2nd Annual San Francisco International Tea Festival

Afternoon Tea Across America members meet up!
Photo: Elizabeth Urbach

Mr. Fong and Mr. Pratt opening the
2012 Festival.  Photo: Elizabeth Urbach

My friend and I went to the The San Francisco International Tea Festival at the Ferry Building Marketplace last Sunday.  A big highlight for me was meeting up with some of the members of the Afternoon Tea Across America e-mail group on Yahoo (see photo at left)!  We had a good time, and will probably go again next year.  The festival, open to tea lovers outside the professional tea trade, involved 16 tea vendors and various experts who offered samples of their tea and tea products, gave lectures and led tea tastings.  There were about 1,000 attendees, who received a small bag of promotional handouts, a few samples of tea, and an official tasting cup, at the festival entrance.

Tea Bloggers' Choice Awards: And the 2012 winners are ...

Association of Tea Bloggers

The results are finally in!  I am ashamed to say I haven't tried most of these teas, but that means I now have a great excuse to buy more tea: I have to get to know the winning teas!  These are the winners of the Tea Bloggers' Choice Awards for 2012.  

• Unblended/Unflavored Black :  Teavivre Yunnan Dian Hong Golden Tip 
• Blended/Flavored Black:  Harney and Sons Earl Grey Supreme 
• Unblended/Unflavored Green:  Den's Tea Gyokuro Kin 
• Blended/Flavored Green:  Aiya Tea Matcha Infused Sencha 
• Unblended/Unflavored Oolong: Teavivre Jin Xuan Milk Oolong
• Blended/Flavored Oolong: Naivetea Lychee Oolong
• Unblended/Unflavored White: Rishi-Silver Needle Premium
• Blended/Flavored White: Art of Tea Coconut Creme White Tea
• Unblended/Unflavored Puerh: Rishi Ancient Puerh Classic
• Blended/Flavored Puerh: Stash Black Forest Cake Puerh
• Herb Blend: David's Tea Chocolate Rocket
• Single Herb: David's Tea Spearmint

Have you tried these teas?  What do you think of them? 

It's a Blog Carnival, and you're invited!

Mini pu-erh tuo cha: source unknown.
(They were a gift.)

What's the occasion?  The Association of Tea Bloggers and their Tea Bloggers' Choice Awards.  As a member of the Association, I'm collecting nominations for "favorite teas", and I have too many favorites!  I can only nominate one tea for each category (see below), but I drink mostly flavored black tea blends, and don't know which one to choose as my favorite, not to mention, I'm still getting familiar with the many other teas available and don't know that I have a favorite, say, oolong or pu-erh tea (yet).  So, I ask for your help: which are your favorite teas?

Black tea (flavored and unflavored): I have so many favorites (see previous post) for flavored tea blends, that it's just silly.  I still don't know which one to choose!  The ones I've been drinking most this summer (as cold-brew iced teas) include Satori Tea Bar's Earl Grey Creme which is a smooth vanilla Earl Grey, Lady Londonderry which is a strawberry-lemon scented black tea, and Valley of Heart's Delight which is a black tea flavored with stone fruits; Lisa's Tea Treasures' Royal Wedding which is a raspberry champagne flavored Darjeeling; and Whittard of Chelsea's Orange Blossom black tea.  My favorite unflavored black tea blend is between Taylor of Harrogate's Yorkshire Gold and Tfactor Specialty Teas' Cream of Assam, although I've started to become interested in 2nd flush Darjeelings ... I've also been drinking a lot of Tazo Tea's Chai, iced.  However, these are all blends, and I don't know that I have tasted that many unblended black teas!

Favorite tea.

vintage yellow rose cup and saucer
from my collection.

So, in choosing favorite teas to nominate for the Tea Bloggers' Choice Awards, I have more than one favorite tea in several categories!  I'm sure you can empathize!  Here are some of my current favorites: 

Earl Grey Creme from Satori Tea Bar 

Lady Londonderry from Satori Tea Bar 

The Valley of Heart's Delight from Satori Tea Bar

Bloomsbury Afternoon from The Ladies' Tea Guild 

The Royal Wedding from Lisa's Tea Treasures 

Earl Grey from The Good Earth 

Orange Blossom black tea from Whittard of Chelsea 

Yorkshire Gold from Taylor of Harrogate 

PG Tips from Brooke Bond 

Cream of Assam from Tfactor Specialty Teas 

Candy Cane Lane from Celestial Seasonings (makes a great iced tea!) 

Jasmine Green Tea from History San Jose (sold in their gift shop; don't know the actual source) 

Original Herb Blend from The Good Earth 

Lemon Ginger herbal tea from Stash 

Oregon Peppermint herbal tea from Stash 

What's your favorite tea?

What's in your teapot?
Image: FreeFoto.com

I just heard about a new "competition" called the Tea Bloggers' Choice Awards, and thought it would be fun to participate.  At first I thought I would need to choose my favorite tea blogs (but there are so many!) and nominate them for an award, but the "competition" is actually between tea blends, not companies or blogs.  Here is the explanation from the Association of Tea Bloggers website: 

"What are the TBC Awards?

The TBC Awards are independent awards of the Association of Tea Bloggers (ATB) determined by members of the Association of Tea Bloggers and their readers to celebrate favorite teas of the online tea marketplace.

- The awards showcase favorite teas of the online tea community

- The awards reveal useful info on tea consumer preferences

- It is NOT a list of “best” teas. Awards do not necessarily reflect a tea’s quality

- The awards encourage interaction between bloggers and their readers, strengthening their voice in the tea community

- The awards point new tea drinkers to teas they may also enjoy

Winners are announced once per year. Winning companies receive a formal statement of their tea having won a particular category and an official winner’s seal/logo that can be used in association with that product."