My favourite event of the year is near! The 2020 Toronto Tea Festival is taking place Friday January 31-Sunday February 2. If you’re still unsure if you should attend this year’s festival, I’ve outlined all that will be happening over the weekend. It includes a VIP event, plethora of presentations by tea professionals, workshops, and of course lots of tea samples to enjoy. I will be there the Saturday and Sunday with a press pass, so you can expect a write up on the blog later next month, too! There is always so much to see that it really helps to go both days. Hopefully I will see you at the festival 🙂 Head to the end of this post to learn how you can even win a weekend pass!
Rare Tea Experience
On the Friday evening before the vendor filled weekend, the Toronto Tea Festival is hosting a Rare Tea Experience with Kevin Gascoyne. This is the first time this event will take place at a consumer show in Canada. This VIP event strongly recommends advanced purchase, as there is limited seating. A VIP Event ticket is required. Here’s how the Toronto Tea Festival describes this special event:
“Tea taster Kevin Gascoyne of Camellia Sinensis hosts a fully immersive tea experience like no other. Leading us into a meditative, deep-focus tasting of some exceptionally rare teas he guides us through an exploration of the essential qualities that make these precious leaves so special.”
Vendors
This year there are 50+ vendors, which means lots and lots of tea samples to be had! As usual, the vendors are primarily tea/teaware companies but there are a handful of snack related vendors, which pairs nicely with tea!
It’s a really great sign when you noticed a lot vendors from previous years are returning. This includes Zhen Tea, Momo Tea, T by Daniel and more. Some newcomers that I am really looking forward to checking out are Soocha Tea, Millennia Tea, Hojicha Co. and Dessert by Deb.
View the full list of vendors here.
Tea Ceremonies
If you have ever wanted to experience a tea ceremony before, the Toronto Tea Festival is the place to be! A Chinese and Japanese tea ceremony will be presented as well as an interactive Chinese tea ceremony workshop. These will be taking place on the Saturday.
Tea Tasting with Sommeliers
This is a two-hour workshop (at an additional $10 cost) where you can taste and discover the finer points of ten different teas. Tea Guild of Canada is presenting this workshop with the help from several leading tea professionals. Held on Sunday only.
Steep Off Competition
The Steep Off Competition was introduced last year and is returning for 2020. I participated in it last year (can you spot me in the photo!?) and highly recommend it. Think of it as a mini Tea Masters Cup. Contestants perform a small gongfu tea ceremony in front of an audience and judges. They are given a mystery tea to serve and the judges and audience members will be voting for the best tasting tea. This year the competition will be held on Sunday afternoon only.
Presentations
The presentations are one of the best things about the Toronto Tea Festival. Included in the ticket price, attendees have the opportunity to learn so much more about their favourite beverage! The 2020 Toronto Tea Festival has 13 different tea presentations. View the full program schedule here.
Here are some of the presentations I’m looking forward to checking out:
- The Mystic Side of Tea by Amy Taylor – Amy has been working on a book on this topic and it will be interesting to learn more about the mystical side of tea at the festival.
- Journey to the Land of the Morning Calm: Korean Tea Regions & Types by Soo Park – Learning more about Korean teas has been an interest in mine for some time. Soo actually gave me the opportunity to try some last year, too!
- Travel to the Heart of Chinese Tea: Stories of a Western Tea Newbie Turned Tea Savvy by Phil of Zhen Tea – I always enjoy listening to Zhen talk and was excited to see that this year Phil is doing a presentation. He’ll be chatting about the journey of a devoted coffee drinker turned tea lover from western land.
- Flash-Frozen Tea? Reinventing The Fresh Tea Category by Tracy Bell – Millennia TEA is a Canadian company that is creating an entirely new category of tea. I was super excited to hear they will be at the tea festival this year and can not wait to learn more about their fresh leaf tea!
Toronto Tea Festival Information
Date:
Friday January 31, 2020 VIP Night – 5:30pm-9:00pm (separate ticket needed for this night)
Saturday February 1 & Sunday February 2, 2020 – 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.
2020 Toronto Tea Festival Ticket Giveaway
I teamed up with the Toronto Tea Festival committee to give away 2 weekend passes! This pass will give two lucky winners entry to the festival Saturday February 1 & Sunday February 2 and, of course, it includes all of the tea ceremonies/workshops and presentations. Want a chance to win a weekend pass? We are running the ticket giveaway on Instagram. Head over to this post to see how to enter! Giveaway closes on Wednesday January 22, 2020 at 11:59 pm EST. Winner will be selected randomly and contacted the following day.Â
Let me know in the comments below if you’re planning to attend the 2019 Toronto Tea Festival!
This is a great teaser! Love the meditation and mystic topics.
Living in Florida inhibits my travel to this festival, but I AM attending the Chicago Tea Festival (Halloween weekend) this year. It will be my first tea fest and I am excited! I am interesting in presentations on cooking with tea and tea travel opportunities – hoping this festival provides them this year.
Looking forward to reading your recaps, Lu Ann!