SF Tea Festival

On the 3rd of this month, I attended the San Fransisco International Tea Festival. It took a little searching, as I hadn't realized it was in the Pier 1 Market building. Then, it took a minute to realize it was on the upper level. Once there, I got to talk to several vendors and network. Alisha of Kitefin Teas kindly pointed me toward Noli from Sugimoto Teas. I also met the wonderful people at the Nepal Tea Collective. They had some delicious teas, and I hope to buy wholesale from them soon. Later, I got to listen to a Tea 101 Lecture, which was decent. I knew it already, but hearing how other industry professionals cover entry-level topics is good. After the lecture, the festival got crowded, and several tables had enormous lines; I chatted a bit with the people at Smile Tea/Kagoshima Seicha and bought their last Hojicha bag. Unfortunately, my friend had a job to get to, and we had to cut our time at the festival short. I had a fantastic time and plan to go on both days next year. The VIP tickets were worth every penny; I could talk to the vendors because I got the early entrance.