The Bean, the Brews, and the Buzz: Chicago Tea Fest 2025
- Neldon Hamblin
- May 2
- 11 min read
Hey friends! Happy Friday!
Last month, I was able to attend my first-ever Chicago Tea Festival. If you remember, my senior thesis in college was on the spread of gongfu tea culture in North America- with a vast majority of responses coming from Chicago and the surrounding communities. Chicago has a vibrant and incredibly friendly tea community and culture, so hitting the Chicago Tea Fest has always been on my bucket list. Well, fast forward to April- my best friend and an absolutely amazing tea person, Kevin (greenteaandgoodvibez on instagram) invited me to share a room with him and to host me at his house after the festival. Kevin is such an amazing guy and I really am grateful to consider him a friend- he is incredibly knowledgeable, friendly, and just an absolute blast to be around. So, I made sure to make it to this fest- and thanks to Kevin and my other great tea friends (Julia, Abe, Jeff, Megan, and so many more), I was able to have the time of my life exploring a city entirely new to me- and because of this trip, the amazing people, and the great vendors, I will be attending the Chicago Tea Fest annually.
So, without further ado, let’s get into my recap of the 2025 Chicago Tea Fest!
Saturday, April 12th, 2025
I had a late-night flight and didn’t get into O’Hare until about 1:30AM, so I made my way to the hotel room at about 2:15am. Meeting Kevin was so great- we spent a good bit chatting and then both immediately crashed for the night at around 3am. Because of the late night beforehand, even though Kevin had purchased the VIP ticket, which granted him early access to the festival, we slept in and got to the festival at about 11AM. After picking up our bags and tasting cups, and taking fun selfies and photos in front of the sign for the fest, Kevin and I made our rounds across the festival floor. The teacups themselves are beautiful and unique- I’ve never seen one with that style of footing before, but it worked quite well. There were about 30 different vendors spread across the rooms, which was great and gave each vendor ample space in their booths. The first booth we hit up was YangQingHao, a boutique puerh vendor from Taiwan, with the US arm being run by Emmett Guzman. I had long heard of YQH and their quality, so being able to sample their teas was amazing. I also got some great photos with Emmett, someone who I have long respected- and honestly, in my opinion, Emmett is one of the driving forces behind the world of puerh in the US. He made puerh accessible to a wider audience and his blog on yixing teapots has been an absolute lifesaver for many starting in the world of fancier clays.
Emmett was there with Jose and both had brought some of their personal stash of tea for people to enjoy. We started with the 2005 old tree, then moved on to the 2007 huangshan lingya, then an unknown shou puerh, a 2024 di nitang single tree sheng, 1980s oolong brick, and then had the 2012 Tei Gung 666, which was an absolute beast yet a delight at the same time- had a strong bitterness to it but an extremely pleasant huigan and intense qi. I could have stayed at Emmett’s booth all day! I ended up spending… a significant chunk at his booth and it was worth it. He had a grab bin of sorts, where each bag was labelled with a price and if it didn’t have one, it was only $1. So naturally, I picked up a few of those, too, and Kevin got some great 1990s CNNP ripe puerh per my recommendation.
After his booth, we stopped by Steep N’ Clay, owned by Tom and Kat Hill, based up in Elgin. Tom and Kat are such fun people and I loved chatting with them and meeting them. They had such a great selection of teaware and teas, and their gongfu tray was incredibly tempting. They had some great looking old white tea cakes as well as their pine-smoked heicha balls, which I have had before and greatly enjoyed. They were also sampling their jasmine jade ring green tea, which was refreshing and floral. Kevin and I then made our way to Nepal Tea Collective and sampled their high-elevation black tea, Everest Black, as well as their classics like Kathmandu cosmos. Sibahle Teas was next, and I loved their rooibos tea. After them, we stopped by Tea For All, a New Jersey staple, where Debbie and I quickly got chatting. I picked up a sick-looking tea cup from Mark Mohler (sanguineteapots), whose works I’ve long enjoyed, as well as some of their stunning 2025 first flush Doke Fusion black tea from India. They were sampling a few great teas, including a first flush darjeeling from Giddapahar Tea Estate. They also had some good-looking puerh cakes sitting on display.
I had seen this vendor on the list and raved to Kevin that he needed to try them: Effie’s Homemade. I looove their oatcakes, which taste like a cross between a savory cracker and a shortbread cookie, and which I generally pair with a sharp white cheddar and a nice glass of port. They had some great flavors, including a hazelnut cracker as well as a gruyere and pepper cracker, and a deliciously zingy ginger cracker. Kevin ended up buying a box on the spot. After them, we met up with the absolutely amazing Megan of Felicity Loft. Sampling the blueberry thrill was fun- I tried it during its various stages of steeping (as it steeps longer than most teas, but is wellll worth the wait) and the apple and rosehip combo really works great together. Her teas were phenomenal as always and I walked away with a bag of Cinnamon Elderberry tea, which smelled incredibly like hot cinnamon candies. Megan is amazing and I looove that I’ve been able to hang out with her twice this year- she is also someone I consider one of my closest friends and her tea is phenomenal, to boot! I got talking with her about what inspired her to create her blends, which was also fun learning about. Unfortunately at this moment, Kevin broke his teacup and had to get a new one- but thankfully, the festival organizers were well-prepared and had many spares for such incidents. Also unfortunately, the sound of breaking teacups was heard echoing through the festival halls often, usually followed by a collective groan of sadness.
Kevin and I then went to Sugimoto Teas’ booth, where we ran into Noli and Julia- seeing both of them again after Las Vegas was a real treat. It’s always fun catching up with tea friends and they are some of the best people out there. Julia is just such a delight to be around and whenever she’s serving tea, it’s sure to be a fun time- she’s informative and engaging. Also, the sakura sencha she served? Pure springtime bliss in a cup. Seriously. Next up was Jing Si Tea, who all had such delicious oolongs. Their hongshui oolong was sublime- and the Jing Si nuns were such fun people. According to Kevin, they "loved" me- he snagged this picture of them chatting with me. They were surprised I knew about hongshui and we got to chatting about oolongs and exchanging business cards. It was so much fun and their tea was quite special.
Now, I had not told anyone other than Kevin that I would be coming to the Chicago Tea Fest- so it was fun surprising some of the Chicago tea community staples. I have long loved Volition Tea, ever since their first New Year tea box, the Tiger Box- and I have appeared in livestreams with Annie before. Meeting Annie in person was such an amazing experience. It was fun seeing her look all shocked to see me, then excitedly give me a big hug like we were old friends (which, we are- but this was the first time I’d met her in person!). Her teas are amazing and her passion for both sharing sustainably-grown, single origin teas really shines. Hearing her talk about each of the teas they had on sale at the festival was such a delight. While at Volition’s booth, I also ran into the amazing Marco (steapd_tea), one of the biggest and earliest supporters of my blog and instagram page. Later on, I would also run into Luke van Oene, another key figure in the Chicago tea scene- and another good friend of mine. Kevin and I would also hang out with Kevin's friend, Anthony, who was spectacular, and then spend a good bit of time with Jeff- who was volunteering for the festival. Jeff is incredible and the amount of work he and every other volunteer put into the festival was amazing. We all got some delicious pastries as well and enjoyed eating them while chatting and catching up, which made for a fun afternoon with friends.
Kevin and I would then browse through the ceramics at the front of the festival, where I saw these super cool skull cups (pictured at the end in the general collage). We then went to Herbs and Kettles’ booth, where we chatted with Abe for a bit and enjoyed sampling their teas. I was particularly impressed with the GABA Assam, which was honestly almost indescribably good- notes of chocolate, honey, lychee, and hay pop through and come together in a calming, deliciously flavorful black tea. Such a fun tea!
Saturday Night After Party
Kevin, Julia, Jeff, Abe and I all decided to get together and go out for a Chicago staple: deep dish pizza. I ordered the deep dish pizza and Kevin ordered the SMOG (sausage, mushrooms, onions, green peppers) thin-crust tavern style pizza, and we all shared, family-style. This place also had RC Cola, which I had to get as I never see it anywhere. It was a very small, hole-in-the-wall eatery with the best pizza I have ever had in my life. Enjoying pizza with good friends after a long day of tea was a real treat. Unfortunately, Julia had to go back to her hotel so she was unable to join us, but Abe, Kevin, Jeff and I all went up to our room and had a tea party at midnight. We brewed up 4 teas in total: a Korean black tea stuffed inside a preserved yuzu, a shou puerh, a delicious honey pomelo dancong from White2tea, and to end the night, the basil-mint herbal tea from Felicity Loft. This was such a fun time, just sitting and brewing the tea for everyone- hearing their thoughts and talking about teas and everything else was so much fun. I’m lucky to have such great friends.
As always, here is the obligatory tea haul photo from my day at the expo:
Sunday
Technically the tea fest is a 2-day event, but Kevin and I decided to spend the second day doing touristy-stuff. Since it was my first time in Chicago, Kevin drove us to Millennium Park, where we would take fun pictures with The Bean, get some nice chai together, and walk the lakefront- being a desert dweller myself, it was incredible and mind-boggling to me at just how large Lake Michigan really is. It still blew my mind when we drove back to Kevin’s home and stopped in Milwaukee, seeing the same shoreline but almost 2 hours north. So crazy. We also had to stop at Portillo’s and get a cake shake and their famous hot dogs- something I had mentioned to Kevin as being the one really “Chicago” thing I wanted to do. My god, was that cake shake life changing- and the cake itself, too. So glad Kevin was willing to drive around and take me to these touristy experiences- he really is such an amazing friend and made this trip the best.
Later that night, at Kevin’s house, we would do an impromptu live stream on instagram- we drank through 4 different teas: a 2022 ChenShengHao LaoBanZhang, 1980s liubao from Austin’s Tea Sourcing, some 1990 liu an from YangQingHao, some aged dancong that Kevin roasted himself. I loved sharing the LBZ with him and also introducing him to the wonderfully funky world of liu an and liu bao. Being a fan of booze myself, too, Kevin treated me to some of their stash of gin, a favorite of mine, though my favorite drink of the night was his home-brewed ginger mead from 2020. Kevin used to brew his own mead and he definitely had a knack for it- the flavor profile on it was insane- so sweet and honeyed but with a nice, strong gingery kick to the face. It was such an easy sipper and one I wish I had a bottle of myself.
The following morning, before dropping me off at O'Hare again for my flight home to Utah, Kevin, his wife Maria, and his son Jack and I all drank White Christmas together, an absolutely delicious white tea from Crimson Lotus Tea. Meeting Jack and Maria was also such a great experience- Kevin and his family are such awesome people and being able to hang out with them really was just so perfect. Kevin also had prepared a nice hefty tea swap for me to take back home- as I had also brought some things to share with him as well. Tea swaps with friends, especially close ones, are always such awesome times and it was so much fun seeing what he'd prepared for me. An extra special thanks goes out to Kevin for bringing me into his home and his life, treating me like I was family, and for being like the older brother I never had- he's truly an amazing soul and I'm so glad I can consider him a friend.
Final Thoughts:
The Chicago Tea Festival was honestly such an incredible experience. I’m so grateful to have such amazing friends and to have had the chance to meet so many long-time friends and reconnect with others. They really made this such a special experience for me and I am so very thankful to know them. The vibes at the tea festival are unlike anywhere else- the friendliness of the crowd, the atmosphere of the historic building, and the great teas all come together to create a tea-lover’s dream environment. For only $20.00 general admission ($30.00 at the door, or $40.00 VIP) you do get a lot- the vendors are incredible and the teacup is a nice touch, as is the tote bag. There are additional classes, cuppings, and tastings you can attend for additional fees, but I did not attend any this time. With VIP admission, you get a premium tote bag, lanyard indicating VIP status, access to the upstairs VIP lounge with refreshments, early access to the festival floor (VIP gets to enter at 9AM), a catered breakfast (this year, it was from Panera), and a few snacks and swag like a neat mousepad.
The biggest thing I noticed was the talk of the tariffs at each of the vendor’s booths- each vendor is impacted differently and each was explaining the struggles of small-business ownership during these tumultuous times in the tea industry. However, the support for these small businesses was overwhelming, with many booths mentioning later that they had sold out entirely of some of their stock. The one critique I heard from several vendors was extremely minor- they felt that the festival was too long for one day (with the vendors being there from 9am to 6PM, which meant they also had to arrive much earlier to finish setup/etc.). Personally, I think the schedule for Sunday was perfect- 11am to 5PM seems like a fair way to balance the flow of visitors for the festival and minimize the feeling of tiredness that many vendors had after a long day Saturday. A good compromise would maybe be something like 10-5 for VIP members and 11-5 for general admission. Overall, though, I have absolutely zero complaints or issues with the festival- it was perfect and such an amazing experience and I can tell that the volunteers and organizers of the fest pour their hearts and souls into making sure it’s something great for everyone.
Overall, I would wholeheartedly recommend attending the Chicago Tea Festival if you ever get the opportunity- you won’t be disappointed. From a nice variety of vendors catering to both gongfu and western brewing, to a good selection of foods and pastries available onsite, as well as reasonably-priced admission, the Chicago Tea Fest hits the mark for a great example of what the US tea community is like. Having been, I can now see why Chicago has such a vibrant tea scene- everyone is so friendly and eager to share their latest tea finds and favorites with others. This truly was an amazing experience and I cannot wait for next year’s! Cheers, friends!
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