I am getting right down to business here today.
Next week we will return to walking with me,
but this past week there was no walking.
Maybe there was a bit of running as many tea lovers
in Portland, Oregon prepared and pulled off the first
annual tea festival here.
My job was to take care of the English/British venue
and find 6 workshop presenters.
Arriving early Saturday to set things up for
the workshops, I took a few moments to stop by and see
vendor tables.
Into the tent I went and found Babette Donaldson of the Tea Sippers Society.
She was giving away her Emma Lea books
and many parents were delighted.
Babette also was one of my presenters.
She had a workshop on making your own tea blends.
It was a fun time of getting hands on experience.
I know my "live-in gardener" loved the blend he created.
Susan Patterson and her husband, James, were there too.
Susan, aka Earlene Grey, has published 5 books of poetry.
At least 2 of her books involve tea.
She is coming out with a new book next week called Passions.
Toward the end of the day Susan did a poetry reading
in the English/British venue.
It was fun to sip a bit of Earl Grey tea as we listened to Susan read.
Here is the vendor tent before the doors were opened.
Several years ago I did a review of Plum Deluxe Tea
right here on this blog; so it was fun to see them represented
in the vendor booth.
They have some great blended teas.
Then Jennifer Petersen was ready and waiting for
the event to begin. Jennifer has several books too.
Jennifer presented in the English/British venue
on the Cultural and Financial History of Tea.
I stopped by to chat with this tea vendor that
had come up from California to be part of the festivities.
His company is Finest English Tea.
There was a lovely array of vendors selling tea, sipping tea,
tea ware, and books. Oh did I mention kombucha, Yes!
There was a lot of kombucha too.
My first presenter of the day came in costume.
Nora Azevedo is a local history buff and costumer,
a member of the Oregon Regency Society.
She shared Regency Apparel for tea time
and tea rituals of that era.
I don't have a picture to share, but the second
presenter was Cindy Sutliff who has a tearoom
called Tea Time in St. Helens, Oregon.
She shared the difference between high tea and afternoon tea.
In the afternoon a dear friend, Brenda Burg, a baker
and owner of Newberg Bakery gave a demonstration of
making scones. Yummm! Her scones are delicious.
It was a warm day, but those in attendance seemed to be enjoying
sipping tea. I took some time to walk around and see what was
happening. For the first year we had no idea how many to expect,
but thought maybe around a 1000 would come.
It was packed all day long. The estimates are at about 2000 attendees.
Whew! All the volunteers had to hustle and even run to buy paper cups,
as we ran out of cups. And a tea festival really needs cups.
This is inside the vendor booth during the day. It was packed.
Susan Patterson reading poetry was a nice way to end the day.
As you can see there was alot of sipping and sharing of tea.
That is Kevin of Fly Awake Tea shop here in Portland,
he was making the tea.
Not the best of pictures, but this was our WuWo booth
where we were promoting our monthly gatherings for tea.
We also had tables for gently used tea related items to
sell to raise money for next years event.
More tea sipping. It definitely was for the most part a young crowd
and had the vibe of a party.
Richard Brandt and his friends had some gorgeous
hand made teaware for sale.
And as the day came to an end there was still plenty of
sipping and sharing going on.
Remember the puerh teas from Teabook I shared last week,
that was their booth and Jeffrey in the white shirt being very
enthusiastic about tea.
Thanks to Harney and Sons for donating tea to be shared and
served in my workshops!
Thanks to Tea Time Magazine for donating magazines to hand out
to the attendees!
I think the attendees went home with a bag full of goodies
and a tummy full of tea.
This is a longer than normal post, but hope you enjoyed a glimpse
of the TeaFestPDX, first annual tea festival.
Maybe next year you might like to come and sip with us here
in Portland, Oregon.
