dimanche 24 mars 2013

NYC Coffee and Tea Fest!

A giant tea party! Well sort of. As some of the vendors mentioned, tea is not really conducive to a trade show venue. BUT HEY. I am not complaining. There were so many chances to get 50% off tickets, so for $15 my boyfriend and I were able to try a whole bunch of different teas in an unusual and pretty fun environment. Yes it was crowded, but it was a pretty polite crowd, and I was getting a good vibe from all the positive energy.
(Ok, one small complaint. I got there early to make sure I'd get a goodie bag because I bought tickets in November and I deserved it, haha. But mostly I just wanted the bag! In previous years (from pictures online) the NYC Coffee and Tea Fest logo was printed on the bag. This year it was just the logo of a major sponsor. BORING. They should have at least put the Fest's logo on the other side.)

Some good freebies in the bag (can you say KIND bars? yum! Also, my old favorite, Biscoff cookies.) and many tea samples to try onsite or to take home with you as well as free tea, coffee, or general beverage interest, magazines.
Goodies! I am excited to try Numa's new savory teas.
Highlights: Everlasting teas from Taiwan. We got to sample 7 different kinds of tea here, and they were offering some nice deals, $45 for three bags of tea, a gaiwan and a pitcher, plus 3 free tea lottery tickets. While we did not win the lottery (nor apparently, the other one held by Cup for Education, but at least we helped out some children), we did "win" with this tea. Very nice, unusual varieties.

Interesting: the old Armory bathrooms. I didn't even have any coffee, but with all that tea, I definitely needed to use these. The line for the ladies' room was a few yards long, but it went pretty quickly. Really weird bathrooms though, with urinals on one side that of course no one used. Interesting old tile work though!

Negatives:  The audio for the lectures was garbled and fuzzy. I think a poor setup was creating some  feedback with the mic and speakers, so we weren't able to understand a word!

I look forward to coming back next year, though I wonder if there will be much variety amongst the booths. I am hoping the random booths like Cabot cheese and the Empanada people will find ways to relate themselves to the theme a little bit better, and I could do without kitschy soap makers, but whatever. There was a great variety here, definitely something for everyone, whether you like fine green tea or novelty flavors.

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