Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/491368
20 STiR tea & coffee industry international CANADA Vancouver Tea Farm Canada's only tea farm is featured in the 2014 Lonely Planet Guide as "one of Canada's rarest agricultural operations." The garden is also included in Don Genova's new book Food Artisans of Vancouver Island & the Gulf Islands. The farm's 600+ tea plants are doing well and a limited release of Teafarm tea will be available in late September. Various teas will be processed, including a Maple smoked tea. And while the farm continues its work to manufacture the finest tea to suit the local Cowichan terroir, the fresh leaves are being picked as a culinary ingredient – as a garnish, in summer salads, in stir fries, whisked into smoothies, blended in pesto, pickled in the style of Burmese lahpet, and ground finely as a kind of matcha. The leaves sell for $8 for 50 grams and $25 for 250 grams at The Tea Farm and at Duncan farmers market, or for shipping, contact Victor Vesely. Learn more at www. teafarm.ca or email info@teafarm.ca decades in different towns across the country and this year's 29th convention will take place in Bordeaux from Sept. 28-29. Participants at the exhibition include around a dozen French tea importers and wholesalers who are considered not as competitors but as additional market players with a complementary offer. Some travel from neighboring countries such as Germany, Belgium, and Spain. Over the past few years, this joint platform has been growing for obvious mutual benefit. Learn more: www. comitefrancaisducafe.fr or email Eglantine Lhoir: cfc@cncafe.com Chinese Tea Promotion in Paris Barbara Dufrene, tea writer and former secretary general of the European Tea Committee, reports that in June the oldest Chinese tea house in Paris, 'Thés de Chine', hosted a tasting with a high level delegation from Sichuan province who promoted a selection of fine Chinese black and green teas. The event was organized by managing director Vivien Messavent, who facilitated business talks on behalf of interested French or European tea importers. Led by Xu Jin, the mayor of Yibin City, a delegation of eight tea professionals presented Yibin's famous Chuanhong Gong Fu, one of China's finest black teas, which has been exported to the West since the middle of last century. The tasting also included Yunnan's Dianhong, Anhui's Keemun, Fujian's Lapsang Souchong, and Jiangxi's Ninghong. Yan Zewen, c.e.o. of Sichuan Teagroup, and Sun Hong, c.e.o. of Yibin Chuanhong Teagroup, displayed this year's spring pickings in prestigious Chinese packaging. The quoted prices were very high but open to discussion. The same applied to a premium quality green tea, which was picked from bushes growing on the slopes of Emei Shan, Sichuan's holy Buddhist mountain. With its lovely fat buds and deliciously fragrant cup, it looked very like the famous Zhu Ye Qing (Green Bamboo) and a suggestion was made that this tea could perhaps be named Yibin Zhu Ye Qing. The matter is expected to be taken up with the relevant authorities in Sichuan. Learn more at www.scteag.com and www.schctea.com GEORGIA New Teas from Caucasus In 2003, in the foothills of Georgia's Caucasus Mountains, around 700 families joined together to form the Tea Producer Farmers' Association, Cauca- sus Tea. Since that time, around 250 farmers have been making a range of teas by hand. Total production has been steadily increasing and the Association's director, Tamaz Mikadze, expects it to reach 25 metric ton of black tea in 2014. A new range of hand-processed teas and herbals made by Caucasus Tea now also includes a hand-made Green tea, and hand-processed Bilberry, Mint, Linden, and Morus Alba (white mulberry) infusions. In 2015, the Association plans to import small rollers and dryers from China and Thailand in order to also produce other types of tea. FRANCE French Importers Convention While small in volume, the French tea market is high in quality and includes several importers who buy the choicest teas direct from origin. Ranking 5th in the world for their coffee consumption, the French are only in 31st position as tea drinkers. However, specialty and terroir products are enjoying a thriving and growing market in France and represent about 5% of volume in both the coffee and tea sector. The coffee roasters trade organization has been organizing an annual b-to-b event for Tamaz Mikadze, Caucus Tea producers Tea Report Jane Pettigrew