World Tea East - The people

I think what I looked forward to most about attending World Tea East was the chance to meet people.  I had a huge list of people who: a) I had "met" through the blog over the past four years, b) I "talk" with on Twitter and Facebook, and/or c) I had admired for years and hoped to catch a glimpse of or saddle up my courage and speak with. I wasn't disappointed.

I've already posted pictures on the Tea Pages and Tea Reader Facebook pages of some of the essayists from "A Tea Reader" that I got to meet up with. It was fantastic to let them see the book "in person" and to deliver a few copies. I must confess to feeling like I was doing a piece of absurdist theater when I was standing at a table "autographing" copies of my book for Jane Pettigrew and James Norwood Pratt. Seriously. What kind of bizarro world am I currently operating in?

(As with yesterday's post, there are more photos on the Tea Pages Facebook Page. Check out the World Tea East - People album.)

My first priority was to meet Dan Bolton. He's the new(-ish) Editor at World Tea News. I'd been doing some writing for him since last spring but hadn't yet had the chance to meet him in person. As I mentioned yesterday he was giving a talk on retail trends and then I spent some time hanging out at his booth and doing some reporting from the Expo floor and the evening networking reception. I also had the chance to meet Alan Richman who is one of the Contributing Editors at WTN. Again, someone whose work I'd been reading, but I hadn't yet met.

As I've mentioned before, I traveled to London last January to do research for the book and attended Jane Pettigrew's Tea Masterclass at the Chesterfield Hotel. I was so happy to see her again and it was nice to be remembered! She's such a joy and a wealth of information always.

I hadn't expected James Norwood Pratt to be at the Expo. He had also contributed an essay to the book and we'd talked via email numerous times but I hadn't yet had the chance to meet him in person. It was nice to have a chat and to see him in action as he did a tea tasting at the ITI Booth.

Speaking of ITI, it was wonderful to meet Devan Shah -- such a pro. He's friendly and so knowledgeable. I will certainly be paying closer attention to his company in the future.

I was surprised when walking the Expo floor to see John Harney just sitting on a stool at the Harney & Sons booth. He was cracking jokes with people, asking them to be sure to come to the reception so he'd have someone to clap for him. He teased me about the extraordinary length of my last name and we talked a bit about kids and the business. He introduced me to his son Paul. I spotted his son Michael a few times who I'd met at NY Coffee & Tea Festival but we only had time for a quick "hi" at the evening reception.

I knew Teas Etc. would be a major stop in my travels. I had met Beth Johnston and Newman Johnston at the first iteration of World Tea East when it was co-located with the Natural Foods expo. More recently I'd been trading tweets with them and knew that they planned lots of activity at their booth. I had the chance to talk with Beth and Newman and to meet their son Chris, while also cupping some great Dong Ding.

Since today's post has essentially become a bunch of name dropping, here's the rest of my list, in no particular order:

* Bill Waddington from TeaSource - I interviewed him recently for an article for World Tea News and I have long listened to him on APM's "Splendid Table." I was thrilled to speak to him in person finally!
* Blogger/Twitter friends - Nicole aka AmazonV, Jo from A Gift of Tea, Alex Zorach of RateTea.net, Marlon and Dylan from Chan Teas, Courtney from LittleMewBrew/The Purrfect Cup, Alexis from Teaspoon & Petals, and Nicole from Tea for Me, Please. It was great to have dinner with AmazonV and LittleMewBrew on Friday night and to meet up with some of the other folks at TBar on Saturday.
* Charles Cain from Adagio Teas

* Pearl Dexter - Editor and Publisher of "TEA:A Magazine" - I've met Pearl at a few tea events and wrote one piece for her magazine
* Kim and George Jage - Owners of World Tea Media
* Kirsten Kristensen - She is the owner of Tea4U and did an essay for the book. She is preparing to open a new tea house in NJ, White House.
* It was wonderful to reconnect with "Culinary Tea" author Cynthia Gold and Danielle Beaudette of NH's Cozy Tea Cart. It was a special surprise to get to share dinner with them Saturday along with Cynthia's husband Julian Landa (a very talented painter with some tea artwork that you would all be fortunate to see.)

My next post will explore more about the products I saw and some new acquaintances made. This one will certainly get you excited about your holiday shopping. There are some really amazing new products and teas that you won't want to miss.

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Again, don't miss the rest of the photos on the Tea Pages Facebook page and if you missed yesterday's post about the World Tea East workshops, head over here.

World Tea East - The workshops

I think I've finally gotten back in the swing of things after my World Tea East adventures. It was wonderful, magical, and amazing; although, I must confess, it was hard to be away from the little ones for so long. The baby isn't quite one so this is certainly the longest I've been away from her. Everyone did fine at home, though, and it was well worth the effort. Just seeing my book out there in the real world made every challenge of getting to the Expo worth it.

I flew to Philly on Thursday, Sept. 8th. It was a quick flight and everything went so smoothly that I figured I was due for a major problem on the way home. (I seem to have become something of a pessimist.) I arrived at the Philadelphia Downtown Marriott around 8:00, sent a few emails, bemoaned the lack of Food Network on the hotel TV package, and then tried to get some sleep before my very full Friday began.

I had a few priorities for the show. 1) I was doing some reporting for World Tea News on Friday -- general observations and remarks for a round-up and some writing about the evening networking reception. 2) World Tea News was kind enough to allow me to have my book on display and I took the chance to talk to some people about the book and to hand deliver copies to a few of the essayists. 3) I wanted to make sure I experienced as much of the show as possible -- meeting vendors, seeing products, and finally getting to meet bloggers and Twitter friends who I had not yet met.

Because I was writing for WTN I made it a priority to get to as many of the workshops as possible. For each session there were three to four concurrent workshops/lectures/tastings so I logged some mileage up and down the hallway. 

(For more images of the workshops, please visit the Tea Pages Facebook page!)

I started with Dan Bolton's "Top Tea Retail Trends" presentation. Dan is the editor of World Tea news. There were a couple of dozen people attending and Dan highlighted some of the most recent movements in the tea industry. I was particularly struck by the dramatic increase in US tea imports (a record 18% increase in 2010.) In terms of market share in the beverage industry, tea is currently 7th, behind juice but ahead of sports beverages. He also noted the significant expansion of tea in the grocery stores, both in terms of shelf space and the number of SKUs. 84% of American households have tea in them and about 10% is loose leaf.

I spent a few minutes visiting Lisa Boalt Richardson's "Tea 101" class and then Susan Peterson's workshop on edible flowers. (Susan is from Teaberry's Tea Room in NJ.) Lisa (of "Lisa Knows Tea" fame) is a great presenter so I wished I had more time to spend. (I was very happy to discover that she was actually co-teaching the Specialty Tea Institute Level 1 and 2 trainings that I was taking later in the weekend.)

I then headed over to Beth Johnston's Black Tea Tasting. Beth is the owner of Teas Etc. and she was presenting with the help of her son Chris. I was seriously conflicted when I saw that Dan Bolton and Beth were presenting opposite one another. I think if Dan had been giving his lecture at another time I likely would have ponied up the cash to register for Beth's focused tasting as a participant. I must confess to being a little star struck when I spotted Jane Pettigrew at the front table. Having Beth and Jane in one room was a bit too much for me -- women I have admired so much for their contribution to the tea industry. I also noticed my friend and colleague Danielle Beaudette of NH's Cozy Tea Cart was one of the volunteers for the class. I later realized that also at Jane's table was blogger AmazonV (Nicole Schwartz.) When I popped into the room they were cupping a Hawaiian black tea. Apparently Beth also shook up the room by sneaking a Lipton tea bag into the cupping session.


The next round of workshops had Anupa Mueller speaking about "How to Conduct a Successful Tea Tasting" while Margaret Heery and Michele Schmal presented on "Food Service Market Trends: What's Driving the Sales of Iced Tea." I spent a little time in Mueller's presentation and appreciated her concrete recommendations and her rich experience in this area. It was one of the better attended workshops with approximately 40 participants. I thought her tips on guiding conversations were useful: providing background to customers on origin, history, seasonality, etc. while walking them through how to look at a dry leaf, to inspect the color of the infusion, to experience the aroma, and to taste. I will certainly use some of her ideas of how to create a selection of teas for a tasting, whether a sampler of the five main tea types plus an herbal, by category (all black, all green, etc.), a range of organic or Fair Trade, or even by theme (teas with connections between their names, such as "royal" words.)

The last set of workshops was the hardest for me to choose between. Two of my friends/colleagues were presenting at the same time: Cynthia Gold, the tea sommelier at Boston Park Plaza Hotel & Towers and author of "Culinary Tea" presented "Think Tea in Every Menu Course" while Chris Cason of Tavalon offered his always popular workshop "Tea & Cocktails Flavor Fusion." In other sessions Dianna Harbin talked about how to start a tea meetup and Mim Enck did a tasting session of blended and flavored teas. I spent a few minutes in Cynthia's, Chris's, and Dianna's presentations. Chris had given me the tip to show up later in the session when he was starting to pour. I made sure to get their in time for his Crimson Toddy, a hot hibiscus tea combined with some orange peel, cinnamon, clove, and bourbon. When I left he was working on infusing gin to make some Earl Grey MarTEAnis. I was certainly jealous of the attendees of Cynthia's class when I saw the amazing array of food they were able to try - tea rubbed pork, Darjeeling vinaigrette, tea cocktails, and tea-infused chocolates among other treats.

Saturday was another day of great workshops, but I spent the day at the Specialty Tea Institute trainings. I would have again felt torn between Charles Cain's Tea 201 class on profitability and Thomas Shu's tasting session with Taiwanese oolongs. I did grab a few minutes to visit Pearl Dexter's "History of Tea in America" during my lunch break.

My experience made me very excited to attend World Tea Expo in Las Vegas in June when there are more workshops, but I will be incredibly torn choosing between sessions. It was such an unusual opportunity to get to workshop hop and I was glad I took full advantage.

Next time: The Expo floor

To see more photos from the workshops, visit the Tea Pages Facebook page!

The Tea Eagle Has Landed

I've touched down in Philadelphia for the World Tea East exhibit and show. My travels were unbelievably smooth. I boarded the plane and just two hours later I was checking into my hotel. When does that happen? Dare I hope to be so lucky when it's time to head home?

I'm feeling a mix of excitement and nervousness. There are a few tea friends who I know well that will be here, but many more I only know from online interactions. I look forward to finally meeting people. I also have a few copies of my book on hand (HOORAY!) and I'm looking to get it signed by any of the essayists I come upon. I know that Jane Pettigrew, Cynthia Gold, Kirsten Kristensen, and Danielle Beaudette will be here. Dan Bolton, Editor of World Tea News, has also agreed to have the book on display at his booth.

This is a great opportunity for certain and I want to take full advantage. Friday I'll be doing some reporting for World Tea News and will be taking lots of notes for all of you on the exhibit and maybe a few of the seminars and guided tastings. In the afternoon I'm going to drop by the Mid-Atlantic Tea Business Association reception to meet some tea friends and in the early evening I'll be at the reception and celebration of John Harney. Saturday and Sunday I'll be studying for my Level 1 and 2 Specialty Tea Institute certification.

The only downside for me is that I already miss my little ones at home. They are excited for me, but my middle one was pretty sad as I headed out the door. This is her first week of preschool so it is a hard time for me to be away, but I know it's an opportunity I had to take advantage of. My husband was insistent that I come and he's going above and beyond to make sure the kids are well taken care of while still balancing his work responsibilities. So I will plan on fully embracing every minute I'm here so I make all of our sacrifices worth it.

More as the weekend goes on. You can also follow me on Twitter @teapages and I'll try to keep messages coming out throughout the show!