NW Tea Festival 2019

Another NW Tea Festival has come and gone.

2019 is a wrap!

In my washed out picture you can see it was crowded in the aisles.

This is their 11th year and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

This year I was determined to get ahead of the crowd,

sit and sip with some of the vendors, and definitely taste all the tea I desired.

Emeric Harney above is always great to greet and say a quick hello,

but I was on a mission so I moved along.

Jeni Dodd was on my list.

Her presentation on tea in Nepal was very educational

on the people and terrior of that country.

How I would love traveling to the Himalayas for tea.

Shiuwen from Floating Leaves was my first sit down and sip.

I always love her teas and buy my oolongs and my Yunnan Gold black from her.

There was beautiful handmade teaware by Richard Brandt and other artists.

One of my favorite places to browse.

Now I don't buy from this company, but their steam punk costumes

and decorations always pull me in to look.

Don't you just love her smile and her hat?

The reason I don't buy is that they sell blended teas and I am pure tea person.

I just loved this little teapot, but how many teapots does a girl need?

Another sit down was Crimson Lotus.

Each year I have passed by this vendor because it was always crowded.

This year when I saw an empty seat, I grabbed it for awhile.

Puer was their tea of the day.

Mitra, at Young Mountain Tea, was pouring a cup of tea just for me.

A friend always knows what you would like and Mitra did.

All the teaware and shades of tea delighted my heart.

Chariteas has a sweet teapot and some lovely teas.

She is specializing in small farms and currently starting a farm of her

own in the Philippines.

More teaware and tea.

I enjoyed sitting and sipping at four different booths,

but also enjoyed standing and sipping at many more.

The tea I was most intrigued with was white tea, which in the 

past I would have said just tasted like water.

But several vendors were selling white tea this year that

seemed to have matured into some lovely honey flavors.

I came home with a white tea from Jeni Dodd, sold through Miro Tea,

and it is quite delicious.

If you would like to learn more about tea I would definitely recommend

visiting a tea festival in your part of the country.

Each year more and more tea festivals are popping up.

Next year I know of at least 5 or 6 festivals just on the west coast.

Let me know and I may be able to recommend one for you.

You get a small cup when you enter and then the fun begins.

Many sips later you have learned something about tea

and have a better idea what you might like.

They are all a celebration of tea.