Back in June, my friend Aaron asked me, “Why haven’t you ever thrown a tea party?”
To which I responded with, “Huh . . . why haven’t I thrown a tea party?!”
Then the ol’ mental gears started a-turnin’. In a few short months, my 40th birthday was coming up. I didn’t drink alcohol anymore, and other forms of mid-life debauchery bored me. The decision hit me like an Assam-fueled caffeine jolt.
Mad Hatter Tea Party!
On my days off, it is not uncommon to find me at a tearoom. I mean, having tea at home is great and all, but sometimes one has a desire to leave the house . . . and even the comforting confines of one’s pajamas. Last week (that being, January 14th, 2015, depending on when you – fine reader – are viewing this), I originally had plans to grab a tea latte with a co-worker. She had to cancel due to financial constraints – a plight I know all too well. So, a Plan B was needed, even if it wasn’t entirely planned.
Following the co-worker cancelation, I was in the middle of a chat with the owner of Chariteas – the titular “Charity” of the name. I mentioned I had some teas to pass on her way, and wondered if I could stop by the shop. I also had a hankering for one of their chicken salad sandwiches and a scone. She said she’d be there, and that a stop by around lunch time was fine.
And thus, I made the hour-long jaunt to Sandy, OR. to Chariteas.
I think I may be the Leeroy Jenkins of my tandem tea tasting group.
Image owned by Blizzard; art by Mike Krahulik.
Don’t get the reference? I’ll explain . . .
A Business Trip with Benefits – World Tea Expo 2015, Day 1
Arriving at the Long Beach Convention Center, and seeing that sign, was like coming home again.
This was to be my third World Tea Expo in a row. The first year was a three-day whirlwind of awesomeness. The second was like a quickie, followed by a long-distance relationship. This year took on an entirely different form. This was a business trip . . . with benefits.
Within minutes of entering, I encountered people in my tea blogging sphere. This was just within the first hour.
Photo by Gary Robson; Left to Right – Jen Piccotti, Jo Johnson, Tony Gebely, Katie Gebely, Me, Chris Giddings
. . . And true to Murphy’s law, my camera kept dying right when important things happened – such as meet-ups. Therefore, I had to mooch moments from other people who had the forethought to bring a decent phone, camera or – in one special case – a battery pack.
A particularly noteworthy pleasure was finally getting to meet Katrina Munichiello – an author/editor I truly respected. She was just as nerdy as the rest of us, and a pure delight to boot. Even I violated my usual selfie embargo to be snapped with her, Nicole “AmazonV” Schwartz, and Rachel “I Heart Teas” Carter.
Photo by Katrina Munichiello; Left to Right – Me, Rachel Carter, Nicole Schwartz, and Katrina.
After who-knows-how-long of playing catch-up, I finally hit the Expo floor. My first mission was to see a familiar face. I learned through the tweet-o-sphere that one of my favorite Oregon outfits – Chariteas – had a booth. Per my World Tea News write-up, she was now wholesaling Indonesian teas from one garden – two blacks, one white, and one . . . that was absolutely delicious . . . but I couldn’t quite identify it. It was called Grey Dragon.
It almost needed its own category.
In my floor wanderings, I also encountered Nicole “Tea For Me Please” Martin, who soon became the Maverick to my Goose. If there were folks I needed to talk to; I followed her. If she was in search of something shiny and weird; she followed me. In that first day, we encountered Columbian grown tea, coffee leaf “tea”, and Laotian grown tea. (I’ll get to all of those in greater detail at a later date.)
We also encountered random friends in our wanderings. There was so much to take in that we both said, “Oh yeah, we have a panel to be on in ten minutes.”
Photo by Rachel Carter; Left to Right – Nicole Martin, Me, Jo Johnson, Jen Piccotti
Jen “An International Tea Moment” Piccotti had organized four of us boggers for a panel dubbed “Amplifying Your Business Voice Through Tea Bloggers”. It was a serious panel. I’d never been on a serious panel before. No, it didn’t stay serious for very long. Fellow panelists included Jen, Nicole M, myself, and the venerable Jo “Scandalous Tea” Johnson. The goal of the panel was to illustrate how tea vendors could best use tea bloggers to get the word out on their wares. I was surprised by the ample turnout.
And I was even more surprised that – mid-panel – I’d forgotten Jen’s name.
Photo by Nicole Schwartz; “Derp” by Me.
Oops.
Once the Expo-ing leg of the day was done, I moseyed over to the Tealet beach house rental for a focused tasting. Elyse Petersn and Rie Tulali ran us through a couple of special teas from Nepal, as well as some Jin Jun Mei and Hawaiian white.
That’s all I needed. More caffeine.
Day One: Complete.
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