This year, as well as spending time with tea friends I have known for years, I was also able to catch up with two of my Korean colleagues who came to Expo for the first time to see what we do there each year and to explore the possibility of organising for a larger group from South Korea to come next year. I have known Jiyu Yang and her mother Professor Sohn (in the photo to the right) for more than a year since Professor Sohn’s visit to the UK in 2007 and my visit to Korea in 2008 and it was such a treat to see them and introduce them to key people at Expo. They are involved at the heart of the tea movement in South Korea and I think they were as excited as I was by all the activity at the Vegas event and by the fact that so many different tea cultures and tea businesses come together each year to find customers, contacts, information, and to share ideas and developments in a world that brings so much pleasure to so many.My first two days in Vegas were at the annual New Business Boot Camp. I was teaching on the first morning of the training event and it is always so interesting to watch how the mood and dynamic amongst the group changes during the training. On the first morning, people arrive looking slightly shy and nervous, not sure what is to come, but as the day progresses, new friendships form, people chat in groups, views and plans are exchanged and everyone becomes more comfortable and relaxed. By the evening of the second day, it’s all smiles, hugs, laughter, genuine concern for each other and an energy and excitement that bring the entire group together as one body. It is hugely rewarding to be involved.
For the main part of the three days of Expo, I was, as usual, with Bruce and Shelley Richardson of Elmwood Inn/Benjamin Press, my publishers and distributors and very dear friends. Their booth always attracts a very steady stream of customers for books and teas and there is always a fabulous atmosphere of friendly chatter and fun, making each day feel more like pleasure than business. The team (that’s the team with me in the photo at the top of the column and here to the left) is always so ready to help, share, offer advice and information and it really is a great privilege to be a part of that.
From Vegas I flew west to San Diego to stay with Joy Walsh who owns Tea Upon Chatsworth - a truly beautiful tearoom on the city’s Chatsworth Boulevard. Joy had originally planned to bring a group of tea aficionados to London in April this year but, because of the recession, was not able to gather enough people together. Their plan had been for me to give a talk while they had afternoon tea at one of London’s top hotels but instead of them coming to me in London, I went to them in San Diego.
Joy’s shop opened five years ago and is for her a dream come true. She had planned the style, menu and ambiance for years, scouring antique shops for the prettiest of bone china cups and saucers, vases, cake plates, prints and paintings and as you walk into the shop, her love, passion and care for all things ‘tea’ is immediately and beautifully apparent. Sometimes, tearooms overdo the decorative effects with too much delicately floral china, but here, it works perfectly. 
The tables are covered with pristine, crisp, pure white linen cloths which are protected by glass tops. Place settings are artistically arranged with an individual porcelain or bone china cup and saucer (each one different so that a table for six has six different designs of china), a pretty side plate, a silver knife and fork, a coloured water glass and an original Victorian or 1930s linen and lace tea napkin. In the centre of each table is a dainty vase of fresh flowers - roses, jasmine, tendrils of ivy - and the effect is one of delicate charm and elegance. As customers arrive and cast their eyes over the room, they often gasp in admiration and joy at such thoughtful creativity and beauty. On the day of my visit, a friend of Joy’s had made indescribably pretty shortbread biscuits in the shape of cups and saucers, each on a different design, garnished with gold and wrapped in cellophane and tied with satin ribbons - here’s one in the photo.
The food is absolutely delicious and the presentation perfect, with rose petals delicately decorating the freshly-made cakes, nasturtium petals and basil leaves garnishing the sandwiches - see for yourselves in the photos how pretty it all looks. Guests feel spoiled and cosseted as the charming young waitresses with their glowing smiles glide between the tables offering more tea, fresh water, extra scones. While the group nibbled and sipped, I talked to them of the gradual development of a passion in Britain and the US for Afternoon Tea, with all the quirkier aspects of tea drinking such as tea gowns and tea dances.
We talked too about the good news of tea’s health benefits and the many reasons why we all see tea as playing such in important part in our lives. We had such fun and at the end of the afternoon, everyone was reluctant to leave. Such is the power of tea to bring people together again and again for memorable occasions of shared pleasure and joy. It happens at Vegas every year and it happened at Joy Walsh’s Tea Upon Chatsworth. I am so very grateful for having had the opportunity of enjoying enjoyed both.
Tomorrow I leave London for two weeks in Japan and China so my next blogs will being news from those two important tea countries.
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Joy’s Tea Upon Chatsworth in San Diego is a place of comfort and pleasure—- it is because of the personal touch that she gives to every guest who graces the charming tearoom. And that is over and above the fact that food and tea in her place are to-die-for. Trips to San Diego will not be complete if this place is missed!