The First RBG Tea Festival

Last Saturday, I wen to the Royal Botanical Garden's First Tea Festival. 

The Tea Festival had 25 vendors and drew large crowds (who knew that Hamilton had so many tea lovers?). The tea sampling and presentations were so much fun!

Taiwanese Tea Ceremony: Osmanthus Black Tea

Madeline Chang from Bon Tea Place led the Taiwanese Tea Ceremony. It was an interactive presentation and the attendees were encouraged to "receive" the teas prepared by the 10 trainees.

 

Taiwanese Tea Ceremony: Autumn - Pai Mu Dan Organic Tea

The white teaware and tea represented the autumn season.

Taiwanese Tea Ceremony: Winter - Young Pu-Erh Tea

The black teaware and tea represented the winter season.

Taiwanese Tea Ceremony: Spring - Bi Luo Chun Tea

The green teaware and tea represented the spring season.

Taiwanese Tea Ceremony: Summer - Oolong Oriental Beauty

The red teaware represented the summer season. 

The oolong tea had a fruity taste and was my favourite among the seasonal teas.

Taiwanese Tea Ceremony by the Children

The 5 remaining tea ceremonies were performed by children (the youngest was only 4!). 

They were all so cute!

Left: Jasmine Pearl

Middle: Dong Ding Oolong

Right: Ti Kuan Ying

Taiwanese Tea Ceremony by the Children

 Top: Toffee Pu-Erh (this was smooth and yummy!)

Bottom: Jasmine Green Tea

I also heard interesting talks about  "Tea's Journey Around the World" and tea blogging.

Left: Linda Gaylard (aka the Tea Stylist)

Right: T.J. Williamson from World Tea Podcast is the only blogger (to date) who blogs via podcasts.

Mistletoe Chai by The Monarch Tea Co.

The owner, Katie, also offered a fun session on the art of pairing tea with food where we had the opportunity to sample Walker's meltaway milk chocolate with Cream Earl Grey tea. YUM!!!

This collection of cups for tea leaf readings spans over a century.

The Art of Tea and Tasseomancy owner, Amy, also did a neat presentation on the history and practice of tea leaf readings.

Kevin Kong's Wellness Centre offered samples of this Pu-Erh that was produced in 2007.

Kevin also presented on "Chinese Tea and Tea Health".

Tea and sugar cookies with an Earl Grey glaze were served at the book launch of "Tea-Inspiration: Inspiration Words for Tea Lovers" by Lu Ann who blogs at The Cup of Life. Naturally, I had to support a fellow Canadian blogger and bought an autographed copy of the book. The pocket-sized book would make a great stocking stuffer!

 Of course, a tea festival wouldn't be complete without some tea pretties!

 

Top left: Royal Rose Chai by The Chai Palace

Top right: Black Scotch Tea by World Tea Podcast

Bottom: Cream Earl Grey (left) and and Strawberry Tea (right) by Blue Mountain Tea Company

 I think this was an oolong by the Bon Tea Place?

Top: Darjeeling Jungpana by Camellia Sinensis

Bottom: Fruity (herbal?) tea samples from Steeped Tea (left) and Tea-ara (right)

The most interesting and unique tea that I sampled was this Tangerine Pu-Erh. 

The 8-year-old Pu-Erh tea was stored inside a tangerine and processed for over 30 hours! I'm not a huge fan of Pu-Erh, but this one had a nice mild citrus flavour.

 

Left: Iced green tea by Drink Empower

Right: Organic Raspberry Lemon Kombucha by Booch

The freebies that I scored.

 

I'm starting to get into the Yule spirit so I brought home: 

Mistletoe Chai by The Monarch Tea Co; 

Nutracker Tea and Candy Cane Organic by The Travelling Tea Room

I hope that the RBG will host another tea festival next year!

I'm joining the following parties this week:

Tea Cup Tuesday

  Friends Sharing Tea

Toronto Tea Festival 2016

At the end of January, I went to the Toronto Tea Festival. Canada's largest tea festival has something to offer to all tea enthusiasts and gets bigger and better each year!

T by Daniel's banner epitomizes tea lovers' happy dance over the mind-blowing assortment of teas offered by over 45 vendors. The majority of the companies are based in the Greater Toronto Area, but a few came from across the country.

The Udea Ryu style of Japanese tea ceremony was performed by Austin Wong.

To see the Korean and Chinese tea ceremonies at last year's festival, click here.

Left: Camellia Sinensis (top); Basilur Tea (bottom)

Middle: Tea and All Its Splendour

Right: Boreal Wildcraft Tea (top);  Blair Elements (bottom)

 Unique tea sets by Secret Teatime (left) and Shu Gallery (right). 

How cute are these panda chopsticks stands?

Lionel Richie would approve of this fun mug!

The pretty teaware collections that you can rent from Pekoe and Gray. 

I'm totally coveting the Duchess line (by Royal Albert) on the far left.

This charming "teacup tree" by Steeped Tea caught my eye (Hmm...future craft idea?).

Because my time at the festival was limited, I opted to visit the vendors and sample the teas instead of attending the scheduled talks.

Pu-Erhs

I ventured out of my comfort zone and sampled the pu-erhs.

Left: Dragon Elixir by Tea Leaves was my favourite because of its subtle lemon flavour (I've always gravitated towards flavoured teas).

Middle: Jalam Teas (top); Blue Mountain Tea Company (bottom)

Right: Wait Tea House (top); Best-Z (bottom)

Oolong Teas

Left: Alishan Chin-Shing Oolong by Capital Tea

Top right: 2015 Tie Guan Yin - Classic by Zhen Tea

Middle right: Ginseng Oolong by Genuine Tea was my favourite because of its sweet, creamy taste (one of my tea flavour preferences). 

Bottom right: 1991 Aged Wenshang Baozhang by Crimson Teas--this is the oldest tea that I've ever tasted!

Chai Teas

 Top: Blue Hour Tea

Bottom: Chaiwala's masala chai was made with soy milk and sweetened with honey.  

This delicious chai was one of the Top 10 Teas of the 2016 Tea Taster Choice.

Flavoured Black Teas

Left: Passion Fruit from Teatips Ceylon

Middle: Guavalicious by T by Daniel

Right: Cream of Avalon by the Tea Emporium

Matcha Teas

The genmatcha teas by Momo Tea (left) and Tea Leaves (right) had a roasted rice flavour. 

Matcha Tea

Matcha tea made by Wold Tea Podcast.

Green and White Teas

 Left: Sencha Ginger Green Tea by Majesteas

Top right: Silver Needle White Tea by Tao Tea Leaf 

Bottom right: White Tea Champagne by Tea Sparrow was my favourite.

Herbal and Rooibos Teas

Left: African Queen by Tea Emporium (top); Rose Tea by King's Cafe (bottom)

Middle: Rooibos Tropicana by Tea Emporium (top); Caramel Creme Rooibos by Tea Talk (bottom)

Right: Strawberry Mint by Tea Sparrow

Tea-Ara

Left: The Nobel One is an Earl Grey blend. 

Middle: Magic Carpet herbal blend

Right: Turquoise Palace herbal blend

The tea swag that I scored.

Yes, I fell of my tea wagon. There goes my 4-month tea diet!

Technically, I only bought the White Tea Champagne by The Tea Sparrow.

The flavoured tea samples (Guavalicious; Canadian Eh?; Vanilla Coco Loco; Cottage Night; Night in Rio) from T by Daniel were an early Valentine's Day gift from my mom. Hee!

Because I'm a calendar nerd, I couldn't resist getting this tea-themed calendar by Camellia Sinensis, a Montreal-based company. It wasn't until I got home that I realized that the calendar was in French. Whoops!

One of the festival highlights for me was meeting the author, Linda Gaylard (aka the Tea Stylist), who kindly autographed her awesome Tea Book for me.

The Toronto Tea Festival was the perfect conclusion to Hot Tea Month!

I'm joining the following parties this week:

  Bernideen's Tea Time, Collage, and Garden Blog Party

Mosaic Monday

  No Place Like Home

Tea Cup Tuesday 

Tuesday Cuppa Tea

Toronto Tea Festival

On the last day of Hot Tea Month, I attended the 3rd Annual Toronto Tea Festival. I was unable to attend the previous festivals so I was extremely excited to finally go this year.

Isn't it amazing how tea brings together people from all ages and cultures? Large crowds make me feel claustrophobic but I kept calm and drank tea!

Kevin Gascoyne, a tea taster from Camellia Sinensis Tea Houses with over 20 years' experience of traveling to Asia to purchase teas, delivered a fun and enlightening 1-hour presentation on tea basics. The science nerd in me particularly enjoyed hearing about his research team's experiments which debunked common myths about the antioxidants and caffeine levels in different types of teas.

 The Korean tea ceremony was performed by Sun-hee Jung (middle table) and her two trainees.

The Chinese Tea Ceremony was performed by Sabrina Chen. The performers' graceful and fluid movements were impressive. There was also a Japanese Tea Ceremony, but we didn't have an opportunity to view it. Now we move from the ancient cultural ceremonies...

to the sci-fi future of tea brewing...Yes, there's an app for that: teaBOT!

The tablet is used to customize your own blend of tea. The teas are dispensed through the main funnel, while the hot water is delivered through the metal spigot. The owners of teaBOT hope to set up these self-serve tea kiosks around the greater Toronto area sometime in the near future.

With over 40 (mostly Canadian-based) exhibitors of teas, teawares, tea products, and snacks, the selections were overwhelming! From top to bottom: Lemon Lily, Capital Tea, Samadhi Tea House.

From top to bottom: Majesteas, Riston Tea, Tao Tea.

Clockwise from top right: 3 Teas, Momo Tea, Basilur Tea (which had the prettiest tea canisters at the festival!)

From top to bottom: King's Cafe, T by Daniel,The Tea Emporium.

Tea and All Its Splendour

Our entry ticket included one free tasting cup which we definitely put to good use! I usually gravitate towards flavoured teas so to expand my palate, I tried some oolong teas: Capital Tea's Alishan Jin Xuan (left) and Majesteas' Shangri La (right). I prefered the Shangri La because of its slight fruity taste.

Arsh Inc.'s green tea (left) was okay. The hot cinnamon spice black tea from Tea Leaves Tea Tasting Bar tasted exactly like cinnamon heart candies.

We also had samples from Tao Tea: Ginger and Tangerine herbal infusions (top) and Blueberry Rooibos (bottom; too tart to my liking!).

Tea-Ara (cute name!) was also serving samples of their herbal infusions and rooibos which would also taste good iced.

To determine which pu-erh we should sample, the vendor (I can't recall the company's name) touched our hands. My mom got white pu-erh, while I was good for any of the pu-erh teas...I ended up tasting the white pu-erh too which was alright.

There was nary a sight of dainty English-style bone china tea sets...

...but there were Chinese-style teawares galore!

For the trendy and hip tea drinkers: Grosche's modern glass teawares.

Of course no tea is complete without the proper snack! We brought home some of Sugar Peony's tea-infused macarons (top). The scones (bottom) enticed people to visit T-Bud's Tea Lounge and Creperie for the perfect afternoon tea experience. We also tried Sprucewood's Shortbread Cookies but I was too busy stuffing myself with the yummy cookies to take a photo.

Now I exercised GREAT RESTRAINT and came home with a modest(ish) loot of tea goodies: 3 teas (Basilur's White Moon green tea; Lemon Lily's Cherry Blossom green tea; Riston's chocolate truffle black tea); a Tea book autographed by Kevin Gascoyne (one of the co-authors); Bare English & Co.'s passionfruit hand and body cream; Sprucewood's maple and lemon shortbread cookies; and Sugar and Peony's macarons. The bag and glass cup were complimentary.

My favourite purchase was Riston's Margaret tea--a black tea blend with chocolate and Irish cream. I was sold as soon as I saw it because:
a) the tea shared my name (although I bear no resemblance to the doll on the photo!);
b) the tin was purple;
c) the chocolate flavour (and it smelled heavenly too!).

I'm already looking forward to next year's tea festival!

This week, I'm joining the following parties:

Tea Time Tuesday

Friends Sharing Tea

Tuesday Cuppa Tea