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Writer's pictureNeldon Hamblin

"Sip Happens:" A Tea-rrific Time at the 2024 Northwest Tea Festival

Hey, friends! Happy Thursday to you! This past weekend I was able to attend my very first Northwest Tea Festival, which was held in Seattle at the Seattle Center. This marks the 14th annual Northwest Tea Fest (“NWTF”). Now, I was actually attending both as a blogger and as a presenter, which made this my very first time speaking at a tea festival (and hopefully, it’s not my last!). I’ve often heard that the NWTF is one of the best in North America, both for vendors and presentations, and I can confidently say that this is true. The environment is absolutely amazing; previously, my only experience at a tea expo has been the always-amazing World Tea Expo, but I can see why so many people travel the festival circuit across the US or go out of their way to attend the NWTF. The attendees there are all so passionate about tea or are extremely curious about the world of tea, making for great conversations around each vendor’s table. It makes you truly feel a part of a community where everyone is accepted and welcomed, from the snobbiest tea snob to the absolute beginner. The volunteers are selfless and willing and able to help in any and all situations, going above and beyond to make sure the festival is a smooth experience for many, making for an extremely cheerful and pleasant environment as a whole. All-in-all, I got over 600 photos and videos I’ve been editing through, so expect many more content dumps in the future regarding the NWTF, as it was just such a spectacular event. 


So, without further ado, let’s get into the recap of the entire festival. Enjoy, friends! 


Day 0: Arrival (Sept. 27th, 2024)


Having never been to the Pacific Northwest before, I had no idea what to expect flying into Seattle- I was honestly shocked at how green and gorgeous this area really is. Upon checking into my hotel, The Maxwell (which, side-note, was phenomenal- such a great place), I met Julia (of Sugimoto Teas) and Nick (of the Chicago Teahouse) for dinner down the street at Messina Modern Italian Kitchen. We had a lovely dinner together chatting and reconnecting (the last time I had seen Julia being at the World Tea Expo in March, which you can read about here) and I enjoyed hearing how their days had gone, as they were both vendors at the festival and had been setting up their booths all day. It was such a great time and the perfect way to kick off the festival weekend with a bang. 


A group of three friends smiling at dinner.
Myself, Nick, and Julia

Day 1: An Eventful Day (Sept. 28th, 2024)


The tea festival officially starts today at 10AM PST and runs until 6PM PST. My presentation is scheduled for 3:30PM on stage 1, which is only slightly terrifying. I’ll get into how that went more in a minute, but for now, let’s focus on the teas. The first tea of the day was actually a flight of teas at Friday Afternoon Tea, an absolutely amazing local company based in Seattle. The owner, Friday Elliot, is just one of the sweetest humans on the planet and it was an absolute joy being able to meet them in person and taste their teas. Being a trekkie myself, I especially loved their Romulan Ale, a very fascinating and unique blend (Apple, spicy ginger, blue pea flower, hops, lavender, and red chili flakes) that really impressed me- it was spicy, savory, and engaging, being just a fascinating tea to experience overall. Following the advice of seasoned NWTF-goers, I went straight to Crimson Lotus Tea’s booth, where I finally met Glen and Lamu in person, having been friends with them for years now. They were actually my second ever tea order, so they’re one of the oldest tea relationships I have. Their sheng and shou samplers really helped kickstart my love for puerh back in the day, so it was amazing finally meeting them. I sampled their new white tea, “No Escape,” which had a lovely crisp flavor with hints of coconut and peppers. I also tried their “Simple Shou,” an easy-going introductory shou puerh from 2016 with a thick mouthfeel and lovely sweetness. We’ll talk more about them later, as well, as I did make my way back to Glen and his table for a bit later today. I ran into Krystal (“tea_books_mugs” on instagram) and Chris (357leaves on instagram) and spent a good while chatting with them. Chris was the greatest and gave me a hefty chunk of some qianliang cha (“cheol ryeung” in Korean) that he’d picked up and cut in 2012, which was likely pressed in around 1992 or 2002, possibly even as old as the 1950s. It was incredibly generous of him and I can’t believe he gifted me some- I can’t wait to drink it!



After Crimson Lotus Tea, I made my way around the festival. I stopped at Sibahle (“see-bah-clay”) teas and sampled their rooibos chai, which was actually quite delightful. I then stopped by Old Ways Tea’s booth, as they were another company I’ve had a good relationship with for years now. Meeting Phil, one of the masterminds behind Old Ways Tea, was great. They had their zuhuo dahongpao out for samples, which is one of my favorite yanchas out there. They had a nice sampler flight as well, offering tastings of their lao cong rou gui (“old tree rou gui”), lao cong shui xian, osmanthus black tea, and their shui di yancha. Next up was Herbs and Kettles, another company I’ve had a longstanding relationship with. It was amazing meeting Abraham in person. At their booth, I tried their naga khalap, a favorite of mine (which, side note, I was the first tea blogger to review for them), GABA Assam black tea, vanilla lavender chai, and their cleansing golden latte. The lavender chai was fascinating- the lavender doesn’t overwhelm or get lost in the flavor of the chai spices, making for a truly unique and relaxing drink. The golden latte was deliciously earthy from the turmeric yet also incredibly nutty and sweet, a perfect example of a good golden milk. After this, I stopped by Nepal Tea Collective and saw Pratik and his team serving up their delicious teas. Pratik offered me a sample of a cold brew he had just experimentally finished- he took their first flush black tea (which I reviewed here) and cold brewed it. Boy, was it phenomenal. The fruity florals really popped when cold brewed and it lost all traces of astringency, being a smooth, sweet experience. 



I then stopped by Felicity Loft Tea and Cliche Teas, reuniting with Megan, who is absolutely amazing. Their mariner’s chai is delightfully delicious and super spiced, but in a great way. I also went to Tao Teaware and talked with Dart, where I eventually ran into the creator of Herb the Travelling Tea Turtle, Michell, and chatted for a while. I met lots of great tea friends at this expo, which really made it quite a phenomenally fun experience. 


After this, I visited the Tea Fairy Booth, which arguably had some of the best Chinese teas I’ve ever seen at an expo before; they had tianjian fu cha, liubao, taiping houkui, and many more teas on display. Their houkui was incredibly sweet and deliciously light, the perfect example of what a good taiping houkui should taste like. However, at this point, it was time to get ready for my presentation, so I made my way to the stage.



The Presentation:



The presentation went well! I had a full house, with every available seat taken, and I had some really great audience engagement and questions afterwards. The fact that so many of you wanted to listen to me present is mindblowing and I can’t express how grateful I am to have your support. During the presentation, though, there were minor tech issues that caused slight bumps in the anticipated schedule, and I ended up having to finish the presentation old-school-lecture-style, which received a warm response (no one got up and left, haha). I’ll embed the slides here for now but there will be a second part of this post, up later today, with just the slides and my presentation sc0ript and notes for your leisure. Chris was absolutely amazing, as well, and recorded the entire presentation, even stopping during the technical difficulties. So, here are those slides as a PDF. I will upload a second post later with just the video and the slides together. The livestream on Instagram seemed to go smoothly, too, so thank you all so much for attending both in-person and virtually to support me. It means the world to me that so many of you went out of your way to come to my session or to watch the livestream, some going as far as creating instagram accounts to watch the livestream- thank you all so, so much for your support. I appreciate each and every one of you!



Back to Exploring:


After that, it was 4:30 PM, so I made my way over to Glen to sit at his tea table and enjoy some great teas together. We drank their 2007 aged Changtai tuocha, his newly-released nannuo pure cake, gamechanger shou puerh, and as a special treat, he offered to brew up some altered state as we approached 5PM. My god, was the altered state potent in the best way possible. After a fairly stressful yet exciting and fun time presenting, that strong, potent qi was exactly what I needed. The cha qi of the altered state washed over my frazzled brain like the ocean tide on a beach washing away sand castles- it cleared my mind and boy did it hit good. Just look at this gorgeous tea- the delicious golden broth and a lovely stonefruit heavy flavor with a lasting subtle bitterness, this tea is the best possible heavy-hitter for qi I’ve seen.



The final booth stops for the day were at JTea and Tea, and Bardo Tea. At Bardo, they had an impressive spread of teas, including lesser-known teas like chong shi cha- which I greedily snatched an ounce of, as good chong shi cha is hard to come by! They very kindly brewed up a 1998 liu bao for me to try as they’d heard I had been presenting on heicha, which was extremely generous of them. It had a lovely, thick mouthfeel with a slick oily texture and a deliciously camphorated earthy flavor. So, so good! 



After a long, yet fun day, I went to dinner with Megan and her team, Pratik (Nepal Tea Collective) and his team, and Jeremy Smith (“the communitea project”) at McMenamins, which was delightful. It was so great chatting with them all and getting to know them better over dinner and it really reinforced my love for the tea community and all it has to offer- friendship and warmth are everywhere to be found in the tea community. 


Day 2: The Purchasing of Teas (Sept. 29th, 2024)


Today is the day my wallet cried out in agony, yet my stomach cried out in happiness. Today I went around and purchased the teas I loved sampling. Before I got into purchasing teas, though, I ran into a few awesome people, like Frank (founder of CSPuerh) and Andrew Goodman, the man who coordinated me speaking at the festival- such amazing people. My first stop of the day was Wang Family Tea. I’ve known them for years as well and it was amazing talking with them. They had a lovely tasting menu and would brew up tea on request- I tried all of them, but my favorites were their $300 aged honeydew and aged pomelo oolongs, very similar to traditional Hakka fruit teas. I’ve coveted and eyed this tea for as long as I can remember seeing it available, so trying it was a great experience. After Wang Family, I checked out another staple insTEAtution: Floating Leaves Tea, where I met Shiuwen and Noah, both absolute legends in the tea industry. It was great chatting with them about roasting, the benefits of charcoal vs electric roast, and the differences in flavor, as well as sampling their teas. 



I then went to the Chicago Tea House’s table and tasted their jasmine green tea, then made my way to Sugimoto Teas, another company I’ve always loved. They had their usual delicious Japanese greens, as well as a hojicha latte, which was phenomenal. I watched their traditional Japanese tea ceremony presentation, which was incredibly insightful and fun to see, and sampled their gyokuro and senchas- which, Gavin explained, they were brewing at a lower temperature than usual per their headquarter’s suggestions. This resulted in a sweeter, easier to drink brew, but to be honest, the lower temperature almost removed a characteristic from the tea- it felt like something was missing, almost like it had a depth lurking in the background waiting to be pushed. I also stopped by Anna Ye Tea and their booth, sampling their VietNamese puerh- as VietNamese teas are a passion of mine as well, and she had read my blog post on VietNamese teas. After that, I went to Smith Tea Maker’s booth. I will say, this booth had some great teas but the experience with the representatives was a bit…less than desirable. The sales reps convinced me to buy a box of their Autumn Leaves blend, which was absolutely delicious (and, quite honestly, the best pumpkin spiced tea I’ve ever had- the ancho chile lends such a unique warmth that it felt like drinking a slice of pumpkin pie), but the way they did it? They told me that it was not sold online and was only available at their table, and that it was such a limited batch that once they had sold out what was at their booth, it would be gone. Turns out, it’s a totally seasonal tea available online for a dollar more than what I paid at the expo ($15.99, whereas at the expo it was only $15). It was just icky of them to do that. Now, they also had a fascinating herbal tea- northwest alder leaf (blend 360), which was unique. Slightly tart, floral like a rose, slightly astringent, notes of pine and fresh unripe tomatoes, yet entirely sweet- such a fun experiment but not one I’d stock up on. The sales rep also did brew up some of their first flush darjeeling (blend no.71), which was a classic darjeeling but had been oversteeping in their hot water carafe, so it was slightly bitter. 



I then visited Miro Tea’s booth. They had some fascinating teas and teaware- starting with these cute yixing and nixing tea pets. I ended up purchasing one of these “cultural revolution bricks” of shou puerh, pressed in 2007, as it was only $22 and it was surprisingly clean and tasty when I sampled it- it had a lovely, earthy, clean, sweet flavor and reminded me more of a liu bao than a shou puerh. It was fascinating and also kitschy, so I had to get it. CC Fine Tea also had a fascinating display with a delicious phoenix mountain dancong (specifically mi lan xiang), which was one of the best ones I’ve ever had. They also had a delicious shou puerh and an aged sheng for sample, but the shou and dancong were the standout teas to me. 


Also seen were the fascinatingly quirky B. Fuller’s Mortar & Pestle, a very unique booth. They were reminiscent of a steampunk apothecary and their employees mirrored that look in their appearance. They offered some interesting looking teas, like their wellness herbal set, bag of mulling spices, as well as a variety of “pure” teas, like Fulin tuocha and other puerh cakes. They were definitely quirky and fascinating and I enjoyed chatting with them. After them, I went to Lizzy Kate’s booth, where their Earl Grey Cream was sampled as well as a few of their fruitier herbals and flavored blends like their apple cinnamon tea; however, the earl grey cream was  the highlight for me as it was absolutely delicious. 


I went upstairs for lunch to the Italian Festival, which was amazing. After enjoying some pasta, I returned and made my way to the other vendors; next up was the Perennial Tea Room. Their blends were fascinating- the coconut pouchong smelled amazing. After them, I went to Amu Nutrition and tasted their Mongolian herbal medicinal blends- their himalayan buckwheat and their “breathe tea” were both very pleasant blends. The Mongolian black gojiberry was fascinating- very light and not much flavor, but look at how intense the color is. 



I made a quick stop for some energizing sheng, which was found in Crimson Lotus’s “Honeybomb” jingmai cake, which was brewing in their giant thermoses that Lamu expertly kept topped off to avoid bitterness. I then rounded over to Cliche Teas, trying their blends- their blends incorporate fantasy and writing themes with cozy teas, making for a pleasant experience. I loooved Rough Draft- such a delicious tea. The coconut, cocoa, and black tea worked perfectly together and the toasted buckwheat made it taste like drinking a s’more. I then had a bit of tea with Jonathan of Jonathan Steele Pottery and Dart of TaoTeaware, which was great. After that, I spent a good hour drinking tea at Crimson Lotus Tea’s table, where I was joined by Michell, Chris, and Frank (CSPuerh). We sat and drank the aged changtai, a shou, and experienced the true longevity of their single-tree nannuo sheng- Glen managed to steep that sucker a whopping 15 times! It was incredibly impressive. When this was over, I went around taking photos with vendor friends and made my way to the final tea booth of the expo: TeaJTea, great friends of mine that I always love chatting with. I tried, and purchased, their Lotus White Tea, which was phenomenally sweet. They have a line of Vietnamese floral teas, which will launch in 2025, that they were sampling out. I personally loved the lotus the most, but the chloranthus black tea was fascinating- super floral and perfumey, but tasty. Their pomelo green was fascinating too. Thuy also broke out their award-winning green tea, which was cold brewing, and served me some- that was a spectacular way to end the tea day. So light yet powerfully flavorful- it was almost unbelievable. It was incredibly sweet, smooth, and had a pleasant vegetal note underlying it, it was just the best. I can see why it’s award winning and took home “Best Green Tea” at the 2024 WorldTea Awards! 



The Tea Haul:


A Haul of tea from the NWTF
Northwest Tea Fest Haul

All-in-all, I walked away with the following: a box of “Autumn Leaves” from Smith Tea Maker, a “Cultural Revolution” shou puerh brick, an ounce of chong shi cha (“Reincarnation Post Liu Bao” from Bardo), lotus white tea from TeaJTea, 100g of aged sheng maocha (2008 Jingmai sheng maocha) from Crimson Lotus Tea, a jianshui clay teapot from Crimson Lotus Tea, and a few samples tossed in from vendor friends, as well as the gifts from good friends of mine. Thankfully, the damage wasn’t too much, unlike World Tea Expo, where I came home with a second checked bag full of tea and teaware, this time, I was more restrictive in my tea purchasing. I also got a great NWTF tote bag and souvenir cup. Fun fact, the festival was so busy, they actually ran out of all of their stock of cups AND their backup stock! I was told that by Sunday morning, they had gone through all 2,500 cups and their 800 backup cups and had to send someone down to the store to pick up more tasting cups. Isn’t that wild? 


Wrap-up:


The 14th annual Northwest Tea Fest was absolutely amazing. I loved being able to share my passions with a large crowd and was extremely glad that this was my first event for presenting- it was so much fun and everyone was so supportive. I had an absolute blast of a weekend hanging out with tea friends, meeting old friends and making new ones over a common love of tea. The NWTF really showed me just how amazing the tea scene is in North America- it helped me to really see, firsthand, the growth of the North American gongfu tea community and the increased appreciation for tea that North America is experiencing. Those who know me know that I studied this for my degree, so seeing this firsthand was just amazing. 


Overall, this was an incredibly academic and professional tea festival, with presenters sharing their expertise in engaging ways and with the whole thing running extremely smoothly thanks to the work of their dedicated volunteers. If you’re in the area, definitely check the Northwest Tea Fest out- you won’t be disappointed. For only $20 admission, which gets you a cup and a tote bag, you get so much more- you get an amazing experience and a great glimpse into tea culture and the future of the industry through interacting with passionate individuals. Make sure to mark your calendars for the 15th annual NWTF, with dates to-be-announced, though it tends to be around the same time each year. 


Thank you all so much and thanks again to everyone who made this past weekend so amazing- you all mean the world to me and I really appreciate your support. Happy Steeping, friends, and here’s to many more tea expos and festivals in the future! Cheers, friends. 


Tea Friends and Touristy Photos



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2 Comments


Cindy Tuisku
Cindy Tuisku
Oct 04

This was the best festival! It was great to meet you in person and to hear your wonderful presentation. I look forward to our paths crossing again!

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Neldon Hamblin
Neldon Hamblin
Oct 05
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Thank you! I do as well, it was so wonderful meeting you in person!! I appreciate your support! ☺️ Happy Steeping!

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