It’s been a busy­ couple of weeks. I attended a friend’s chamei chakai, followed back to back by three Tea Festivals—Tea Gorgeous Equinox, the Northwest Tea Festival, and the Victoria Tea Festival Revival.

Normally, I have the Social Energy for exactly one festival a year, and this’ definitely taken it’s toll on me. I’m pretty content to spend the next couple of weekends recouping in isolation; it’s officially Cozy Sweater and Books weather.

Tea Gorgeous Equinox was a new event this year, put on my a few friends in an art studio. The purpose was to invite attendants to an intimate introduction to different cultures of tea. I missed the revived Vancouver Tea Festival this year in order to attend, and participated in putting on a small history of tea blending demonstration. It felt like a good trial run for something that could potentially evolve into a proper workshop in the future.

My specific topic/niche was vintage or Victorian era tea blending, where I talked a bit about the history of blending, and how blends differed from today, while following an old recipe from an 1890s blend book, using the closest equivalent modern-day teas. Having participants first taste each component on its own, before assembling them into the finished blend.

For a bit of flair, I specifically chose a blend that included S.O.P. (see: Scented Orange Pekoe), and had everyone taste from a selection of scented green teas, allowing them to discuss and then vote on which to add to the final blend. The finished tea turned out wonderfully—something I’d like to blend again. From the choice of Osmanthus, Jasmine, and Gardenia greens, Gardenia won out. I was afraid it would be too light, but in this case, the Gardenia mixed sublimely with a deeply fruity Fujian hongcha (Tangyang), a brisk, citrusy, very tippy Ceylon, and a sweet and nutty Keemun. The Tangyang hongcha was the last of a sample I had, so I’ll have to find a stable source for that if I ever hope of blending this one again.

At some point I might assemble my blending history notes into a blogpost, but Tasting Qualities and The Thirst for Empire both cover the topic well, and were useful sources. Though, in my rush to cover everything, I definitely bungled the history-talk portion of my setup (I’m really easy to get off-topic and wasn’t able to perfectly juggle preparing the tea, talking tasting notes, AND talking history).

The event also included friends performing a chanoyu temae for attendants, a gongfu table, a matcha milling demonstration, and traditionally prepared spiced chai being served throughout (a delicious addition that kept me going).

http://Here’s a slideshow of the event.

The weekend following this, I roadtripped down to Seattle with a few friends for the Northwest Tea Festival. I think this is only about the fourth time I’ve ever been to the States. We only stayed for one day, but I did manage to attend a couple talks. I’d definitely like to hit up both days in the future—there were a number of interesting topics for Sunday that I missed.

I’m well acquainted with the Vancouver tea companies, so it was nice to branch out and speak to companies I only knew of from an online presence. And visit Crimson Lotus again, who came up only once for a Vancouver Tea Festival. I wasn’t able to spend as much time as I’d have liked at all the booths, and missed out on a few teas I only spotted on my way out the door. I might need to plan some online orders.

I’ve been loosely learning Urasenke chanoyu from a friend (the aforementioned recipient of his chamei), and there was a practitioner of the Yabunouchi school at the tea festival; we were chosen to join her demonstration as guests, and it was very interesting to see the differences in how utensils are handled in the Yabunouchi school versus Urasenke.

One gripe was that the talks were held in the same space as the vendors, and although they were fenced off and the microphones were more than adequate, the use of a projector was rendered practically useless as there was no way to dim the lights.

Finally—I wasn’t planning to go to this year’s Victoria Tea Festival Revival. I attended last year’s, but decided last minute to accept an invite from friends, and ferried over the night before. (I was promised our accommodation would have cats).

It was much the same group as last year, and I had a good time mingling. I ended up helping at a booth to sell a friend’s wares—hand made tea runners, of which I plan to buy two. I also brought the leftover freebies and art cards that I made for the Tea Gorgeous Equinox. My tea wheel stickers interested a lot of people—I’ll have to make more as I ran right out, and maybe put some thought into what to do with them in the future. I’ve thought of turning them into a stamp…