My husband and I got in on the Media list (in exchange for this post and some other honest coverage of the event).
In the California Science Center, under the hanging spaceships and satellites, hundreds of guests gathered to drink tea, eat desserts and listen to music at a massive zero waste tea tasting party.
Upon arrival, guests were given a tote bag, the contents of which seemed to vary, but all received some bags of tea. Some also got photo albums or stickers. (Let me know what you got if you went!) Some VIP guests also got a special edition mug. (And I'm super jealous.)
Guests also got raffle tickets, though looking at the Twitter feed, it seems like many people were confused what to do with them. Add to that, either people didn't hear the numbers or weren't present for the raffle, poor Danny Lobell called out many, many numbers before finding winners of the Tea Book prizes, and we were one of the winners!
The event was to celebrate the launch of the Tea Book Kickstarter, and now that I have one I can can actually tell you about it. It's a very cute, coffee table-worthy, faux leather covered tea binder. The cover is wonderful- beautifully designed and very well made. The interior is kind of like a trading card binder, but for tea bags! The interior doesn't look like it's better made than a trading card binder, but it did survive my destructomatic toddlers trying to cram tea bags into the pockets! I cleared out an entire shelf in my cupboard, tucking the bags from half empty boxes of tea into the Tea Book. It's also easy to move out of reach of toddlers who love tearing open all the tea bags onto the bathroom floor... Anyway...
The dessert table ran out before I got to it about 2 hours into the 3 hour event ("unlimited" was advertised, so I'm not surprised that they ran out quickly!) and nothing was gluten free (with the exception of fresh strawberries) so I didn't miss anything, though my husband pointed out that we should have grabbed dessert before jumping into the tea line. There were food trucks outside for those who wanted real food.Cleaned out an entire shelf of almost empty boxes of tea into #theteabook. They're on Kickstarter now! pic.twitter.com/0FrwO68viG— Shantea Gauthier (@FeralOrchid) April 4, 2016
Other than dessert running out and a couple of other organizational quirks, I didn't even notice the technical problems. There were some empty tables, which was a little awkward but not alarming. The guests seemed to be making their own order and going through the tasting line in a refreshingly respectful way.
The setups were lovely, the teas were great, and there were free games, temporary tattoos and face painting! Chari Pere, cartoonist and artist of the adorable CollectTeables foil packets had a table where guests could purchase prints or have their own caricature tea cup drawn by her.
I'm still working on the whole... doing anything like a journalist... thing, so I talked to her, but it was mostly about cosplay and upcoming cons.
Danny Lobell, stand up comedian and podcaster, was the voice of the event. I didn't catch his standup act at the event and I'm not actually familiar with his comedy or podcasts, but his style on the stage as MC was not what you'd expect at a tea party! Maybe the kind of thing you'd expect (and accept) at an event in a bar, not so much at an event with fancy dresses, Mad Hatters and sitars. I didn't get any good recordings, but he transitioned between "train wreck" and "smooth host" more times than I could count.
We had a lot of fun, though the event was a lot smaller than we'd expected!
It wasn't until the event was wrapping up that I learned why. Noah Bleich, co-founder and creator of the Tea Book stopped to chat for a minute and shared some of the struggles with us. The entire event was put together in only three weeks! To top off that level of stress and chaotic planning, Devan Shah, CEO of Chado and Waterfall Tea companies passed away the night before the event. Because of the tragedy, almost half of the teas that were supposed to be represented at the event either withdrew or almost withdrew completely.
I also later learned that there was a problem with a circuit that blew out thanks to all of the water heaters, so the water wasn't even hot in time for the event to begin.
The musical guests were all good as far as I'm concerned. The rock band when we first arrived was so loud that we had to shout to hear each other speak, but that level of volume didn't last long and toward the end of the event were a sitar band, and a string quartet that played the event to a close.
The event was meant to be a celebration of the launch of The Tea Book on Kickstarter, but there was a whisper of a rumor that there might be a repeat next year. Whether the point of it will be to celebrate The Tea Book's success or to make up for the shortcomings of the party this year, I hope that it does get a second chance!
Did you go? Would you go if they did it again next year? What would you like to see at this type of event?
This post does NOT contain affiliate links, and I received no compensation beyond free admission (I even paid for my own parking). My experience was great, but I'm aware there were some issues (like any first time event is bound to have) and not everyone felt the same way.
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