Cynthia Fazekas at TeaMuse by Adagio Teas

Longtan, southwest of Taipei, once thrived with tea factories, and Fuyuan Tea Factory still shares its 90-year craft amid Hakka hills. The district’s Ruby 18 black tea, grown by Bao Zhu Fan at 400m, offers licorice, chocolate, spice, and smoke, brewing forgivingly gongfu, western, grandpa, or bowl style for everyone.

At the 10th World Tea Expo in Las Vegas, industry veterans savored evolution and innovation: Argo’s bottled teas, Takeya’s playful brewers, Zealong’s deepening oolongs, Mountain Tea’s fragrant Li Shan, clever Thistledown travel caddies, Tea Tangent’s cherry wood tools, a suitcase of global samples, and heartfelt thanks to Kim and George Jage.

Las Vegas blazed outside, but inside World Tea Expo brewed pure exhilaration. Between Adagio’s bustling booth, inventive tools like Brewlux, intriguing Iranian and Hawaiian teas, and the high‑stakes Tea Infusion Challenge, education and enthusiasm flowed freely—proving once again this is an extraordinary moment to be passionate about tea.

June brings tea’s finest to Las Vegas for the World Tea Expo, an intense three-day immersion in specialty tea. Education, tastings, competitions and workshops abound: bootcamps, cupping, blending and cooking with tea. Adagio Teas teaches, exhibits and pours championship Anteadote, eagerly scouting innovations to share in July.

Irish Breakfast is a bold, malty Assam-based blend, perfect with cream, sugar, and hearty fare. Ideal for St Patrick’s Day tearooms, it shines as loose leaf, converting teabag drinkers with fuller flavor and less sharpness. Serve with Irish treats—or spike with Irish Cream or whiskey, brewing responsibly.

Strolling from Moscone toward Yerba Buena, we happily traded museum plans for Samovar’s wood-warm sanctuary. English and Chinese tea services arrived: malty Breakfast Blend, earthy-fruity Blood Orange Pu Erh, quiche, salad, fruit, scone, duck stir-fry, tender squash dumplings. Rested, replete, we left this urban tea-oasis for the show’s clamor.

Greenwich Village hides countless temptations, but TeaSpot on Macdougal Street steals a tea lover’s heart. Lively, cozy, and friendly, it offers over 80 fragrant blends, dessert-like indulgences, mate options, sweets, and teaware. Skip frou-frou ceremony; sip from glass cups or pots, feel connected, and simply be comfortable drinking great tea.

Seattle revealed itself as far more than Starbucks: a haven of nuanced teas, handmade crumpets, and soul‑feeding markets. From Teacup’s Wen Shan Baozhong and ginger cookies to Pike Place’s bounty and Olympic Sculpture Park’s serene vistas, the city brewed a heady blend of comfort, culture, and caffeinated possibility.

Carol Gillot hand-grinds luminous pigments—Burgundy ochres, Tuscan Burnt Siennas, Provençal Terre Verte, and Vermillion from China—infusing her watercolors with granular richness and saturated depth. Her tea-salon paintings, steeped in color and ceremony, are presently on view at Petrossian Boutique, 911 Seventh Avenue, near Carnegie Hall in New York.

Each quiet morning, Nancy brews tea in memory of her southern grandmother’s graceful ritual, lifting fine china to her lips while watching busy bluebirds at their houses and feeders. Their tireless nesting and feeding stir her own diligence, inspiring watercolor pairings of cherished china pieces and the delicate, living beauty of birds.

This month’s Art of Tea traces tea through art’s evolution: Cassatt’s 1880 “Five o’clock Tea,” marked by simplicity and color; Matisse’s 1919 “Tea,” embodying modern mastery; and Pollock’s 1946 “The Tea Cup,” Abstract Expressionism in motion. Different eras, one enduring muse: the ever-inspiring cup of tea.