World Tea Expo!

I am in Tea Lover's Paradise this weekend! It's Day Two of the World Tea Expo in Atlanta. Both yesterday and today I spent the morning in tea seminars (with 5,000 of my closest tea-loving friends), and the afternoon I spent sipping, shopping and visiting with 300 or so tea vendors. Today I think I sampled nine different types of tea, and I have several dozen more I brought home in tote bags to sample later. (I'm at this moment sipping a "spa" tea, which I'll no doubt report on at a later date.)

This is the first time Atlanta has hosted the Tea Expo, a trade show devoted entirely to tea, and I am thrilled to be among the press folks covering it. I have met some of the loveliest people, from speakers and tea purveyors to importers of teawares and more. One of the highlights of this day was meeting the wonderful Englishwoman Jane Pettigrew, whose books on tea are some of my favorites, especially her (now out-of-print, she says) "A Social History of Tea." She and co-author Bruce Richardson, pictured above, graciously signed a copy of their "Tea in the City: London" guide for me.

There are so many great people, products and more to discuss, I know I'll have this tea blog busy for quite a while to come!