Category: Hooty Tea Travels

Of all the public tea festivals I’ve been to, the Northwest Tea Festival is the most epic, busy, and has the most interesting of tea selections. The Northwest Tea Festival is certainly worth attending if you wanted to travel for tea. I went to both days of the tea festival! Both days had a huge line to get in! I arrived 30-40 minutes early and I still waited 15 minutes in the Will Call line after the doors opened. That said, once I did get inside the festival was quiet, but it slowly filled up with people. I did most… Continue reading, hoot!

Tea Fest PDX was the very first tea festival in Portland, Oregon held on July 22, 2017. I visited Portland for the weekend to experience Portland, go to the tea festival, and eat various foods. I arrived in Portland the night before the festival, enjoying the evening of dinner and donuts. We went to the famous Portland sign… and Voodoo Doughnut. The Buttermilk Bar was my favorite despite me being a big Crueller fan. Sorry Americans, you cannot beat a Tim Hortons Honey Crueller. I arrived Saturday morning of the Tea Fest PDX right as they opened at 9:30 am. To… Continue reading, hoot!

I visited Phoenix Tea last year, however since then they have moved to a new location. Phoenix Tea is on the other end of Seattle for me, so I haven’t visited as much as I’d like to. However, I made the trek a couple Fridays ago as each week Crimson Lotus Tea is slinging tea, plus Teadb was making an appearance that day. I ended up hanging out there most of the day drinking tea. First, let’s tour the new Phoenix Tea location. The new shop is quite sprawling, which is great as there is lots of goodies to look at… Continue reading, hoot!

I had a long day last Saturday drinking tea at Floating Leaves Tea and visiting the ArtXchange Gallery in Seattle. Floating Leaves Tea has classes at least once a month, and this month we had some interesting oolongs she found on her recent sourcing trip to Taiwan. A couple teas were an educational tasting, as some where picked in late December or roasted very recently. It’ll be fun to drink these teas again in a few months once the roast has settled down. I drank 8 teas, some really interesting such as  Baozhong made with Chi Lan varietal and a Hong… Continue reading, hoot!

My visit to Miro Tea was an impulse visit about a month back. Miro Tea is located in the Ballard area of Seattle. I was heading to Floating Leaves Tea, but I arrived excessively early, leaving me to wander around the area. Miro Tea is less than a 10 minute walk from Floating Leaves, so you can easily visit both shops.  For a special treat, walk a few blocks to visit Full Tilt Ice cream for some tea ice cream! Ballard is yet another tea pocket in Seattle, the other being the International District. Miro Tea was busy and had a coffee shop… Continue reading, hoot!

I attended the 2016 Northwest Tea Festival in Seattle, WA! It was being held October 1 and 2. I was only able to attend the Saturday, but I was there for the entire day from open to closed. It was SO PACKED that my best pictures was after close as there was no huge mass of crowds. For public tea festivals, I have attended the Los Angeles Tea Festival three times. The Northwest Tea Festival was easily 4 or 5 times larger, attracting long lines for some samples, sold out tastings, and jammed unmovable crowds. It attracted quite a different crowd… Continue reading, hoot!

A few months back I visited the Seattle International District, looking for tea. I was meeting a friend, but I made good time enough to check out the scene… …and have a slice of green tea, taro, and chocolate mousse cake at a bakery. The highlight was two tea shops in the area – New Century Tea Gallery and Seattle’s Best Tea. Both shops have an online website, but it doesn’t give it justice to actually visiting the shop. While I was in the International District I found another two tea shops, one wasn’t open yet, and the other didn’t… Continue reading, hoot!