Teafarm: Canadian Tea Garden, Sochi Russian Tea Plants

Before leaving Vancouver Island there had to be a visit to Canada's only tea garden, Teafarm. This tea farm is one of the Northern most in the world and one of the first in Canada (wonder what ever happened to this one?). Located in Vancouver Island's Cowichan Valley it is at the center of the Cittaslow movement in Canada. Cowichan Valley is a location that combines the slow pace of island life and the Islanders value of food and tea culture- it feels like the perfect place for a tea shop and garden.

Tea Farm's owners, Margrit and Victor, decided in 2010 to devote their time entirely to tea. They primarily offer herbal teas and blends many of which contain ingredients from their farm. One first met them at the 2011 Victoria Tea Festival. It was there where the first spoke of their challenges to find a tea plant hardy enough to withstand the Winter conditions. After much research they decided on a variety of Camellia sinensis found around Sochi Russia. This variety famously known in Russia for the Krasnodar Tea which is produced from its leaves has proven to be the right balance of taste and hardiness. It turned out that deer (that are a daily sight even in Victoria) turned out to be more dangerous than the elements. This year they nearly wiped out the small, unprotected tea garden in one night.

Even though Teafarm is most famous for these Camellia sinensis tea plants, the garden is more of just a marketing gimmick or research project right now. All of the Camellia sinensis tea you see in the store for sale is actually imported. The amount of tea plants are so few that the plants would only produce about 300g of tea in total for the year. Even this, the tea plants have not even been used to make tea yet because they had not had their 3-5 years of initial growth. The whole topic is an interesting topic of conversation anyways.

People come for the laid back tea drinking atmosphere, Margrit's unique tea pottery, and Victors charm. It was a very enjoyable and scenic morning that day. Being engulfed with good friends surrounded in nature is what sharing tea is all about. This is most definitely a place for that.

Peace

MattCha On The Move to Saskatchewan!

Regular readers of this blog probably noticed it slowly grind to a halt over the past few months. This was not due to a disinterest in tea or blogging but rather due to wrapping up in coastal Victoria, British Columbia and a move to the dry prairies of Regina, Saskatchewan. Through it all one has still been drinking lots of tea, in fact one is sipping on a 2013 Kim Jong Yeol Saejak purchased from O5tea.

One has already found that drinking tea in the prairies already has its challenges. Firstly, the most obvious is that it is so dry here one is a bit concerned how the aged puerh and Korean teas will do. Secondly, the water here has altered the taste of most of ones teas. The tap water is so hard even with a off odour to it. It makes all tea carry a funny taste and does little for the mouthfeel and qi. All residence of Regina combat the hard water with booth water softening devices and by drinking large amounts of almost completely purified water- both which are not great for tea. There will be extensive articles about how I approach this water challenge in the coming months.

One first thought that there would be no one to share and learn about tea here in the middle of the prairies. In Victoria one had Jared and Mi Yu Ki from Jagasilk, the urasanke Japanese Tea Ceremony circle, my puerh drinking bud Antoine, and my new found Korean tea drinking guru Greg Demmons - so many people to share, learn, and experience tea with (Never mind Pedro of O5tea and Daniel of The Chinese Tea Shop in Vancouver 3 hours away). As Fate would have it, an old Chinese tea master opened up a modest storefront tea house just two blocks from my office. We have already shared many older cakes of puerh together in the teahouse which is so similar to many unpretentious Chinese tea shops that it truly feels like you have left to China when visiting. There will be many posts on him and his tea shop in the coming weeks and months.

Tomorrow one has planed to post on The Half-Dipper's China Chadao event.

Until then...

Peace

Victoria Tea Festival Review: Cloudwalker Tea & Disscussions on Arron Fisher, Tea Cults, and Cha Qi

The post on Greg Demmon's meditative Korean tea ceremony mentioned that there was one exhibitor that consumed most of my time at the Victoria Tea Festival this year. The exhibitor in question was Erick J.P. Smithe of Cloudwalker Teas. We had a slow start both not knowing how to take each other. It wasn't until the discussion came to Arron Fisher (aka Wu Dae), Taiwanese tea groups and a run in with a big fan of this blog did the ice break and we really hit it off. The conversation over the next few hours was interesting, the tea even more so.

It turns out that Erick had lived in Taiwan for 8 years primarily to study Mandarin. It just happen to be that he ran into a spiritual sect of tea drinkers near his residence which was headed by a famous but very eccentric tea spiritualist, Ho Tsai-Ping. This tea sect formally began in 2003. Erick and a few other westerners were a part of this groups early beginnings. One of these Westerners was no other than now tea author Wu De (Arron Fisher). In fact, the tea sect of Ho Tasai-Ping formed the foundation theory for which Arron Fisher has based his tea books and writings.

Together Erick Smithe and Aaron Fisher acted as editors of famous free online publication The Leaf. Org. Erick ended up publishing an article entitled "After Hearing A Monk of Shu Play the Lute". As it turns out, Aaron Fisher later decided to break from the sect to start his very own. It is too bad that Aaron Fisher has abandon The Leaf.Org publication as it was such a deep source of tea knowledge. One can only imagine that he must have put his energy in selling his own books and building up his global tea hut brand. Hopefully we have not seen the end of The Leaf.Org!

Erick has been in Vancouver Canada for the last year and a half or so. He currently has his hands in many different tea related business projects. We discussed these things as well as others over strangely named delicious old puerh teas. The teas that he was selling are all offered on the Cloudwalker Teas website. We talked for a while and ended up sampling the whole selection of his aged puerh. They were all good teas especially compared to the other teas the exhibitors were pushing. And as an hour or so passed we ended up jittery from the strong Qi from the 12, 15, 20, 30, and 40 year old puerh which one had sampled.

All of his puerh teas have strange names (Soul Fire, Ancient Rhythms, The Silent Spring, Astral Rivers, Light of Peace), not at all the factory names where these teas come but rather based on a system of judging the qi of each tea. The extraordinary book Eric translated, Cha-Dao- From Tea to Tao, explains all about this very unconventional naming system. Basically the tea is sampled by the tea sect and then it is given a name and graded according to its Qi. This is done, they say because even if two puerh cakes from the same factory are sampled storage conditions my have completely influenced the qi of the tea. The down side of this system of naming and grading puerh is that it affords all of the power in deciding which teas are graded high and which are graded low to the tea sect. It also prevents others from comparing that same factory, recipe, and harvest year to other cakes that are the same except storage. Either way it is an interesting proposal.

The book, which is available from Clouldwaker Tea, is actually quite remarkable and gives the English speaking world insight to what goes on in the growing tea cult movement in Taiwan and China. Of note is the content on water, teawear and tea preparation. The material is far out, interesting, and one could relate to most of its message. Guess it is controversial enough for the Chinese government to ban the founder, Ho Tasai-Ping from entering China.

Great tea, great conversation- thanks Eric.

Peace

Korean Tea Get-together In Canada

This is what it looks like when two serious drinkers of Korean tea get together and drink Korean tea for a few hours. It starts to look a lot like a Korean tea shop!

Peace

Victoria Tea Festival Review: Old Faces Jagasilk & Chado Tea House

It was nice catching up with old tea exhibitors at the Victoria Tea Festival this year. One did not get a chance to chat with Peter & Fumi of Chado Tea House. This was due to the long lines at their booth were they were selling selling strait shooting Japanese Teas for uninflated Japanese tea prices. One did however get a chance to chat with anther long time Japanese tea exhibitor at the Victoria Tea Festival, Jared & Miyuki of Jagasilk.

Local favorite Jagasilk was the only exhibitor to have exhibited at every Victoria Tea Festival. Although they are an old face, they have their hands in many new innovative matcha related projects. They have developed a Hemp and Matcha Protein Powder teaming up with Canadian Olympic gold medalist Adam Kreek who is now attempting a world record by rowing across the Atlantic Ocean, a feet never completed by man. No doubt he has lots of this Matcha Protein Powder to keep him going! Jagasilk also has been working with The Edge Food Energy at developing matcha power bars which were also sampled at the festival.

The biggest change at Jagasilk is that they dropped their Organic matcha line from Harimaen Estate (see Crane Flies Over the Clouds, Nirvana, and Butterfly). One can only speculate that this was a business decision because that line of matcha was quite good and very popular here in Victoria. With a small no fuss announcement last spring on the Jagasilk blog, they launched their new line of single cultivar matcha. They now receive their matcha from tea farmer Mr. Fujioka of Wazuka, located in the traditional Uji growing region of Japan. Jagasilk claims that they are the first wholesale distributor of Mr. Fujioka's matcha.

Jagasilk has cleverly named the three matcha they now carry in their typical Westcoast fashion- Eagle, Raven, and Owl - all local wildlife that has special spiritual significance to the first nation peoples here on the West coast. One sampled Eagle and Raven at the festival. They were all whisked up in a traditional bowl then poured into Jagasilk's signature mini mason jar teacups- drawing influence off another popular Westcoast trend. The matcha was interesting, no doubt good matcha that seemed maybe a bit more vegetel, grassy, and maybe more heavy, but didn't seem to be filled with as much of the interesting high notes that gave their old line from Harimaen its character.

Hope to spend some time to get to know these teas in the near future and give them another chance with more controlled perimeters here at home. Either way it was nice to catch up with old faces at the Victoria Tea Festival.

Also see this review of Greg Demmons' Meditative Korean tea ceremony at this years Victoria Tea Festival if you missed it.

Peace

Victoria Tea Festival Review: Greg Demmons' Mediative Korean Tea Ceremony

While, there always seems to be something at each annual Victoria Tea Festival that makes it unique. This year there were, at least, a few things which made the festival worth a visit. There was one exhibitor which was really impressive and where one had spent the majority of time at (more on that later). Met a few fans of MattCha's Blog which was also really nice and said "hi" to some of the festival veterans as well. The presenters David Caudwell and Greg Demmons were both extraordinarily good. With a special interest in Korean tea, Greg Demmons' performance of his Meditative Korean Tea Ceremony was the highlight.

Greg could be spotted in the busy crowd of the festival before his presentation walking through the crowds in full Confucian Joseon Dynasty governmental official hanbok. For his presentation he was doing a demonstration of the version of Korean tea ceremony which his master taught him from a modest mountain teashop on a mountain in a city just outside Seoul. He received the blessing of his master to preform the ceremony which he planned to do for the first time in North America at the Victoria Tea Festival.

Towering much taller than almost any other Korean man, Greg humbly set his tea setting in preparation for the ceremony. He mindfully brought the wooden slab with covered teaware out after placing the cusion down. Then he brought out the warm water kettle and waited to be anounced, to start his presentation.

He gave a simple synopsis of the Korean Tea Ceremony explaining that normally he would not ware the formal clothing and that the ceremony would include a longer duration of mediation than what will be demonstrated today. He said that the movements of the Korean tea ceremony (the purpose of the movements and the speed of the movements) are not only aesthetically pleasing but that they are also done for the purpose of getting the water to an appropriate temperature. He then went on to preform his meditative tea ceremony...

He moved very deliberately and with such mindful concentration. Those in the audience marveled at the beauty of this movements. They weren't overly exaggerated, drawn out, or artificial nor were they matter of fact, lazy, or without exact intent. Every movement was done to make a wonderful bowl of matcha (Kor: malcha). Deliberate, soft and graceful- one of the best Korean powdered tea ceremonies one has witnessed. Some of the hand movements, especially with the white hemp cloth was extraordinary.

After the performance Greg took some questions from the crowd. He answered all questions true to the Korean Way of Tea even squeezing in a quote from the Saint of Korean tea, Cho'Ui. He explained that in Korea there are no lineages of masters or families with strict rules. He also explained how each person slightly changes their ceremony. He also answered questions on the intent of the person preparing the tea- they are placing all their energy, their qi, into the bowl of tea. They then transmit their intent to those receiving the tea through the performance but mostly through the tea - this is the Korean Way of Tea.

Peace

2013 Victoria Tea Festival (There is going to be a Korean Tea Ceremony!)

One has written extensively about the Victoria Tea Festival over the last 4 years and have seen it change dramatically in that time (click this link then scroll down to see all the posts). This year there are some noticeable changes to the festival. First, this years festival will only be one day (held on Febuary 9th) instead of two. Second, maybe the most obvious, is the open invitation for coffee roasters and other non-tea related exhibitors. This was happening more and more over the years anyways and last year it was very apparent that this wasn't a tea exclusive event. The third is the absence of local tea shops sponsoring the event. A few years ago the sponsors were mainly all local tea shops, now there is only one, the juggernaut DavidsTea. The fourth difference is the absence of the most popular tea shop among local Victorians, Silk Road. In all the previous years Silk Road was a main sponsor, occupied much of the main tea floor, and was guaranteed a presentation slot. Silk Road's absence in the festival will definitely be felt, especially considering how brilliant their displays and decoration were.

So then, what is there in this year's Victoria Tea Festival to look forward too?

Here is four good reasons to go to this years Victoria Tea Festival...

Well there are still some great returning exhibitors. Jagasilk, Chado Tea House, and May Ip Tea Gallery have great, passionate exhibitors that are worth a good chat and a sample of their teas.  Secondly, one has meet some of my best tea buds at previous Victoria Tea Festivals If you are passionate about a certain kind of tea, chances are that you will find someone at the tea festival who is just as passionate as you.  Thirdly, there are two presentations that one is really looking forward to. There is a presentation on medicinal herbal tea blends by David Cauldwell. If you haven't heard David speak you should go, he is full of interesting knowledge on how herbs heal! There is (finally) a presentation on the Korean Tea Ceremony! The presentation will be given by Greg Demmons the description of his presentation is as follows:

"Originally from Newfoundland, Greg and his wife, Patricia, moved to South Korea to teach in 2003. Greg began individual study of the Korean tea ceremony with local Tea Master, Kim Kyungui, after a chance meeting at a mountain hermitage. One year later, she requested that he remain for 4 more years of individual instruction. In November 2007, he was granted permission to teach the dado (Korean Tea Ceremony), by his Master and the city."

His twitter feed describes the following:

"Studied under Kim Kyung-ui, aka, Cho INmok, in Ich'on, South Korea for several years. I specialize in the meditation ceremony."

Have never heard of Greg before but can't wait to meet the guy and experience his master's take on the Korean tea ceremony!

The fourth reason is that the event is a charity event, so why not go support the local charity?

See you there.

Peace

2012 Victoria Tea Festival

Every year more and more people attend Victoria's Annual Tea Festival. Every year the Victoria Tea Festival becomes more and more mainstream with an increasing amount of large tea companies taking up space on the floor. Also many non-tea exhibitors have managed to proliferate the conference floor. This is good and healthy because it indicates a more mainstream acceptance of tea, but has less to offer those who are truly serious about their tea.

Someone who has exhibited every year said that the Victoria Tea Festival has lost its small local feel and has become more corporate. However there are still some great returning small tea vendors that have stuck it out.

Here is a list of a few of these must see exhibitors that tea enthusiasts might want to check out this Saturday and Sunday at Crystal Gardens:

May Ip Gallery- Have a conversation with the charming grandma from Yunnan, it will make your day.

Chado Tea House- Peter and Fumi offer possibly some of the best Japanese tea at the Tea Festival served up in proper Japanese style. Compare their Japanese teas to the local favorites Silk Road and Jagasilk.

Jagasilk- Let Jared and Miyu serve you up some of the freshest matcha you will ever taste outside of Japan.

Silk Road- You won't be able to miss this local favorite, Michelle's booth is always beautifully decorated and the most interesting to explore.

Remember all proceeds go to charity so why not check it out anyways?

Peace

Victoria Tea Festival: Tula Teas

On a recommendation by Pedro of Dao Tea, one visited Libby of Tula Teas at this years Victoria Tea Festival. This exhibitor was actually here at the 2010 Victoria Tea Festival but one had overlooked them thinking that they sold herbal teas exclusively. As it turns out Libby, the owner of this few years old local company, has a passion for oolong. She even visited Taiwan this year to personally source some tea.

This year everyone was talking about her oolong. The fun-loving Libby was creating a lot of stir about an oolong she sells that is grown and produced in a very unconventional place, New Zealand.

Like most people, one was surprised at the quality and picked up a bag of each for fun.

Peace

2011 Victoria Tea Festival Overview

Making it through the quick moving line up and through the front doors, one was greeted by the tasteful bonsais of the Silk Road booth. Although the design was much more natural in feel, it was apparent from just the first glance that there were less exhibitors than last year (about 10-15 fewer?).

One navigated past the crowded exhibition hall without spotting any surprises upon first walk through. There were some great conversations had with the different exhibitors though. This year one spent most of the time chatting with the local Victoria dealers that one hadn't got to spend time with before, that was nice.

Expect some posts in the next month or two covering Victor of Tea Farm and his interesting tea growing operation and Libby of Tula Teas and her oolongs. One had a great conversation with the almost 90 year old Yunnan native and exhibitor about her 200 year old puerh tea brick at the May Ip Lam Gallery exhibit. Even met up with another puerh tea lover in Victoria, who would have thought?

Out of the presentations, the Japanese Tea Ceremony by local tea group the Urasenke Nagomi Tea Circle was well done and even included a sampling of specially ordered matcha that Silk Road brought in exclusively for the event which contained flecks of gold. It was served a touch too watered down, a little too flashy, but none the less was enjoyable.

All in all, when around such great tea loving people, you can't help but enjoy yourself.

Peace

2011 Victoria Tea Festival

Next weekend is Victoria's Annual Tea Festival held at Crystal Gardens. So far things look similar to last year. The usual quality local suspects will be there selling Japanese tea such as Jared and Miyu from Jagasilk and Peter and Fumi from Chado Tea House. There will also be the very influential tea shops Silk Road and Murchie's taking up large swaths of the main floor. This year a new player entered the scene here in Victoria, Teaopia, bringing with it a large chain style tea shop in the downtown core. They will be here this year sponsoring the presenter stage which is always good for at least a few interesting tea related presentations.

What perhaps will be most interesting about the 2011 tea festival is the last minute exhibitors that don't appear on the program. Last year some of these exhibitors were some of the better places to stop at such as Pedro at Dao Tea, and a few Chinese tea booths that one should have probably spent more time with. There are sure to be some surprises this year as well, like DoMatcha which shocked one with their gimmicky but high quality matcha.

The event is first and foremost a charity event, its primary goal it to raise money for a decent local cause. It must be taken for what it is, not a major tea festival in Asia, not even a tea exclusive festival, but never the less a fine tea festival. It is the tea that brings people together for a common good.

Isn't that what drinking tea is about anyways?

Peace

Tea In Vicoria: Jagasilk

When arriving in Victoria almost two years ago one was surprised to see matcha offered in pretty much every cafe and coffee shop in town. They had more places selling matcha than in any Korean city. This was a bit of a shocker.

It didn't take long until one found out why. Jagasilk. This small local company singlehandedly turned Victoria, one of the most traditional colonial tea drinking cities in the West, onto matcha... or should one say "maccha".

Miyuki and Jared Nyberg own and operate Jagasilk. They started out as a matcha and Japanese green tea supplier to local cafes and specialty markets in town and have expanded tremendously since. In the summer of 2009 they opened their own teabar downtown. It is a rather small, cozy, earthy place with a long natural wood tabletop designed by a local artist which acts as the ideal pulpit for which lovers of the leaf can testify their passion for tea of all stripes. There is even a ceramic studio of a famous local Japanese ceramist, Harumi Ota, upstairs. The tea bar is always neither too empty nor to busy- perfect for conversation amongst matcha gulping patrons.

Currently Jagasilk source all of their tea directly from the tea farms. Their matcha, for which they are a bit famous around here, comes from the Harimaen's, a seventh generation family of matcha producers and growers on their estate in Uji, Kyoto. The Harimaen's claim to be the oldest and highest quality certified organic matcha producers in Uji. Besides matcha, Jagasilk also sell other Japanese tea, herb tea, and have recently expanded to Taiwanese Oolong and white and black tea from Ceylon and Darjeeling.

With the organizing of a monthly meeting of matcha enthusiasts called "The Fellowship of the Maccha" (now defunct), weekly weekend tea comparison cuppings, reusable packaging discounts, and fresh stone ground maccha orders from Uji replenishing stock every month, no wonder Jagasilk has turned Victoria into a matcha city.

Expect reviews of their matcha in the coming months.

Peace

A Sam Do Style Tea Bowl by Japanese Ceramicist Tosiichi Suzuki

There was a large art festival just down the block last weekend. One was anticipating conversation with one of the artists there, Tosiichi Suzuki. He is a ceramics professor at Yokohama College of Art and Design and specializes in 'Sam Do' (Jap. mi si ma) style. He had a few pieces on display.

This tea bowl is a very clean example of 'Sam Do' style. Although beautiful, this bowl is a bit too 'clean' with very little wabi sabi to value. Japanese potters have always had these problem when trying to recreate classic Korean styles. It has much to do with the mentality of Japanese compared to the mentality of Koreans. It is definitely a social thing and not an ability/ skill thing as there are many mind-bending potters in Japan.

Tosiichi Suzuki discussed his firing technique- 900-950 Degrees gas fired for 10 hours, oxidization firing from 1230 and stopped at 1250. The very clean, almost sterile, feel of this bowl is mainly due to the fact that it is gas fired as opposed to wood fired. Wood firing breathes so much life into the pieces.

The shape, foot, and feel of this bowl seem too perfect as they kick up the sun's rays creating a white heavenly glow.

The flowered lip is the focal point of the bowl. The small stamped flowers fade in and out of the oxidized rim, no two are the same- each one is admired.

Heavenly bowl.

Peace

A Canadian Tea Garden

Almost a year ago a friend had mentioned that he had grown a few tea bushes on his land here on Vancouver Island. When asked about the growing conditions and care, he said that it grew fine with very little care.

Tea grown in Canada- sounds kinda crazy...

Actually its become a mission of once tea shop owner turned tea consultant, Brendan Waye. He initially scouted out land in the wine growing district of Cowichan Valley and is now looking to do some experimental planting just off Vancouver Island on nearby Salt Spring Island. Apparently, he hopes to plant a few different varieties of seeds and see what produces the best result.

It sounds preposterous, but considering Vancouver Island shares a similar climate as Washington, where an experimental tea garden currently exists, it doesn't seem that out of the question. Even Brett from Black Dragon Tea Bar in nearby Seattle has grown some backyard tea.

Local tea...

One quietly ponders the benefits of such things in meditation with tea.

Peace

Victoria Tea Festival: Dao Tea (Finally A Good Korean Tea Dealer In The West)

Firstly and most importantly: Dao Tea is a company out of Vancouver that sells good Korean tea for a very good price.
...

Okay... on with the intro...

One actually encountered Dao Tea on the second day of the 2010 Victoria Tea Festival. The extremely personable and passionate owner of Dao Tea, Pedro Villalon, was proudly brewing up some of his teas. Pedro specializes in Korean and Chinese tea that is personally sourced right from the farmer.

Pedro spent last year's growing season in Yunnan and Korea making relationships with the farmers. His first year in business, some of the Chinese farmers took advantage of this rookie entrepreneur and were up to some of their old tricks. With that said he still managed to get some not bad teas considering. The Korean farmers were much more transparent.

Pedro has done something that no dealer in the west has managed to do- get good Korean green and yellow (Balhyo) tea and sell it for prices that are comparable with prices in Korea. All of the Korean tea available at Dao Tea is hand processed by masters from the oldest and most optimal tea growing area in Korea, Hwagae Valley.

Good work Pedro!

Peace

Victoria Tea Festival: Chado Tea House

Came across exhibitors Peter and Fumi from Chado Tea house in Vancouver at the Victoria Tea Festival. Their table featured exclusively Japanese teas. They had them all, even some interesting ones. Their tea is sourced from specific areas of Japan- Fumis really seemed to know her tea.

One received a few samples of some of their more interesting green teas.

Peace

Victoria Tea Festival: DoMatcha

One has seen this matcha around town but wrote it off as one of those mass produced, gimmicky, health store stocked varieties. Couldn't be more wrong... except for the 'health store stalked' part. Based out of Vancouver, DoMatcha seems to be a regular fixture at health stores on the island but is almost completely shutout of the tearooms here due to a local matcha company that one will post about soon.

When one approached the Domatcha booth at the 2010 Tea Festival, modesty and kindness prevailed from the calm minded exhibitor. She whisked up some of the Ceremonial Matcha and Master's Choice Matcha (these cheesy matcha names added to the feeling of 'gimmicy tea'). Quite surprisingly, both teas were quite respectable.

It turns out that the famous matcha companies Shohokuen and Marukyu-Koyamaen are responsible for their matcha. DoMatcha even has a rich tea history that included the support of teamaster Kinroku Handa.

Not bad tea at all.

Peace

2010 Victoria Tea Festival Overview

The 2010 Victoria Tea Festival turned out to be better than expected. Couldn't help but expect. One has been to a handful of tea festivals in Asia and didn't expect much from this tea event held in Canada, the only of its kind here.

The stage was set as soon as you entered as the event was held in the beautiful glass panelled historic building, Crystal Gardens .

There were a few interesting speakers each day. Especially informative was Barry Till, the curator of the Art Gallery of Victoria and the second largest collection of Asia Art in Canada.

Out of the exhibitors about half were not even tea exclusive dealers or shop owners. Out of the 'actual' tea exhibitors about 1/3 were worth while spending some time around. There were a few good matcha exhibitors, a few famous local staples, a tea coop making a difference in Assam, a dealer offering some rarer Japanese greens, and even a dealer with tea sourced directly from China and... Korea!

One plans on bringing you the stories of those worthwhile dealers and some reviews of their tea.

Peace

In a Few Weeks From Now a Much Anticipated Event Will Take Place on Canada's West Coast...

No its not the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, its Victoria's 4th Annual Tea Festival!

In celebration of this event one is going to be featuring a few posts on some of the local tea heavy weights in Victoria throughout the coming weeks.

Peace