World Tea Expo 2015 Part 3

This is the third part of the World Tea Expo 2015 series. Click here for part 1.

Aiya at WTE15This year’s tea trend is matcha. It has become very popular, you’ll see an article about it in major publications at least once every two weeks.

My second day at the expo started by drinking matcha from Aiya America. As always, it didn’t disappoint.

Aiya ceremonial matcha at WTE15James Oliveira took some time to chat about the market for matcha. It looks like prices won’t increase in the near future, although demand has soared.

I took a picture of the setup, where you can see Aiya’s ceremonial matcha tin.

Masudaen at WTE15My next stop was at Masudaen. I remembered this tea company because they had been to the expo last year.

They carry a wide variety of tea from Shizuoka prefecture, including organic teas.

Shincha from Masudaen at WTE15A Japanese man in the booth happened to speak Spanish, so we had a friendly chat. Unfortunately, I forgot to ask for his business card and don’t remember his name.

I was offered a taste of their shincha, it was great. The loose leaves are beautiful, as you can see in the picture.

Ito En at WTE15Can you guess what I did next?

I had another taste of matcha from Ito En.

They have a brand called Matcha Love, it was the first time that I tried it but it is definitely tasty.

Ito En matcha preparation at WTE15Alyssa Gregory prepared the matcha for me, and we had a short but pleasant chat.

Ito En is best known for their bottled teas. They even have ready-to-drink canned matcha, which can be bought sweetened or unsweetened.

After that I saw a group of tea bloggers in a crowded booth. I went there to see what it was all about.

Sharp at WTE15Sharp had a machine called the Tea-Ceré, which is short for “tea ceremony”.

This machine grinds tea leaves into a fine powder, warms the water and serves the tea. It’s sort of like an espresso machine for tea.

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Tea-Cere at WTE15While the first application is for tea enthusiasts to grind and prepare their own matcha, you can make a powder of any tea that you wish.

I think the Tea-Ceré has a lot of potential because powdered teas are healthier, since you are able to ingest all the nutrients this way. Also, imagine powdering any type of tea at home, so that you can use in various recipes.

Den's Tea at WTE15Next I visited Masanori Shirakata from Den’s Tea.

I had met him at last year’s expo as well.

His company has many Japanese green teas, mainly from Shizuoka prefecture.

Den's Tea samples at WTE15We’re planning to have podcast interview soon. It’s a good chance to learn more about this company.

Here’s a picture of the teas displayed. They looked very tempting.

Then I took off to another booth, which displayed something I had never seen before.

Wize Monkey at WTE15Wize Monkey sells coffee leaf tea. Instead of using coffee beans they use coffee leaves, which by the way are low in caffeine.

They have different versions, and I decided to try their green (non-oxidized) coffee leaf tea.

There’s a sweetness to it, an intense herbal flavor, and no bitterness.

Adagio Teas at WTE15From there I went to Adagio Teas.

They were awarded a World Tea Award for best industry website. I’ll talk more about the awards later on.

I spoke for a while with Cynthia Fazekas. Besides selling tea online, the company has its own physical retail stores.

As far as I know, they are present in North America, South America, and Europe.

Bkon at WTE15Then I decided to head over to Bkon and watch their Bkon brewer in action.

It brews tea, tisanes and coffee, and creates a vacuum that increases the extraction of flavor compounds. As a bonus, it also speeds up the brewing process.

The machine is meant to be used at tea and coffee houses. At $13,000 it’s way too expensive for me but I think that experimenting with it should be very fun.

Next post is the last one of this series, hope you like it.

5 Comments

  1. MITE CO LTD
    May 15, 2015

    Hola Ricardo san,
    Thank you for your report. It’s very easy to read and understand the latest market info. Be waiting to receive your next article on WTE 2015.
    Hide

    Reply
    1. Ricardo Caicedo
      May 15, 2015

      Hello Hide san

      Thank you for reading. The last post on WTE 2015 is now published, hope you like it.

      Reply
  2. Jessie
    June 27, 2015

    I wasn’t able to attend this year, but I’m so glad you provided this excellent run down of your visit. Such a blessing.

    Reply
  3. Andy
    June 27, 2016

    Even though it is 2016, it seems like the Matcha trend is still very much alive. Did you sample Matcha brewed from the Tea-Ceré, Ricardo?

    How does it compare to traditionally made with Matcha powder? I wonder how popular the Tea-Ceré is among the “purist” tea enthusiasts?

    Thanks,
    Andy

    Reply
    1. Ricardo Caicedo
      June 27, 2016

      Hi Andy

      I think matcha consumption will continue, even if in the future it doesn’t continue to be trendy anymore.

      Yes, I sampled it and it was good. I guess more than the machine itself, the base tencha that it grinds has to be good.

      I’m a purist, but I would enjoy grinding my own matcha, and also other types of tea, not for pure teas, but to use in culinary applications.

      Reply

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