Back in March I took a trip to Colorado. Consequently I did a writeup on that trip in three parts. I believe the relative summation is there, but there are several companies I failed to make it to, including Teatulia. I look to go back to Colorado in the future to pick up where I left off.

A couple weeks back I took a trip to New York City. Those of you who follow me on Twitter may remember my many tweets from Manhattan. While in NYC I took the opportunity to visit a number of tea shops. There is much I missed which I hope to get to in a number of future trips.

WARNING: THIS POST IS PHOTO HEAVY

Read on for more…

I was extremely excited to visit New York. I’d only been once before and it was a very brief trip related to a political campaign I volunteered for. This trip would be several extra days, concentrated on the people and culture of New York and their tea!

I was dismayed to learn from Rona Tison of ITO EN at this year’s World Tea Expo that ITO EN had closed the doors on its flagship tea shop off Madison Ave. However, after further review my disappointment simply grew and grew. Many of the tea shops I’d hoped to pay a visit to had closed.

From Green Tea Cafe in Chinatown to Tavalon’s now former shop in The Village shops all over Manhattan seem to be closing. In their wake is a void beilg filled by some younger ventures like Subtle Tea, Teariffic and some New York locations for Chicago based Argo Tea.

I ended up staying at the Courtyard Marriott in East Midtown. I liked this area a lot. There’s plenty nearby and everything is within easy subway or taxi distance.

The first night (Thursday) I was in town I took in a meal at a Japanese restaurant in The Village called Japonica and enjoyed a delicious Yosenabe and an iced Hojicha, which was tasty and refreshing but cloudy green for some reason. I ended up here after being unable to locate and subsequently realizing that Tavalon’s location in The Village had closed. The phone number was disconnected.

After the meal I attended a comedy show at The Comedy Cellar. The lineup was capped by Dave Attell who I personally like. During the performance though, a few surprise guests showed up. It was a great show which lasted through maybe 3am and started at 11pm.

John Mayer at The Comedy Cellar

Damon Wayans at The Comedy Cellar

Dave Chappelle at The Comedy Cellar

Friday started late. Around 10am if I recall correctly. There was travel to Little Italy where I had lunch. I ordered a rather tasty Arabiatta Eggplant Tortellini paired with what I think was Luzianne iced tea.

But this is where the tea started. Heading down Mott to Orange Tea, a little shop claiming to have tea in Chinatown. However, this was more  of a baked goods and treats based corner store and they couldn’t tell me what kind of tea they had.

Orange Tea

A stop in Tea Ren here in Chinatown I picked up a middle grade of King’s Tea exclusive to Ten Ren. They say this Oolong blended with ginseng has inredible after taste. I’ll review that claim in a future review. I also grabbed some Lapsong Souchong.

Midori Tea in Ten Ren Tea

By recommendation of someone I know from the area, I was to check out The Green Tea Cafe about two blocks down in Chinatown. No go. Closed. How a tea shop can go out of business selling green tea in Chinatown is beyond me though.

There was much sadness. But, next door was a great bubble tea shop called Teariffic. I had possibly the best tasting taro bubble tea and an astoundingly tasty grapefruit lychee alo vera drink.

Inside Teariffic

After Teariffic way was made back toward midtown and a visit to the AppleStore on Fifth Avenue was mandated. Hey, I am insane about both tea and technology! Though I already had an iPhone 4 in hand, I was curious if the NY stores would have more toys for me to play with. No such love!

AppleStore 5th Avenue

AppleStore 5th Avenue

AppleStore 5th Avenue

AppleStore 5th Avenue

AppleStore 5th Avenue

An obligatory trip through Central Park, or a very small part thereof was in store as well. A walk through literary row, a stop at the great fountain and awestruck pauses at city views made this a great part of my trip as well!

Central Park NYC

Central Park NYC

Central Park NYC

Literary Walk, Central Park NYC

Literary Walk, Central Park, NYC

Central Park NYC

Central Park NYC

Central Park NYC

Central Park NYC

Ghostly bubble in Central Park NYC

Post Central Park, a trip was made to Subtle Tea off Madison for a wonderfully imbibed beverage. Both an iced Pomegranate White Tea and an iced Almond Cookies Green Tea were had. As these were iced I don’t think it’s fair to review them here today. However, I have to say both were pleasing given the obscenely hot and humid weather in New York at the time.

Subtle Tea

Subtle Tea

Subtle Tea

Subtle Tea

Another stop on Madison would have been made if ITO EN’s flagship store were still open. I’m almost mortified I never had the chance to stop in until literally just a couple months after they closed up shop. DARN YOU FATE!

From Madison, way was made over to Brooklyn. Oh, but the tip of an iceberg did I visit! Just over the Brooklyn bridge (the model for which was built right here in Cincinnati btw! A claim to fame, I know.), you’ll find Grimaldi’s Pizza, Brooklyn Ice Cream Company and the Promenade looking out toward Manhattan (envious of Manhattan are they? .

Manhattan from the Brooklyn Promenade

The Brooklyn Bridge

The Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory

Grimaldi's - A Brooklyn Institution

Grimaldi's - Fantastic Pizza

After a walk back over the Brooklyn Bridge, back to hotel it was, for an early night. What was it, 1am? While the rest of this Tea Tour had no tea, I do hope you’ll come back to check out part two of this series. More photos were had, Baseball was watched and bars visited. Come one, come all, to my tea tours series!

Here’s part two of this three part recap to the activities and friends from this year’s expo!

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Day 2

Saturday. A day to sleep in. Something I don’t do frequently enough. But are you CRAZY! I’m at the World Tea Expo in Las Vegas! There’s no way I’m sleeping in! There’s too much to do and see!

Let’s start out at the front of the 3rd row here. This row is exciting to me because I know some people here and some others are altogether brand new to the expo this year. A great mix of old and new!

First up is Qtrade Teas & Herbs. This company is one of the leading direct importers of teas and herbs to the United States directly from their source countries. In the next booth is Kopius Teas, the exclusive distributor of Qtrade imports. Directly across from Qtrade and Kopius is Elmwood Inn Fine Teas which is based in my neck of the woods down in Kentucky.

Further down the row I ran into my friends at The Art of Tea whose branding I love! They were nestled just before a split in the rows and were directly across from my peeps at Adagio Teas such as Cynthia Fazekas, Ilya Kreymerman and Charles Cain!

Art of Tea

Art of Tea

Art of Tea

The next segment seems to be the most difficult for me. China row. The Indian and Sri Lankan folks all speak some form of English, but the Chinese don’t always understand what I’m saying. It doesn’t keep me from trying though. And try I did! I even ended up learning about a nice little tea shop in Columbus, OH called ZenCha Tea Salon. I’m planning a trip up to review their place soon!

An old buddy from last year’s expo resurfaced with force and had a bigger booth and much stronger branding. Kaushika Patel of Catalyst Gourmet makes flavor and tea enhancers. Essentially spice sets you can add to food, tea or other items to escape from the hum-drum of the everyday. While I wouldn’t personally be adding ony of these to an orthodox tea, there’s some pretty nice stuff in her cabinet, let me tell you!

Directly across from Catalyst Gourmet was Runa, a new herbal beverage company selling a product derived from a plant called Guayusa (why-you-suh). It’s pretty decent and they have several flavored options including a mint and an original.

Catalyst Gourmet

Runa Guayusa Tea

For those counting Runa is the third company listed here which boasts their own 501c(3) Non-Profit Foundation which provides some or all of their profits back to the growers & pickers of their product. The first was Ajiri which I visited on Day 1. They provide 100% of their profits back to Kenyan orphanage schools. The second was SAFA Himalaya which provides a protion of their profits back to the Nepalese growers they source their teas from.

At the end of row three we had a mild tweetup where I met Adam Hansen as well as Chris Palmer of Tazo Tea. That was pretty neat. I think the World Tea Expo needs a tweetup every year which is formally arranged. The way it is now, there were four of us at this year’s tweetup and 12 at last year’s.

So far, that’s just half of day 2! We’ve so much more to go! On to row 4!

Starting at the end of row 4 we hit International Tea Importers where Mr. James Norwood Pratt was speaking. Mr. Pratt is always great to listen to. He knows more about tea than anyone I’ve met and he remains lively and energetic!

International Tea Importers

International Tea Importers

International Tea Importers

Mr. James Norwood Pratt and Myself

After the poke around the ITI booth it was time to head off for Aiya, makers of fine Matcha and Matcha products. It’s always fun to run into Shiro Nobunaga and Fumi Sugita. We had a great conversation last year too! Just across the row split was ITO EN, a favorite of mine from last year. A wonderful hello from Rona Tison veep of product marketing always goes a long way to a good day!

Aiya Matcha Tea

Next up is Village Tea Co. Martin runs a great shop in Dallas and his branding is spectacular. It makes me want to consume it to be hip and attractive… just like he is! If you haven’t read it yet, I wrote a review on his Gentle Organic Lemon Ginger Green Tea last a while back.

A little further down was one of my favorite booths to hit during the expo last year, and again this year. Puripan! This Korean tea company is based in California and has some really interesting and fantastic teas such as Mugwort or their Kusus or Soba-cha.

Puripan Tea Garden

Me with the Puripan gals

Further down we find The East Indies Tea Company whose name reminds me of the fabled East India Company which classically created the tea industry outside of Asia and controlled the majority of it for nearly 200 years with the Queen’s blessing. And finally Rishi Tea. Rishi walks away with awards every year, and this year was no exception. I’ll have a separate post all about the World Tea Championships at a later date.

Sadly I didn’t get to hit Rishi Tea or Sungarden Tea which were both in the 4th row. Next year perhaps.

That about does it for Day 2. Head back to check out Day 1 or check out Day 3.

Here’s part one of this three part recap to the activities and friends from this year’s expo!

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Day 1

The World Tea Expo moved to a new facility this year. Last year it was held on the strip in the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. This year, it was off-strip at the Las Vegas Convention Center and co-located with the Natural Marketplace Show which meant attendees could make their way through both conferences.

I liked the placement at Mandalay Bay better due to its proximity to more dining options. The only things within a reasonable walking distance for the Las Vegas Convention Center were multiple Starbucks locations and an overpriced collection of Aramark eateries in a food court. Mandalay Bay had a low cost food court as well. But last year when I needed food I ate at three and four star restaurants. I may have paid less for food this time around, but that’s not what I’d have preferred.

This first day was hectic. The doors to the show floor didn’t open until eleven in the morning and there was a huge line outside for people to get in.

Hundreds, can I say that again, HUNDREDS of exhibitors were at this expo. Though a bit smaller than last year’s by exhibitor attendance I felt the crowd was more tuned to the industry and focussed on what they wanted. Last year there were a lot more first time entrepreneurs who hopefully are focussing their energies on their young businesses.

Making my way down the first row I found The Metropolitan Tea Company which has lots of neat stuff. You should definitely check them out! I also ran into The Tea Spot, and they gave me a Tuffy Steeper which I reviewed last week.

Ajiri Tea

Ajiri Tea

The Ajiri Tea girls and I

Further down I discovered the Ajiri Tea girls who have a truly outstanding story! Their product is a single black tea from Kenya, made CTC style, it was malty and nice. I hope to do an interview and spotlight on them in the near future. Yet further down I ran into Elena from Svay, a Russian tea company. I’ll be reviewing their teas throughout this year.

Row two had all kinds of serious fun! I started with Basilur which has some really neat new packaging. I ran into the wonderful folks of the New Vithanakande Tea Estate in Sri Lanka. I really enjoy their teas year after year and was very excited to meet them!

Basilur Tea

Basilur Tea

A pit stop at Sara’s Tea Caddie for some slow brewed Yutakamiori Sencha was a great interruption to the hustle and bustle! Moving on there was FUSO International which makes tea bag machines. Their stuff said NASA all over it, but it’s apparently not that NASA. I also ran into the Jun Chiyabari Estate family from Nepal again this year! We talked for a while last year and I really enjoyed their honesty and personality again this year.

Melville Candy had some neat Honey Spoons I hope to review soon. It’s a really novel idea. Moving on, I discovered KEIKO which is a Japanese tea company which mostly has presence in Europe. They had to back out of last year’s show as their warehouse burned to the ground two weeks before the 2009 expo. I look to get samples from them for review later this year.

Keiko Tea

Keiko Tea

Keiko Tea

Keiko Tea Packaging

The 2nd row also gave me Lucha which makes a tea infuser mug I reviewed a couple weeks back, Squeezemo which makes a neat little tea bag squeezer to drain the bags and keep them off your plates, and the fine folks of SAFA Himalaya who carry exclusively Nepalese teas, such as those from Jun Chiyabari.

That about does it for Day 1. Check back soon for Day 2 and Day 3.

I’ll be trying to make it ever easier to follow my updates if visiting here is a little arduous for you.

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A huge shout out to these fine folks:
Sara, Katherine and the rest of the Ajiri Tea girls
Ron and Emillie of Kopius Teas
Beth and Newman Johnston of Teas Etc.
Ellen and Zanett and the rest of the Puripan crew
Mr. James Norwood Pratt
Lily and Peter at PeLi Teas
Lindsey Goodwin of Copy & Taste
Elise of Pearl Fine Teas
Cindy Harling at STASH Tea
GongfuGirl
Kaushika Patel at Catalyst Gourmet
Liam of Na-liko-Tea, Hawaiian Grown Teas
Sam Ritchey with his great hair over at TeaGschwendner
Lawrence Lai of Naivetea
Jeff Howell of Zealong – New Zealand
Katie Garlinghouse
Anthony and Danny of SunWay Tea
Kim and George Jage of World Tea News
Aaron Kiel of the World Tea Expo Press Group
Chris Cason and John-Paul Lee of Tavalon Tea
Bachan Gyawali of Jun Chiyabari Tea Garden, Nepal
Mark Jackson of SAFA Himalaya
Elena Kaverzneva Manager at Tea World / Svay Tea
Glynis and Eric of The Urban Tea Loft in Chandler, AZ
Our family of friends at New Vithanakande Tea Estate, Sri Lanka
GUS of Florapharm Tea keepin’ it real for me in MD!
Adam Hansen, fellow Ohioan
Jason Walker of Walker Tea Review

These fantastic friends are some of the finest I have met the past couple years.

The next couple weeks will see a bevy of reviews from me and posts about the World Tea Expo 2010 and this year’s happenings.

Until next time,
Keep Steepin’

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Location:E Tropicana Ave,Las Vegas,United States