SPOTLIGHT | Taste the World of Tea in Seattle
The Northwest Tea Festival brings together tea enthusiasts of all skill levels to discover global traditions and modern innovations. Visitors enjoy interactive experiences, meet vendors, and deepen their appreciation of tea culture, artistry, and community in a friendly, engaging setting. Virginia Wright, Executive Director of the Northwest Tea Festival, and Festival Coordinator and Puget Sound Tea Education Association Board President Andrew Goodman are in the SPOTLIGHT to explain what makes this year’s gathering distinctive, how first-time visitors can approach dozens of choices without feeling overwhelmed, and why longtime attendees treat the festival as both an educational experience and an annual reunion Sept. 26 and 27.
Hours: 10 am – 6 pm, Saturday, Sept. 26
10 am – 4 pm, Sunday, Sept. 27
Location: Seattle Center Exhibition Hall
Website: Northwest Tea Festival
Email: info@nwteafestival.com
Admission is $25, which includes entry for both days.
Tickets: https://www.nwteafestival.org/tickets-2026
You will receive tickets by email with a QR code that will be used to sign you in at the festival. You can print your tickets or present them electronically.
Program
All programming is free with paid admission. Stage presentations and The Tea Bar require no pre-registration. Each workshop is limited to 20 people and requires pre-registration online. To allow for maximum participation by all festival attendees, there is a one-workshop-per-person limit. Once a workshop is filled, further registration will be closed. All workshops are full!
On Stage Saturday
From Saucer to Shaker: Tea, Tisanes and Flowers in the New World of Zero-Proof Cocktails | Presenter(s): Juanita Unger | 11:00am – 11:45am.
Yunnan Raw Pu-er Tea Growing Regions and Local Tea Planters’ Culture | Presenter(s): Liyuan Peng | 11:15am – 12:00pm
Tea as a Mirror of the Mind: Expanding Tea Practice into a Foundation for Clarity in Daily Life | Presenter(s): Kiyomi Koike | 12:15pm – 1:00pm
From Farm to Cup — The Factors That Shape Your Tea | Presenter(s): Pratik Rijal | 12:30pm – 1:15pm
Explore Taiwanese Teas | Presenter(s): Qing Wood | 1:30pm – 2:15pm
Normalizing Tea: Incorporating Tea Into Hobbies & Storytelling | Presenter(s): Ocha DenHaven | 1:45pm – 2:30pm
The Price of Tea – Exploring Market Dynamics | Presenter(s): Elyse Petersen | 2:45pm – 3:30pm
From App to Tea Table: Building Community Through Gong Fu Cha | Presenter(s): Vincent Liu | 3:00pm – 3:45pm
What will the tea of the future taste like? | Presenter(s): Max Falkowitz | 4:00pm – 4:45pm.
Structuring Tea Gardens for Success | Presenter(s): Friday Elliott | 4:15pm – 5:00pm
On Stage Sunday
On Stage SundayA Year on the Mountain: Pu-erh Tea, Family, and Village Life in Jinggu, Yunnan| Presenter(s): Shu Yang | 11:00am – 11:45am
The Art of Tea as Medicine: Aligning Tea with Your Ayurvedic Body | Presenter(s): Khulan Enkhtaivan | 11:15am – 12:00pm
The History of Tea in Mexico | Presenter(s): Jorge Rizo | 12:15pm – 1:00pm
Tea as the New Fine Wine: How Taste, Language, and Culture Are Redefining Tea | Presenter(s): Richa Rai | 12:30pm – 1:15pm
Indigenous Indian Tea Culture Pre-colonization | Presenter(s): Poorvi Chordia | 1:30pm – 2:15pm
The History of Japanese Tea | Presenter(s): Kyohei Sugimoto | 1:45pm – 2:30pm
Where Tea Lives: Cultivating the Future of China’s Historic Tea Villages | Presenter(s): Jeff Niu | 2:45pm – 3:30pm
Gongfu Cha: The Art, the Practice, and the Why | Presenter(s): Jade Falcon | 3:00pm – 3:45pm
Saturday Workshops – SOLD OUT
Traditional Scented Teas Of China | Presenter(s): Laurie, Charles & Anais Dawson | 11:00am – 11:45am
The Nuance of Oolong: Craft, Terroir, and Time | Presenter(s): Jennifer Nowicki | 12:00pm – 12:45pm
An Intro to Vietnamese Tea: A Guided Tasting Class | Presenter(s): Anna Ye | 1:00pm – 1:45pm
The Vibrant World of Kenyan Purple Tea | Presenter(s): Yvonne Ochieng
Discover Jinjunmei: The Story Behind China’s Most Influential Modern Black Tea | Presenter(s): Jane Yang | 3:00pm – 3:45pm
One Oolong, Three Expressions: Zhangping Shuixian From Traditional to Experimental | Presenter(s): Shirley (Shuyuan) Chen | 4:00pm – 4:45pm
Wu Wo Tea Ceremony | Presenter(s): Dewey Meyer | 5:00pm – 5:45pm
Sunday Workshops – SOLD OUT
The Raw and the Cooked: Demystifying Pu-erh | Presenter(s): Nathan Epstein | 11:00am – 11:45am
How to Choose Your Perfect Teapot | Presenter(s): Jonathan Steele | 12:00pm – 12:45pm
Green Gold-Korea’s Global Tea Takeover | Presenter(s): Agnieszka Rapacz | 1:00pm – 1:45pm
Whisk & Sip: A Hands-On Matcha Experience | Presenter(s): Amina Aden | 2:00pm – 2:45pm
Tea and the Art of Attention | Presenter(s): D’Guar | 3:00pm – 3:45pm
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Festival Coordinator and Puget Sound Tea Education Association Board President Andrew Goodman is the founder and principal of the Happy Tea Man, a Bellevue, Washington-based tea education and consulting brand. As a tea educator, consultant, and photographer, he specializes in creating immersive, visually engaging tea experiences. Andrew is a dedicated volunteer and organizer of the Northwest Tea Festival, helping to shape one of the region’s most celebrated tea events. A lifelong tea lover, he attended the inaugural edition of the Northwest Tea Festival and has been involved ever since, having graduated from the City University of New York, Hunter College, and retired after a career in beverage sales and marketing.
Virginia “Cinnabar” Wright, Executive Director of the Northwest Tea Festival, writes the tea blog Gongful Girl. She has been researching and writing about tea since 2006. Her interest in tea and tea culture ranges from the craftsmanship of antique bronze samovars to brewing techniques for Japanese Gyokuro to cultivation methods for the tea used to produce Turkish Çay, with a focus on the specific traditions of each culture. She owned Phoenix Tea, a retail tea shop in Burien from 2011-2022. Cinnabar is also interested in forging new traditions, infusing contemporary art, ideas, and performance with tea practice and full engagement of the senses.
Northwest Tea Festival is presented by the nonprofit Puget Sound Tea Education Association. The association’s mission focuses on tea education, community, and broader public engagement with tea culture. Last year’s festival attracted approximately 4,000 tea enthusiasts to the Seattle Center.
Dan Bolton: Virginia, how does the festival welcome someone who is curious but not yet a tea expert?
Virginia Wright: The festival brings many tea experiences together in one place. Visitors can move among the booths, taste unfamiliar teas with very little commitment, ask questions, and learn what interests them before deciding what they may want to buy. Workshops and other learning spaces add another dimension, so there is something meaningful for people at every level of tea experience.
Dan: Andrew, what will visitors discover that they are unlikely to find in an ordinary shop?
Andrew Goodman: We began early after the success of 2025 and intentionally widened the scope. Alongside teas from China, Taiwan, Japan and India, we wanted Africa, Korea and Vietnam represented. The response from vendors allowed us to assemble an unusually strong selection. Tea is grown and consumed worldwide, and the festival lets people experience that breadth in a way no single shop could easily reproduce.
Education remains the mission. An expert can discover something new, while someone whose experience begins with tea at a grandparent’s house can learn where to go next. That range is one of the festival’s strengths.
Dan: Virginia, beyond tasting, where does discovery happen during the weekend?
Virginia: Visitors learn by encountering other people’s tea practices, unfamiliar teas, and the specialties of people who have devoted years to them. Talking directly with vendors is a major part of the experience. They can explain what they selected, how they brew it, and why it matters.
Dan: Andrew, what does admission include, and how should a newcomer plan the day?
Andrew: We have worked continuously to make the festival easier to navigate, beginning with online ticketing and a smoother entrance. The doors open before the presentations, workshops, and Tea Bar educational sessions begin, giving people time to get the lay of the land. Admission includes the tasting cup, program, and access to educational programming. Visitors pay separately only for tea or teaware they choose to purchase.
We learn from attendees, vendors, and more than 125 event volunteers. Their feedback shapes a process of continuous improvement. At the same time, each of the roughly 60 booths is an experience of its own. Vendors know their selections deeply—many chose teas in the gardens where they were grown—and they are ready to brew favorites and explain what makes them distinctive. Potters also demonstrate how their teaware performs in use
Dan: Virginia, what does the gathering contribute to the tea community itself?
Virginia: The festival creates valuable camaraderie among local tea businesses and organizations. Tea entrepreneurs tend to collaborate around tea and tea culture, and that generous spirit is strongly felt when everyone comes together.
Dan: Andrew, why do people return—and why should first-time visitors buy tickets early?
Andrew: Tea education is written into the Puget Sound Tea Education Association’s mission. The program can begin with the leaf and the tea plant’s name, then move on to a subject such as charcoal roasting. That educational foundation has helped the festival become an annual reunion. Some attendees stay for an entire day or both days to learn, reconnect, and take part in the excitement.
Longstanding vendors reinforce that continuity. Sugimoto Tea, the 2026 platinum presenting sponsor, has participated since the festival’s early years and is celebrating its 80th anniversary. Behind the weekend is a year-round planning team supported by more than 125 volunteers during the event. Their pride of ownership is one reason the festival has endured since 2008.
With every exhibitor space already claimed, buying online in advance is the practical way to secure a place and spend more time tasting rather than waiting. For Pacific Northwest tea drinkers, it is a rare chance to encounter a large part of the tea world without leaving Seattle.
Exhibitors (Full List)
Amu Nutrition | Anna Ye Tea | Askatu Bakery | Asian Teaware | B. Fullers Mortar & Pestle | Bana Tea Company | Bardo Tea | Best of Health Tea | Brew & Blossom LLC | CC Fine Tea | Chen Sheng Hao | Chicago Teahouse | Cliche Teas | Colorful Tea Co. (World Spice) | Crimson Lotus Tea | Cultivate Taste | Elegant Lady Teapots | Enthea Teahouse | Experience Tea | Felicity Loft Tea | Fire Lit Clay | Floating Leaves | Friday Afternoon Tea | Hario USA | Herbs & Kettles | JETRO | Jing Si Books & Cafe | Jonathan Steele Studio | Jugetsudo| Kiara Naturals | La Conner Tea Co. | La Liath Bakery | Lizzy Kate | MarketSpice | Miro Tea | Miss Orange Teahouse Bakery | Morelitea | My Necessitea LLC | Nara Tea Company | Nepal Tea Collective | Old Ways Tea | Oregon Tea Traders | Perennial Tea Room | SAKU Tea | Sanguine Teapots | Shipwreck Apiaries | Smile Tea | Smith Teamaker | Steep ‘N Clay | Sugimoto Tea Company | Sunzen Art Gallery | Tao Teaware |Tea Fairy Culture & Art Center | Tea J Tea | Tocha Organic Tea | Undertow Trading | Wang Family Tea | Wendy Ann Creations | Wild Coast Brew
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