NYC Coffee and Tea Festival

The NYC Coffee and Tea Festival is a great way to get in touch with some vendors and to get some tea tastings. The fee is a steep for what was last year a somewhat empty hall. On the other hand, you do get some nifty gifts (although I had little use for the coffee beans from last year). Sometimes the vendors will just confuse you (do we really need tea bags incorporated into plastic spoons?) and sometimes they will entice you (mmm matcha chocolate). The best thing about this are the talks and forums. They really are a great way (visual and sometimes hands on) to learn about some aspect of tea that you may not be familiar with, which was matcha preparation in my case. What you should not expect from it, however, is some sort of amazing Tea Wonderland or World Expo of tea and coffee. If it was, I would seriously recommend dropping any plans you may have to go ... but I won't because it was a little mediocre last year. If I do attend this year, I will make sure to let you know how it turns out (with pictures if possible).

link (also in title)