2018 World Tea Expo Highlights | 2018 World Tea Expo Trends & Thoughts

It is everyone’s favorite World Tea Expo post – the OWL HAUL!

There were fewer vendors this year, so fewer samples, but I felt I got some good quality stuff. I skipped a number of vendors that I’ve gotten samples from in the past as I got plenty of tea. I managed to not need to ship things home, which was a first. My purse was filled with gushu, which I thought was entertaining. I did get pulled over for my suitcase setting off a problem at TSA. My tin of black oriental beauty was suspicious and got bomb swabbed.

The whole spread! I stood on a stool to get this photo! For scale, that is a 357gram puer cake on the top, and the tote bag is 17″/43cm tall. 73 different teas!

Vendor Samples

I got quite a few white tea samples, including Thailand and Indonesia. Interestingly, I have gushu green and black tea (Laos origin) but they were put into tea bags so they aren’t exciting to photo up close. Also in this pile is Roasted Alishan oolong, various Korean black/greens, and a lot of matcha.

Official World Tea Expo shopping bag and cup – I was happy this year to get a sample cup! However I kept being offered a cup at tea tastings and when I enter the place, so I ended up with multiple cups.

Hunan Presentation teas – After the presentation, they handed out goodie bags. Out of the goodie bag, the most interesting was instant dark tea and a mini-brick of white tea.

Will it gongfu or matcha? We shall see.

A couple of vendors had dark tea coins in long sleeves.

Eat More Tea – I am super excited to have some samples of Eat More Tea’s spices!

Now, what shall I cook with them? They all look and smell so good!

Owl 2018 World Tea Expo Purchases

60ml Celadon Gaiwan and Celadon Aroma Cup Set – I purchased both off separate vendors and they magically match!

Too bad they only had one gaiwan. The vendor had some gorgeous pitchers and kyusus, but they all were quite big. I like thick gaiwans for long session teas, so I can see this piece getting plenty of use at my tea table.

Usually, aroma cups are tall, and the way this set nestled was so cute, so I had to have it. I also cannot find my aroma cup set, I saw it get packed before I moved to Seattle, then I never found it. I tried out this aroma cup when I got home and was pleasantly surprised as I found it easier to wield than the taller styles.

Green Tea with Lemon – I needed more of this tea as I’ve gotten into the habit of drinking it every morning before I weight lift!

More Tea Knives – I bought this knife last year and found it handy for puer bricks and huangpian. I purchased more for friends.

Korean Black Tea stuffed into Yuzu – I saw these yuzus last year and thought they were sooo cute. I finally got to sample one, and I didn’t hesitate to buy three.

Competition Oriental Beauty, Cameron Tea – This was the best tea I had on Tuesday. There was something so good about this Oriental Beauty.

This oolong had great clarity, flavor, and gave me that wow lightbulb reaction, so I had to have it.

Black Oriental Beauty, Cameron Tea – Years back, Cameron Tea Taiwan gave me a sample of this tea. I tried it on a rainy day and loved it. I immediately requested to buy it, but they were out, then I missed it again as it all got sold. Cameron Tea Taiwan was super kind to save a tin for me, which I bought it and ran for the hills with it.

Surprisingly, they make this tea as a way to use up not so great Oriental Beauty, but it is absolutely fantastic tasting if you love black tea.

Guava Smoke Thyolo Moto Black Tea – This was not at the World Tea Expo, but at Tea & Whisk.

I was tea drunk, feeling like spending money, this tea sounded a whole lot of WTF (Guava wood smoking, not burnt fruit). I tasted an iced version of it blended with a bunch of other teas and it was good. I think later in the evening I had it hot, but I was quite tea drunk and it blurred.

2008 Myanmar Sheng Gushu Puer, 2018 Gushu White Tea, and Shou stuffed into Lime.

The “Puer” is Mijing gushu material (secret garden, old trees) – This was the first tea of the day on Thursday, and the tea drunk was a delayed hit as I got rolled during the next tea. It was reasonably priced, so I had no problem buying a full 357gram cake.

2018 White tea is also gushu material from Myanmar. I sampled this tea and it had a crazy dense thickness that I haven’t experience in my white teas. I had almost a puer quality to it, and Lazy Literatus was thinking the same thing I was… gushu? Yep, ol’ border tea big arse trees. Nevermind I paid around $0.80 a gram on white tea, it was worth it.

So that was my 2018 World Tea Expo haul. I regret that I left the World Tea Expo with $40 in my pocket. I should have gone back and bought another puer cake.

2018 World Tea Expo Highlights | 2018 World Tea Expo Trends & Thoughts

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