Time (and Rita) Flies!

My, how time flies! Can you believe October is coming to an end already?!  I've been busy traveling, attending food shows, tea events, taking tea workshops and visiting tea shops since my last post.  I've been to Seattle, Vancouver, Montreal and now getting ready to go to Vancouver again for the inaugural Vancouver Tea Festival this Saturday!  And after that, who knows, maybe Ottawa for their tea festival too!

I'm also busy sorting through my Spring China Tea Tour photos looking for worthy candidates to submit for the Tea & Art section for next year's Toronto Tea Festival.

I thought I'd share some of my photos from the travels with you here.

 

 

You might recognize some of the people in these! More details and pictures to come!

Back from China: Return to Cyberspace

I can't believe the month of May is almost over!  The time has flown since my return from China.  It's taken me a long time to get over the jetlag.

Trip was awesome!  Back with even greater appreciation for how much there is still to learn about tea. There's a Chinese proverb that goes something like this...

                 "Reading ten thousand books is not as useful as traveling ten thousand miles."  

Reading a book can tell you how steep the mountains will be, how fresh and sweet the air is in a valley of tea fields, but until you've been there, it's just not the same.  But I'm happy to report that I've been there!

Everyone's asking "can I see your photos"?  Hey, I want to see them too!  I'm working hard at it and I've only made it through half so far!   So, here's a few samples to show some highlights...an appetizer of sorts.

(Image: Donna Sikora)

(Image: Master Zhou)

Master Zhou

(Image: Michaelle McLean)

That's it for now.  Stay tuned, more to come soon!

Off to China for Tea

I can hardly wait!  In a couple of days, I will be on a 14.5 hour flight to Shanghai to join Tao Tea Leaf's Spring Tea Tour.  A small group consisting of five fellow travellers led by Tao Wu, co-owner of Tao Tea Leaf  on a journey to discover, taste and, of course, buy the freshest this year's crop has to offer.  You can click here for the itinerary.

We're going to learn first hand how tea is made from bush to cup.

Looking at these samples of yixing clay teapots, I am so excited to meet Yixing pottery masters and learn the ancient art of making these tiny precious teapots.

I wonder how many I can stuff in my suitcase...?

Wuyi Mountain Dreaming...

In a couple of days I will be off to the original land of tea, China!  It is exciting to think that I will be smelling , touching and seeing the tea plant first hand.  In preparation for my trip and to stir the imagination, here is a documentary by China's CCTV on one of the places I will be visiting, Wuyi Mountain (Wuyishan) in Fujian province.

This video is in Mandarin Chinese with English subtitles but it has some beautiful scenic shots, is informative, and gives you a nice overview of Wuyi Mountain.  It is 26 minutes long, does take a little while to buffer, but compared to my 14.5 hour flight soon, that's nothing!

Grab a tea and enjoy the video!
http://english.cntv.cn/program/documentary/wuyitea/

You Had Me at Tea ...

In 2006, while flipping through the George Brown College course calendar, I came upon a new program on Tea Appreciation. This four course tea appreciation certificate would later be expanded to become a more advanced Certified Tea Sommelier Certificate program.

One night a week like clockwork - I would go to class and sip, slurp, and spit tea.  (Hey, tea's got caffeine you know!  I still wanted to sleep when I get home... ) .  We examined all sorts of teas - teas made from the tea plant (Camellia sinensis) to herbal infusions (also known as tisanes) from around the world.

Sampling of teas and tea tasting cups 

Leaves ready to be examined.  Teas ready for tasting.

One course became two ... then three and so on until finally in 2009, I would become part of the first group of tea sommeliers ever to become certified by the Tea Association of Canada.

Now why would I take on such an endeavour in the first place, you may ask.  Oh, because George Brown College had me at TEA. 

Seth Godin, in his book, Purple Cow, describes (page 79) the Japanese term "Otaku" as "something that's more than a hobby but a little less than an obsession.  Otaku is the overwhelming desire that gets someone to drive across town to try a new ramen-noodle shop that got a great review."  Well, that pretty much describes how I am with tea.

I am a tea otaku...  yes, I admit it ..... I am a tea addict.

I'm not sure whether all those courses fed the otaku in me or I already had this huge passion beforehand.  All I know is I could be innocently walking on the street and as soon as I see a tea shop, I would stop in my tracks and go in to check it out.

I could be on a family trip in China and see the Chinese character for tea and you'd better grab a hold of me or at least my wallet so I don't buy the whole shop! 

Tea Shop in Suzhou, China

Tea wares in the teashop

                                            No tea plant is safe...

 Longjing tea.  West Lake, Hangzhou, China  (by Mark Fong)

As a Certitfied Tea Sommelier, I will act as your ambassador and guide as we journey though the exciting world of tea.  So please join me in my travels, near and far, as we learn about all things tea.

And maybe eventually ... I could have you ... at TEA.


Updated on November 23, 2010.

(All photos unless otherwise noted were taken by Rita Fong)