The 2010 World Tea Expo was super exciting!

I love expo for a number of reasons. Obviously there is the business benefits. Expo also provides an opportunity to connect with so many awesome tea people. It's a chance to see firsthand new products, see who is new in the tea world and to socialize with so many tea folks in way you cant online or over the phone.

Among those awesome tea people is Jason Walker of Walker Tea Review. I had the pleasure of meeting Jason, thanks to my husband Newman, a couple of years ago via telephone and finally in person at the 2009 expo.

Jason's obvious devotion to the leaf is inspriring. Having lived and worked for a period of time in China Jason was introduced to quality teas at the source. Upon his return to the US he began sharing his tea thoughts with others through Walker Tea Review. Jason has a serene, thoughtful approach to tea and posses a geniune openess to learn and share his insight with others.

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Jason at World Tea Expo to taste and talk about the Bolivian teas.

Here is the video link

On a somewhat related note -
Several months ago some controversy surfaced regarding the relationship of online tea reviewers/bloggers with the companies that provided them samples for review, and what impact that may have on the review results.

You could not meet anyone with higher integrity, honesty and dedication to accurately sharing his opinion, whether I agree with him or not, about the teas he reviews.

Until next time, Beth