World Tea Expo

The Tea House Times

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WORLD TEA EXPO A HUGE SUCCESS, RECORD ATTENDANCE

The First US Tea Auction sets World Price Record

Las Vegas, NV – April 3, 2006 –

The World Tea Expo, the premier marketplace for the tea industry and the largest tea trade show and conference in the World, closed last week on its most successful year ever. The Expo experienced tremendous growth in 2006, far surpassing expectations, with 4,122 participants “The record attendance we experienced is evidence of the exponential growth the industry is experiencing,” explained George Jage, World Tea Expo founder and president.

Always a catalyst for the tea industry, the Expo was the perfect forum for tea companies to display new and interesting products and to connect with thousands of buyers, both large and small. This year’s significant buyers included Whole Foods Markets, Nestle Beverage, the Kroger Company, Cadbury Schweppes Beverages, Bath & Body Works, Trader Joe’s, Wegman’s, United Natural Foods, H.E.B., Cost Plus, Jamba Juice, and Hyatt Hotels.

This year’s Expo also featured a full program of entertaining events and educational seminars for attendees. Among the highlights were stunning performances of Japanese and Chinese tea ceremonies, Chado Chef cooking with tea demonstrations featuring top chefs such as Rick Moonen and Kerry Simon, and a keynote address from founder, CEO, and president of Jones Soda Co., Peter van Stolk.

Nation’s First Tea Auction Breaks a World Record

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This year, the World Tea Expo also played host to the country’s first Tea Auction, in which teashop owners and tea connoisseurs were able to purchase 5- and 10-kilogram lots of one-of-a-kind premium teas from the Nilgiri region in India. 42 different teas from 14 different Nilgiri estates were auctioned. The evening before the auction, a special tasting event was held, giving buyers a chance to see, smell, and taste the teas they would be bidding on as well as a chance to meet the growers from Nilgiri. A stunning success, the Tea Auction had already set a world record by the time the first lot was sold. After a spirited bidding war on Glendale SFTGFOP leaves, Jennifer Cauble, who hosts tea tastings in Fort Worth, Texas, purchased the first ever tea sold at auction on US soil. The tea sold for $600 per kilogram, which may be the highest price ever paid for black tea in an auction. The Third Annual Iced Tea Shake-Off: The envelopes please!

The Expo kicked off with the third year of its ever-popular Iced Tea Shake-Off competition. Never a disappointment, the Shake-Off was full of grand theatrics and great iced blends. All entrants were judged by a panel of experts, including chef Rick Moonen and Jeffrey Hattrick, Afternoon Tea Maitre d’ at the Ritz-Carlton, Phoenix. And the winners are:

Ready-To-Drink Category

Bottled teas

o Best Flavored: Solebury Home, Lemongrass Chai

Runner Up: ITO EN, Teas’ Tea Lemongrass Green

o Best Unflavored: Adagio Teas, Anteadote

Runner Up: ITO EN, Teas’ Tea Pure Green

o Best Sweetened: ITO EN, Tea Apple

Runner Up: The Cha Dao Tea Company, Jasmine Green Tea with Lemon

o Best Packaging: ITO EN, Teas’ Tea Lemongrass Green

Runner Up: Solebury Home, Pomegranate Green Tea

o Best Overall: ITO EN, Tea Apple

Runner Up: Solebury Home, Pomegranate Green Tea

Commercially Brewed Category

Teas made fresh in front of the judges, presented simply in glasses

o Best Black Tea: Rishi Tea, Organic Pure Iced Tea

Runner Up: Walters Bay, Black Ice Tea

o Best Flavored Black Tea: Numi Teas, Brrrgamot Black

Runner Up: Barnes & Watson Fine Teas, Sun Splash

o Best Green Tea: Rishi Tea, Organic Citron Green

Runner Up: Sun Garden Specialty Teas, Pineapple Green Tea

o Best Value: Walters Bay, Black

Runner Up: Walters Bay, Green

o Best Overall: Numi Teas, Brrrgamot Black

Runner Up: Barnes & Watson Fine Teas, Black Flavored

Freestyle Category

Teas made fresh in front of the judges, presented however competitors

choose

o Best Tea: Teaology/Mocafe, Blended Green Tea Latte

Runner Up: Barnes & Watson Fine Teas, Teaser

o Best Herbal: Sun Garden Specialty Teas, Crimson Berry Fruit Tisane

Runner Up: Rishi Tea, Organic Peach Rooibos

o Best Mar-Ti-Ni: Barnes & Watson Fine Teas, Splish Splash

Runner Up: ITO EN, Paradisi

o Best Presentation: Barnes & Watson Fine Teas, Splish Splash

Runner Up: Kanaya Fine Tea, Green

In 2007, the World Tea Expo will be held on June 9-11 at the Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta, Georgia. More information on the World Tea Expo can be found on the website, www.worldteaexpo.com .

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CULINARY CREATIONS AND COOL CONCOCTIONS
--Celebrity Chefs and Tea Competition bring excitement to World Tea
Expo--

Las Vegas, NV – March 2006 – The World Tea Expo, the nation’s premier
marketplace for the tea industry, returns this month with more
exciting, entertaining, and educational programs than ever. The
three-day Expo, kicking off on Monday, March 27 at the Las Vegas
Hilton, will be an extremely valuable resource for members of this fast
growing industry. Two not-to-be-missed highlights from this year will
be the star-studded Chado Chef Cooking with Tea Demonstrations and the
return of the annual Iced Tea Shake-Off Competition.

CreativiTEA in the Kitchen
Using tea as an ingredient in cooking is an ancient tradition that has
caught on as a growing trend in many of the nation’s top kitchens.
This year, the World Tea Expo will pair an all-star roster of chefs
with specialty tea companies to demonstrate tea’s many culinary uses.
The Chado Chef demonstrations (chado is a Japanese phrase meaning “the
way of tea”) will feature some of the country’s hottest chefs,
including:
•        Rick Moonen of restaurant rm in Mandalay Bay Resort - Considered one
of the country’s finest seafood chefs, Chef Moonen will be using
Sungarden Specialty Teas to create Lapsang Souchong Crispy Brandade
Cakes and Matcha Buttermilk Panna Cotta.
•        Kerry Simon of Simon Kitchen and Bar in the Hard Rock Hotel and
Casino - The “Rock & Roll Chef,” one of the country’s most exciting and
innovative culinary minds, will be using ITO EN’s Shiso Sencha in
preparation of Blue Fin Tuna Tartar with Green Tea Foam.
•        Richard Chen of Wing Lei in the Wynn Las Vegas - Chef Chen will bring
his acclaimed “reverse fusion” techniques to the Expo as he uses Numi
Tea’s Moonlight Spice (orange spice white tea) to prepare Smoked
Moonlight Spice Tea Duck.
•        Chef William Jarvie of Johnson and Wales University - Chef Jarvie
will bring his extensive culinary background to the Expo where he will
use serendipiTea teas in preparation of Pu-erh Deviled Eggs and
Darjeeling Bearnaise Sauce.
*Recipes available on request.

Cool Concoctions
Competition will heat up as the teas cool down at the Third Annual Iced
Tea Shake-Off. In this wildly popular event, created by World Tea Expo
and co-sponsored by the Tea Association of the USA, tea companies enter
their finest teas and blends into competition to see which iced teas
will come out on top. Food and tea industry judges (including Chef
Moonen) will evaluate each competitor on taste, presentation,
technique, and creativity. This year’s competition categories include:
Best Flavored, Best Packaging, Most Creative, and the new tea cocktail
category - Best Mar“Tea”ni.

Bigger than ever, the World Tea Expo will feature 70,000 square feet of
tea, over 200 exhibitors, 80 new companies, 50 international companies,
and hundreds of new products. In addition to the Chado Chef
demonstrations and the Iced Tea Shake-off, the Expo will offer a host
of other fun and educational programs and events, including:

•        Special authentic Chinese and Japanese tea ceremonies
•        World Tea Auction, the first ever tea auction held on US soil
•        45 educational seminars featuring expert speakers from the industry
•        Keynote speaker Peter van Stolk, founder, CEO, and president of Jones
Soda Co.

Las Vegas, NV – February, 2006 – The World Tea Expo, the nation’s premier marketplace for the tea industry, announced yesterday that it has officially sold out of exhibit space for this year’s event. The three-day Expo, kicking off on Monday, March 27 at the Las Vegas Hilton, has continued to grow since its inception in 2003 and, this year, will feature more tea industry exhibitors and buyers than ever. In over 70,000 square feet of space, over 200 exhibitors and 3,000 buyers are expected. Show management is currently working with the fire marshal to add more booths and a wait list for potential exhibitors has been started.

“It’s really going to be an exceptional year,” says Vanessa Kelley, Director of Marketing for the World Tea Expo. “We’ve broken every registration record to date and our list of buyers is bigger and more impressive than ever - and it’s still growing.” Attendees at the Expo will include hundreds of buyers from tea rooms and tea shops, as well as major supermarket chains, restaurants, hotels, and casinos. Notable buyers this year include Wegmans, Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Panda Restaurant Group, Hyatt Hotels, the Venetian Hotel/Casino, H.E. Butt Grocery Company, and Loblaw, Canada’s largest food distributor.

Officials at the World Tea Expo see this tremendous growth as a great sign for the tea industry. “The overwhelming demand for participation in the World Tea Expo is validation to us that the tea industry is experiencing the exponential growth that has been forecasted,” says George Jage, president and founder of the World Tea Expo. “We created this event to be a catalyst for this growth and it’s very exciting to be a part of it.” More information on the Expo, including registration and event schedules, is available at www.worldteaexpo.com.

Send mail to info [at] theteahousetimes.com with questions or comments about this web site. Copyright © 2003-Present The Tea House Times™, LLC Last modified: 07/02/08

Send mail to info [at] theteahousetimes.com with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2003-Present The Tea House Times™, LLC Last modified: 07/02/08