Coffee & Tea Festival NYC

This weekend I had the chance to attend the 4th Annual Coffee & Tea Festival in NYC. I hadn't been aware of this festival until recently. The planets aligned and I was actually able to get there this year.

It was held at the Metropolitan Pavilion on West 18th Street. Being a new-ish festival, it is relatively small, but was populated by some interesting companies. There were about 40 vendors, fewer than 10 of which were tea. The rest were coffee, along with one table for NY Craft Beer Week, a few bakeries and gourmet food purveyors, and other assorted sellers like the NY Times.

That being said, it was still a great event for tea lovers. Many of the tea companies there were very well known and well respected companies, including Tavalon, Tay Tea, Serendipitea, and Harney & Sons. There were some companies, such as Hancha Tea, that I hadn't seen before but definitely impressed me. The vast majority of companies (coffee and tea alike) offered samples which always makes for a fun time. The first 1000 entrants also received gift bags which included everything from samples of Adagio Tea and Choice Teas to "herbal coffee" and gum. Copies of Tea House Times and Imbibe were available to all.

There were two products I found particularly disconcerting. One was a specialty tea bag where, instead of a regular tea bag, the leaves were held in the bowl of a food grade plastic spoon. I just couldn't get comfortable with the idea of pouring boiling water onto plastic and then drinking it. The other was a mini tea "pouch" that you just stick in your mouth. You are supposed to get all the flavor and caffeine of drinking coffee or tea. Fascinating to see right before watching the beauty and majesty of a tea ceremony.

There were some major highlights for me. I had the opportunity to meet several folks from the tea world that I have always wanted to chat with. I also had the chance to attend some fantastic demonstrations and classes. Every hour there was a new seminar offered. We attended Yoon Hee Kim's Korean Loose Leaf Tea Ceremony demonstration and her "From Garden to Cup" seminar, as well as Chris Cason's Tea Cocktails presentation. (Chris Cason, Co-Founder of Tavalon, is in the process of producing a book on "Tea Cocktails." If his presentation is any indication, this is a book you will definitely want.) Sunday's tea presentations were to include coffee and tea infused desserts, a Korean powdered green tea ceremony, and a lecture on green teas of China.

Certainly, this pales in comparison to something like the World Tea Expo, but I am anxious to see how this event grows over time. Just today I was speaking to a rep from another tea company who said they hadn't been aware of it. As the word spreads, this event has the potential to become a pretty amazing event.

Taken from http://teapages.blogspot.com/