Thursday, February 18, 2010

2010 Victoria Tea Festival Overview



The 2010 Victoria Tea Festival turned out to be better than expected. Couldn't help but expect. One has been to a handful of tea festivals in Asia and didn't expect much from this tea event held in Canada, the only of its kind here.


The stage was set as soon as you entered as the event was held in the beautiful glass panelled historic building, Crystal Gardens .


There were a few interesting speakers each day. Especially informative was Barry Till, the curator of the Art Gallery of Victoria and the second largest collection of Asia Art in Canada.


Out of the exhibitors about half were not even tea exclusive dealers or shop owners. Out of the 'actual' tea exhibitors about 1/3 were worth while spending some time around. There were a few good matcha exhibitors, a few famous local staples, a tea coop making a difference in Assam, a dealer offering some rarer Japanese greens, and even a dealer with tea sourced directly from China and... Korea!


One plans on bringing you the stories of those worthwhile dealers and some reviews of their tea.


Peace

4 comments:

Evan Meagher said...

Glad to hear the festival was good. I'll have to try to make it up for next year's!

Matt said...

Evan,

See you next year ;)

Peace

Jasen said...

Would you consider it worth the trip from Calgary next year? I know, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that... just wondering if there would be much draw for out-of-towners.

Matt said...

Jasen,

It's a 2 day festival. The guest speakers and presenters would be the big draw. Most of the speakers this year were worth listening to. Once you pay the $20 weekend ticket you get free tea samples (often full cups of tea) and lots and lots of free tea snacks (gourmet chocolate, biscuits, a wide selection of fine cheeses, and lots of other sweets, and ourdouroves).

The food and the speakers, could be worth the trip. As one said, there were only a handful of truely high quality tea vendors. So if you are coming purely for the vendors, maybe its not worth it. But if you are coming for the whole package it is probably worth your while.

Hope that helps with your decision next year.

Peace