Bay Street Fine Tea Encounter:

Sloane Launches Pop-Up in Financial District

Up 45…down 200, up 100, down…so goes the ticker on the S&P/TSX and Dow Jones Industrial Index….

Since the late 90s when the dot-com bubble burst to recent years' global financial crisis, this has become modern day main street news, you don't even need to dig deep into the financial sections or watch BNN to hear it anymore.

Whew!  Queasy yet?  Stressed out?  Welcome to Bay Street, Canada's Wall Street.  Now imagine what it would be like if you worked in the Financial Industry like I do?! 

That's my day job so I don't need to imagine.  How do I survive and not lose all my hair from the stress?  One of my secrets is ….TEA.  

William E. Gladstone once said: "If you are cold, tea will warm you; if you are too heated, it will cool you; if you are depressed, it will cheer you; if you are excited, it will calm you.”

So it is a blessing for us Bay Street types that Sloane Fine Tea Merchants has just launched a pop-up tea salon right in the heart of Toronto's Financial District.  Some readers may remember Hoda and Sloane Fine Tea Merchants from an earlier post.

Hoda founded their brand.  She is also a Tea Sommelier like me, a graduate from GBC and certified by the TAC.  In addition, she's done the U.S. Specialty Tea Institute program and studied perfumery in France.

As the weather gets colder I'm delighted with this new development in my neighbourhood.  You know you're going to get a beautifully blended cup of tea at Sloane.  A total delight for the senses!

The Tea Salon is located in the Commerce Court at King and Bay.  If travelling by TTC, your destination would be King Station, get out of the subway and head into the famed underground PATH and follow the sign for Commerce Court.

Two doors down from the Second Cup and among the "Heritage Row" of Commerce Court,

There you will find the elegant Sloane Fine Tea Merchants' Pop-Up

very pretty!  (wait till you see the packaging...)

A touch of luxury - Sloane's linen-embossed gift boxes

Like tiny bottles of French perfume, the tea samples are ready to be experienced

Sweet Violettas and Rococo Roses - sugared petal delights

  I spy something perfect for the chocoholic on my Holiday list...

For chocolate lovers, Sloane Tea Company collaborated with artisan chocolatier Laura Slack of Laura Slack Chocolate to create their special Amethyst collection of hand painted tea infused truffles.  I sampled them at a Tea and Chocolate tasting at the recent Canada Sweet Baking Show.  They were yummy!  I especially enjoyed the one infused with Oolong Crème.

The truffles are hand-made and were not ready for their close-up when I arrived on opening day.  I see another visit in the near future...

Hoda Paripoush

Sloane will be in Commerce Court for the next three months until the end February 2013.  They will be serving tea samples.  Starting next week, they will also have teas to go.

Holiday shopping season has just started, what perfect timing!  Head down to Sloane's and sample some of their many delicious teas.  Pick up a China Tea Treasury sampler or a caddie or two of teas for the tea lovers on your list.

Which tea will be your new favourite?  Will it be the signature Heavenly Cream?  The Jasmine Snow Dragon?  (two of my favourites)   Or perhaps the Cocoa Chai Chai?

Feel free to post a comment and share your delightful new find with us!

O5 Tea + Kale & Nori = Cocktails, Tapas and Tea Event (An Impression)

On the lovely dry fall evening of October 17th,  my impromptu field reporter Drew Taylor walked into the O5 Rare Tea Bar in Vancouver as part of a birthday gift from me.  

 Some readers may recall Drew from a previous post, when my coffee drinking friend joined me at the Urban Tea Merchant for their Sakura Westcoast Tea Service.  Little did he know what he was in for as he took another leap into the world of fine teas.  

 What happens when you add a rare tea hunter, a creative mixologist, and a talented chef?   

A collaboration of fine teas, cocktails and culinary delights!   Pedro Villalon of O5 Tea, Lauren Mote and Chef Jonathan Chovancek of Kale & Nori Fine Culinary Arts joined together to combine each of their special talents and showcase the beautiful teas of Yunnan, China. 

You can find the full menu and tea influenced cocktail recipes here.

Drew's impression of the evening, in his words: 

"The drinks took the edge off the gathering and allowed the ensemble of tea enthusiasts to relax and meet while enjoying succulent dainties, all infused with many fine teas.  All the hosts were passionate, articulate and informed.  For the ticket price of $50, people definitely got their money's worth."

Photos by: Drew Taylor

Kale & Nori's line of bitters created by Lauren Mote

That's a matcha tea grinder on the left

Pistachio crusted turkey marble, Moondog spice, apricot - Moonlight tea puree (paired with the "Moonlight Desires")

"Moonlight Desires" (Gin & Marigold Flower Cordial with O5 "White Moonlight" tea syrup)

Kombucha Squash-tea emulsion, sherry-maple-pecan glazed pork belly (paired with the "Hekou-Lao Cai")

"Hekou-Lao Cai" (with Bison Vodka influenced by "Golden Curls" tea)

hmm, this must have been good, Drew had seconds!

O5 Tea Hunter - Pedro Villalon and Kale & Nori Chef - Jonathan Chovancek

Silver needles braised mushroom and rice croquette, wild ramp kim chi, green onion tofu aioli (a vegetarian addition to the menu paired with the "Misterios")

"Misterios" (Mezcal with Silver Needle & Rosemary Syrup component)

Silver Needles tea steamed Gulf Island mussels, Chinese sausage, Indian carrot pickles (also paired with the "Misterios")

 Sakekasu beef kababs, sweet & hot peppers, rockets, coronation raisin (paired with the "Ushky")

 

The "Ushky" (with a pu'er component)

Kale & Nori mixologist - Lauren Mote

O5 Tea Server (Kendra)  and Event Photographer (Issha Marie)

Teas from Yunnan - the Inspiration

 

 Oh snap!  I should have been there!  Maybe next time...  

World Tea Expo 2012

The World Tea Expo (WTE) took place last weekend in Las Vegas.  This annual gathering of tea professionals, companies, and speakers from around the world was extra special this year because it was its 10 year anniversary!

It was also my second time attending the WTE...and the first time I had the privilege of covering it as a "member of the press"!  It was great!!  This second time to the WTE was better than my first time back in 2010, for sure.  I was a little overwhelmed at my first visit; so many people, classes, huge floor filled with booths of tea companies...and first time to Vegas!

I arrived in Las Vegas a few days ahead of the WTE to enjoy the city and relax.  

Ah, Las Vegas... the Strip, this 6.8km stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard where all the "action" happens.  Don't be fooled, like I was, by how close to each other places appear to be on the map, these are huge, huge blocks!  In the intense heat (106 F/41C) of the desert, the Deuce and the SDX buses (Strip and Downtown Express bus), $5 for 2-hours or $7 for 24-hour pass, and the monorail are great alternatives to taxi or walking for transport.  Save yourself from the blisters and the $20 taxi rides that I had...

Elvis!!

After a couple days of the craziness and excesses of the Strip, I needed to get away from this make-believe world.  I needed to get back to nature, some zen to get ready for the start of the WTE.

What better way to do this than a day trip to one of the seven wonders of the natural world, The Grand Canyon! 

Photo: Drew Taylor

I wanted to go out there too...

Ah, it was great being out in nature.  The Grand Canyon was awesome!

Photo: Drew Taylor

NOW, I was ready for a great World Tea Expo...

Photo: Drew Taylor

All bundled up due to the frigid air conditioning.  Photo: Robert Gignac

 I had educational seminars and workshops starting 8am each of the three days of the expo.  Took in a networking reception to celebrate the WTE's 10 anniversary, and watched a formal Korean Scholar's Tea Ceremony.  I attended two special VIP/press tea tastings presented by the Tea Board of India and by aT (Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp), and tasted many teas from the offerings on the exhibit floor.

I'll bring you into the World Tea Expo with me in my next post.

Spring Tea Tasting at Tao's (Part 1)... and prep for World Tea Expo 2012

Last Saturday, my friend, Raymonde and I went to Tao's Tea Leaf for Spring tea tasting.  Both Raymonde and Tao Wu, the owner of Tao Tea Leaf, are Certified Tea Sommeliers too.  Tao just came back from his trip to China with lots of goodies...Spring teas, of course!

 

So what happens when three Tea Sommeliers get together to taste this season's Spring Teas?  Hours of sipping fun! 

Tao Wu  preparing the Spring teas 

Fresh teas definitely taste quite amazing!  Here is a sampling of the Spring teas we tasted:

Jun Shan Yin Zhen (yellow tea)

Silver needle

Silver Needle (old bush)

Jin Ping Black

An Ji Bai Cha

Phoenix oolong

A fun and interesting way to taste teas, side by side comparison of similar tea, in this case the two Silver Needles:

Silver Needle (left) and Silver Needle -old bush (right)

We had multiple steepings of some of these beautiful teas, in one case as many as nine.  We had to stop since we were starting to experience some serious buzz and still wanted to be able to sleep... eventually that night...

Raymonde and me

Stay tuned for details of the Spring tea tasting in a future post!


Now I have to prepare for WORLD TEA EXPO 2012 (WTE) which will take place in Las Vegas on June 1 - 3.  I'll be flying in a few days!  I still have to narrow down my list of workshops and seminars to cover, tea people and companies to meet.

It's the World Tea Expo's 10th anniversary this year and they are promising no repeats, "all new content".  I went to WTE two years ago and it was a lot of fun, educational, and met some awesome tea people.

Seminars and workshops with titles such as "Will Tea Ever be as Big as Coffee?", "Understanding Puer", various tea and health seminars, focused tastings, tea business related talks, and much more... how can I not attend this year?!  Off to finish choosing what to cover now...you can click here and see what would you choose...