Canada’s largest festival for tea lovers, the 7th annual Toronto Tea Festival, is returning next weekend! Each year the Toronto Tea Festival committee does a great job at hosting a variety of vendors and speakers to share and educate fellow tea drinkers about the world of tea. There are a few new events happening at the festival this year and the floor plan has been reorganized with a new room to allow for more space. The 2019 Toronto Tea Festival will be 3 days (kicking off on Friday February 1), instead of just 2 days. Here is a run down of everything to look forward to next weekend.
Tea Tasters Box Winner Showcase
The Toronto Tea Festival shared teas from attending vendors with local tea drinkers prior to the festival. This was an opportunity for some to taste and then vote on their favourites. The additional Friday date for this year will be used as the day to celebrate the tea tasting box competition winners.
Kevin Gascoyne and the ‘Champagne of Teas’
Last year the Toronto Tea Festival introduced a VIP night on Friday, and this year they are bringing it back. Kevin Gascoyne of Camellia Sinensis in Montreal will be unveiling his new tea documentary featuring his travels to the Himalayas as a tea-taster and buyer. This documentary was originally produced in French and this will be the English premiere. This night also includes a Q&A with Kevin after the screening. Tickets for this event are sold separately from the weekend festival tickets.
Vendors
You can check out 52 different vendors at the 2019 festival. Walk around the area and enjoy samples of teas and treats while chatting with fellow tea lovers. The vendors are mainly tea companies but as usual you will find other vendors that go well with tea, like shortbread cookies. There’s always a nice mix of tea companies that provide handcrafted blends to straight teas. If you’re a big fan of masala chai, there seems like be an increase of chai vendors this year, too!
Majority of the vendors are returning from previous years such as Wize Monkey, Zhen Tea, and Momo Tea. Some newcomers are Icha Tea, Artizen Kombucha and Sonya’s Chai.
View the full list of vendors here.
Tea Ceremonies
One of my favourite parts of this festival is the tea ceremony section. Throughout the weekend you can check out the Chinese Tea Ceremony and Japanese Tea Ceremony. There doesn’t seem to be a Korean Tea Ceremony this year, but new this year is the Chinese Tea Ceremony Workshop. Festival attendees will have the opportunity to participate in an authentic Chinese tea ceremony and be guided while performing their own tea ceremony.
As usual, the same ceremonies are performed multiple times throughout the weekend which makes it easier to fit them in your schedule. This year the ceremonies will be in the old Speaker Room, allowing for more space in the vendor area.
Steep Off Competition
Replacing the Tea IQ (blind tea tasting) competition this year is the new Steep Off Competition. At 2pm on both Saturday and Sunday, this new competition will be held. On each day, 5 contestants will perform a mini gongfu tea ceremony in front of an audience and judges. The tea and tools will be provided by the tea festival committee and contestants have to prepare enough of their mystery tea to serve the judges and audience members as all will be voting for the best tasting tea. Bragging rights and a prize will be awarded to the winner. Contestants are encouraged to sign up early so if you’d like to take part, reach out to the committee today.
Presentations
Get ready to learn lots about tea! This year the Toronto Tea Festival has 12 different tea presentations for attendees to check out. Topics range from history of tea ware, Hawaiian teas, to counterfeit teas and Kenyan purple tea. The presentations will actually be in a new space this time. The speaker room will be on Beeton Hall, first floor. View the full program schedule here.
I will be attending the tea festival on both Saturday and Sunday. Be sure to check back on the blog in a couple of weeks as I will be sharing a recap and thoughts of the Toronto Tea Festival when it’s over. I will be sharing as much of the festival as I can on Instagram through my stories and feed. Follow me there (@teaaholic) for a live taste of the Toronto Tea Festival if you can not attend.
2019 Toronto Tea Festival Information
Date:
Friday February 1, 2019 – 12:00pm-7:00pm
Friday VIP Night – 5:30pm-7:00pm
Saturday February 2 & Sunday February 3, 2019 – 10:00am-5:00pm
Location:
Toronto Reference Library
Appel Salon, 2nd floor
789 Yonge Street, Toronto, ON M4W 2G8
There will be limited tickets available at the door, so it is recommended that you purchase your tickets in advance.
Giveaway
I’m giving away passes to the 2019 Toronto Tea Festival. Want a chance to win a 3-day pass? Head to my Facebook page to check out how to enter! Giveaway closes on Saturday, January 26th at 11:59 pm EST. Winner will be selected randomly and contacted the following day.
Let me know in the comments below if you’re planning to attend the 2019 Toronto Tea Festival!