Check out my coverage of both Day 1 and Day 2 of the 2011 World Tea Expo.

The World Tea Expo is such a fantastic event that even after only a few times through I can’t imagine not attending every year. I spark wonderful conversations with people, make new friends and contacts and come out knowing more than ever about tea in all its forms. This year really was no different in this respect. From a Tea Anthropologist I met at breakfast on Day 2 to time spent hanging out with my new buddy Ankit Lochan of Lochan Tea (we went to the Hoover Dam) I really had a great time this year.

But, without further ado…

Day 2

I spent some quality time with a few of the larger brands on Sunday. A wonderful but short visit over to the Harney & Sons booth showed Michael Harney’s lighter side and let me reconnect with the brand which first exposed me to loose tea. I always enjoy speaking with the Harney’s. They have great business sense to be sure, and they know their teas but they’re also great to talk with and learn from. You should drop in on their SoHo store if you’re in Manhattan.

Michael Harney & I

Michael Harney's Lighter Side

Moving along, I spent some time with some new friends with World Tea Media, purveyors of the World Tea News (WTN) industry publication and the World Tea and World Tea East expos. George and Kim Jage started the expo some number of years ago and it’s really grown into something wonderful! Dan Bolton, editor of the WTN articles and I had a nice long chat as well. It was a pretty awesome chance to connect with some of the larger names in the industry at the moment.

Some Tea from Rishi Tea

International Tea Importers is one of the larger wholesale groups around and they have some mighty fine product. They had a couple of the more unique items I was able to check out this year. Amongst my favorite activities at the expo are speaking with ITI’s purveyor, Mr. Devan Shah as well as venerable Tea Luminary Mr. James Norwood Pratt (to whom I always wish to bestow the title of Sir.) I hope next year I’ll have the opportunity to share a meal with these gentlemen.

Sir James Norwood Pratt and I

A stop over to Teas Etc yielded a great opportunity to chat up Beth Johnston and new friend Sherri Miller of Moonrise Tea Garden out of Hawaii. I reviewed Sherri’s crop from last year if you care to check it out. I also had a chance to speak with Newman Johnston and am always super excited after talking tea, business and happy things with these folks. There’s so much to go over and one expo isn’t nearly enough time, let alone a short conversation within an expo!

Beth Johnston, Myself and Sherri Miller

Newman Johnston and I

Another group from Hawaii whom I didn’t get the chance to review but did say hi to last year was Naliko Tea Gerden, now known as Tea Hawaii. It seems like Liam Ball of Naliko hooked up with a neat crowd. Tea Hawaii offers some neat products, an interesting brewing method where water is poured over the leaves and sifted into a drinking vessel. They also offer custom made tea cups made of clay which are all unique. The uniqueness is by virtue of a ‘slap’ to the clay as the potter is finishing spinning it which gives the cup its unique ‘wobble.’

Tea Hawaii Brewing to a Vessel

Another stop was made to a standby of mine. You can find Stash Tea products in nearly every grocery store in the United States. They’re a HUGE brand. However, they’re mostly known for their bagged teas. This is mighty unfortunate because their loose tea quality is actually pretty high. I always enjoy good conversation with Stash. I hope to cover more of their loose teas soon.

Stash Tea Products

I did also run into Wendy Weir of Libre Tea whose brewing vessel I reviewed some time ago and pit against other tea mugs in a showdown last year. This was her first World Tea Expo exhibiting. Honorable mention to my friends at Honey Stix whose products I hope to review soon. A shout to my buddies at Eastrise Trading who handle distribution for Foojoy in North America. Another honorable mention for the folks at Nucha, and David over at Gorreana Portuguese Teas.

I was disappointed not to see some of my favorite exhibitors from the past two years. Notable absences included Puripan Tea Garden, TeaGschwendner, PeLi Teas, Tavalon Tea, Village Tea Company, SAFA Himalaya and Catalyst Tea Enhancers. I missed you guys!

That’s pretty much it for Day 3. Feel free to go back and check out Day 1 and Day 2 of my 2011 World Tea Expo coverage.

Eastrise Trading Company

This is coverage of Day 1 of the 2011 World Tea Expo. Please also check out coverage of Day 2 and Day 3.

While the World Tea Expo remains an industry only event, there’s much going on here which is indicative of progress and growth beyond the tea industry itself. My trip out this year was for more than just keeping you and I up to date on the happenings within the tea industry.

From news and concern of radiation seepage in Japanese teas to judging the quality of this year’s first flush Darjeeling’s after a labor crises led to later than normal picks, there’s much to understand for this year’s crop. Floods AND droughts in China have impacted crops there as well.

Mix in a little business with my blogging pleasure. I’m working on a tea related startup I’ve been needing to drum up some support for. I’m very excited for its future and overwhelmingly positive feedback from the market I feel will continue to lead to great things to share with you in the future.

But enough about me, let’s move on to Day 1 of the 2011 World Tea Expo!

Day 1

A trip down Aisle 1 instantly yielded a chat with the girls from The Tea Spot. Last year they’d provided me with a sample unit of a little steeping tool called a Tuffy Steeper. This year they’ve a little gadget called Brewlux which is supposed to be used for brewing loose leaves in a cardboard/paper cup you may get from a coffee shop or some such. This little item is actually really neat. Biodegradable and compostable it reacts to bacteria or chemical breakdown assistants. Without those assistants though, this item can be used, reused, re-reused, placed in a dishwasher for cleaning (top rack only) and used again. If you drink loose on the go and often find yourself in need of a method to keep the loose leave separated from the water while drinking on the go from an average vessel… this little diddy is for you!

The Tea Spot

A trip slightly further down the aisle led me to an interesting booth from… Portugal? Gorreana has grown tea for mass consumption in Portugal for more than a century. Now they’re looking to expand into the US market. The tea provided appears primarily CTC style black in different grades of fineness. The flavor is there, but seems like it doesn’t quite match with what I’ve come to expect from more notable growers.

Further down Aisle 1 I paid a visit to my buddy Ankit Lochan from Lochan Tea Estates. Ankit is from Darjeeling India and produces some very wonderful teas. You won’t find Ankit’s teas on the shelves though, he sells to companies and wholesalers, not to retailers. Look for products from Teas Etc., Tea Source, Adagio and others to try teas produced by the Lochan plantations.

Ankit Lochan of Lochan Tea and I.

The back end of Aisle 1 was primarily filled with companies producing products used to manufacture tea bags )not the tea inside). I skipped this part because I didn’t see it as added value for the blog coverage. (If you’d like me to cover these companies and their equipment next year, let me know.

Aisle 2 held a collection of Sri Lankan and Indian tea growers. A number of American firms too. Some of my usual friends weren’t present this year which I found unfortunate, but new companies took their place nonetheless as the expo expanded its exhibitor list.

The heart of Aisle 2 held Adagio Teas. Adagio remains one of the best selling online tea brands in the United States. During the past year though, they’ve opened two brand new sparkling pretty new stores I hope to drop in on one of these days. Ilya, Cynthia and Charles have all become great contacts these past few tea filled years! I remain excited to see what Adagio has in store!

Ilya, Cynthia and Charles of Adagio Teas posing for a shot with me.

Day 1 coverage was fairly light. I have much more for Day 2 and Day 3. Come back tomorrow for more!

A pretty tea display.

A pretty tea display from QTrade Teas & Herbs.

Earlier this month the delicious duo announced the availability of their blends at Bigg’s stores, Jungle Jim’s and the Keller’s IGA locations in the greater Cincinnati area.

That just happens to be my neck of the woods! I took a trip around the corner to my local Bigg’s right after receiving the good news from the sisters’ marketing agent and what did I find? Fantastic placement of their teas on a short shelf (harder to get lost on than taller shelves)!

From the press release:

Fully Loaded Tea continues US expansion into “The Buckeye State”

Gourmet tea blends now available in select Ohio locations

Mississauga, ON – Fully Loaded Tea (FLT) is proud to announce its first distribution partnerships with Ohio retailers.  Starting in Early October, select bigg’s hypermarkets and Jungle Jim’s International Market will join the growing number of key locations throughout the country carrying FLT’s distinctly different product.  This continued expansion ensures that residents of Cincinnati and Fairfield will now be able to enjoy the bold and opinionated blends, already extremely popular with young professionals and celebrities.   

Katya Popoff, co-founder of FLT explained: “We are extremely pleased to be working with bigg’s and Jungle Jim’s International Market.  Bigg’s has been a supporter of Fully Loaded Tea since our inception, so we are particularly delighted as this distribution partnership confirms our immense progress, and gives us further momentum going forward. We continue to be overwhelmed by the support received from retailers such as bigg’s and Jungle Jim’s International Market – our blends are popping up on shelves throughout the US, and this is certainly a most rewarding feeling.”

The brainchild of sister-duo Katya Popoff and Olga Lenova, since the company’s launch in 2007 FLT has experienced unprecedented success and momentum with an increase in sales by more than 400 percent in 2008. The unique combination of berries and tea blends results in bold, opinionated flavors rich with vitamins and antioxidants.

FLT’s distinct blends continue to garner invitations to participate in high-profiled, celebrity events, including the Primetime Emmy Awards, SXSW Film Festival, and the Much Music Video Awards.

Ohio gourmands can look forward to purchasing Fully Loaded Tea blends at:

bigg’s hypermarket located at 5218 Beechmont Avenue and 5022 Delhi Road in    Cincinnati, and Jungle Jim’s International Market at         5440 Dixie Hwy in  Fairfield.

For more information about FLT, to purchase the blends online, or to find locations around the country where FLT is available, please visit www.fullyloadedtea.com.

What exactly spurred me to sign up for the World Tea Expo is something I can’t reveal much about at the moment, asside from the fact that it does indeed relate to The Project.

I learned something while out in Las Vegas… though it wasn’t related to gambling, adult inhibitions or travelling. Indelibly I learned that my greatest strength and passion is, and likely has always been, with people. What makes us tick individually. It turns out that this year’s World Tea Expo, for me, ended up being all about the people.

While Saturday certainly marked a wonderful close to a beautiful and full day of tea related adventues… it was the people I met that day which truly energized me. The wonderfully high quality teas and the colorful array of accessories were really only icing on the cake.

I ate breakfast Sunday at the Roundtable All-Day Buffet at the Excalibur. The buffet was just $25 to come and go for as many trips as you’d like within a 24 hour period. My dietician would have been aghast at the prospect if she knew… but what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas… right? I actually ended up eating rpetty well there. Fruit, eggs and grapefruit juice were what appealed to me and I chose rather appropriate portion sizes. In case you’re wondering… I did go back for lunch and dinner… but I had a middle meal during a Tweetup I’ll mention later.

Sunday and Monday were where it was all at. Two more sessions: “Selling Your Tea Online Successfully” and “Creating A Menu With Cost & Creativity in Mind” bisected my morning and afternoon. Both presentations were steller! I couldn’t have been more pleased with the investment I made in paying for these two sessions.

Michael Cramer of Adagio Teas covered a wealth of great information related to community building… engaging and keeping your customers on your website and helping with conversion of simple visitors into customers who buy your products.

Melinda Decker, owner of LaTeaDa Tea Room in Clinton, IL provided an interesting presentation as well. While her ideas mostly focussed on her more traditional Victorian style tea house… she provided a number of robust and reusable ideas for making the most out of the materials you buy, simply by using the same ingredients to make multiple products… such as a cake, cobbler or pie being turned into a dessert in a glass.

I spent the rest of Saturday, literally networking with people. Hitting booths, talking people up over tea, getting my business cards handed out and really just getting to know people.

I ran into Jack Cheng of Steepster.com, Lindsey Goodwin of VeeTea, The fine guys over at Village Tea, Ty Beddingfield of Gamila… the inventors of the Tea Stick and a plethor of other completely wonderful folks on Sunday. Several of these folks, plus Ilya from Adagio Teas showed up for an evening Tweetup after the expo floor closed and we had some grub and drinks. In particular, Ty and I really talked for a while about ideas and things. A wonderful day.

After dinner Sunday night, I hit up Cherry, a dance club over in the Red Rock Hotel. This club was one hell of an experience! I thoroughly enjoyed the hours spent there dancing and admiring the crowd. I really get energized when a club is as alive as Cherry was that night. Rare I think, for a Sunday night.

Now it’s Monday morning. The sun is up… but I’ve been awake for hours already. To protect myself some from JetLag I have always tried to awaken as close to Eastern time as possible. I worked out in the rather meager (by my standards) health club in the Excalibur… an amazingly expensive $20 a day on top of the room bill.

After breakfast at the buffet again, I made my way over to the expo for some tea and my morning session: “Reaching Beyond Your Front Door For Additional Income” and then on to my afternoon session: “Price it Right & Sell it Smart.”

Ronald Eng of Kopius Teas put on a wonderful presentation. Very well spoken with great diction and clarity. His ideas were understandably expressed and he was very energetic about answering questions. A serial entrepreneur, Ronald had some great ideas and concepts to share.

Robert Hedrick of Holton & Heath also had some great insights on proper pricing, commodity vs exclusive and the power of branding potential. This was a also a very good presentation.

The rest of my “day” on Monday was spent scurrying around making my final connections with brands and companies, procurring more business cards in exchange for mine as an attempt to build more outlets and opportunities for me to grow with the tea industry over the next couple decades.

I did end up linking with Ronald Eng and Emilie Yanagi of Kopius Teas, the people at Zojirushi North America, a couple great folks over at TeasEtc, Maria Warman from Art of Tea and I cannot forget Nora of Golden Star Tea who has an amazing sparkling bottled tea beverage presented in a chapagne bottle!

At the end of the day I ran into May King of the new UK tea brand, MayKing Tea as well as a few other friends including Norman who is starting a tea garden in Hawaii! I ended up going out dancing with these two and we had a wonderful time out at Margaritaville down the strip after throwing back a few drinks at Liquidity, a bar in the Luxor Hotel & Casino.

I don’t want to leave anyone out… but I’m HORRIBLE with names… I ended up meeting several hundred people at the expo and coming away with some great friendships made over the three day event.

I have to recommend this event to anyone starting a new tea business, or anyone already in the industry!

I’ve already made the decision to head back to Las Vegas next year for another round of tea education. Maybe by then I’ll already have a small presence in the tea industry and be ready for some thoughts on expanding to becoming a tea brand. Here’s to the future!

Help a good cause: CharityWater.org