PA Tea Festival - 2017 - The End of the Day

How do tea festival organizers end the day? Brewing tea, of course! Tea specialist, Rie Tulali, journeyed all the way from Las Vegas to Mechanicsburg to represent Tealet and to assist in any way necessary. She was the young lady hosting the tea tastings on Friday and the audio-visual tech extraordinaire on Saturday in the lecture hall. Do you ever wonder what millennials/tea enthusiasts carry in their backpacks? 

Rie travels with tea, a gaiwan set and all the necessary accoutrements to be able to brew tea at a moments notice. 

Rie offered to prepare several Taiwanese oolong teas for us to sample and enjoy. As she was preparing the tea, she shared about the local farmers that grow and harvest the tea. And she talked about the unique flavors associated with oolong tea.

Skillful hands measured, steeped, brewed, poured, all the while she shared, sipped, and repeated the process coaxing additional steeping from the leaves.

We sampled Ruby Oolong #18 which is a Taiwanese black tea, a cross between Formosa Oolong and Assam cultivars that produces an Oolong that is lighter in body than a traditional hearty Assam, but still bold enough to call it a black tea. It was quite unique and special.

The other Taiwanese Oolong that we sampled offered the familiar roasty, toasted notes associated with an Oolong, both in the bouquet and in the cup. What a perfect way to end a perfect weekend of tea! Special thanks to Rie for all that she shared, both with the private tea tasting, and the contribution she made to make the PA Tea Festival successful. 

Notice the large wet leaf (L) compared to the curled dry leaf.

Rie is currently transitioning in her role in the tea community.  She is branching out into the world of tea education. Her new business, Modern Day Tea (the website is under construction) promises to make it easy to learn about tea.  Rie is enthusiastic and informative, her contribution to the tea festival was greatly appreciated. We hope that she will join us again next year!