Leaves amongst the Beans: Tea at SCAA

Who knew that tea would be so popular at a coffee show? An estimated 10,000 people turned out for SCAA's Exposition this year and peppered Portland with coffee and tea aficionados, growers, roasters, blenders, teasmiths, and eager consumers.

Coffee and beer flow plentifully in Portland, though the town may be more iconically known for its role in the US tea market. Among others, Tazo, Stash, Oregon Chai, Tao of Tea and more recently, Steven Smith Teamaker all had beginnings here.

I was fortunate to have shared some tea with Veerinder Chawla in his tranquil tea room, the Tao of Tea in Southeast Portland. He is a charming man of noble pursuits- he has plans to revolutionize tea production in his home country of India, starting with his own small farm collective and processing facility. Power to the tea people! I can't wait to hear more.

I was also fortunate to have sipped a flight of teas in Steve Smith's tasting room where Steve's right hand man, Tony Tellin, graciously granted us a tour of the young but busting-at-the-seams operation in their imaginative and quirky space.
It was a quaint setting in comparison to the Tazo headquarters where both had spent years prior. With all of Steve and Tony's combined experience, it is no wonder the setting and the teas are both so enticing. Steve shared tales from days long ago of driving a semi truck (yes, really) to eastern Oregon to oversee and transport his peppermint harvest. We hope he puts this all in a book someday. He holds in his experiences a unique piece of tea history.

Tazo is packing up and heading north to join Starbucks, turning a page on the Portland tea story. If I were to need talented tea people, Portland may be chock full of them at this moment in time...

The SCAA show was pleasant, coffee roasters are a jovial bunch and set a nice mood for what could have been a jacked-up-on-caffeine kind of event.

While tea purveyors held solid ground on the show floor, we were pleased to stand out with our unique array of teaware in support of our fine collection of teas.
Our dragonfly-adorned cast iron teapot was a favorite, as was our variable temp electric kettle , and uv-protected glass jars for storage and display.

Please visit our wholesale site to view our full collection. We'll be looking forward to joining our coffee (and tea!) peers again soon in Chicago for Coffee Fest this June 8-10. Hope to see you there!