong | Hundreds of Aromas (Rainy Huang) The Rise of Single Estate Japanese Tea (Oscar Brekell) 4 PM – 5 PM All About Earl Grey (Molly Nesham) Introduction to Puer Teas (Jeffrey McIntosh) 5 PM – 6 PM
Donaldson and Burris organized the Chicago Tea Festival in November 2019 and worked together on the Kansas City Tea Festival. The parent company is Taste All the Teas at www.teafestivals.org | Email: [email protected]
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