Fancy Food Show 2007 – Tea

With 1,100 vendors at the Fancy Food Show, no wonder I couldn’t finish it in 5 hours! I really needed 2 days. I just found out that Martin Yan of “Yan Can Cook” was there and I missed him! He was the very first TV chef I ever watched. Check out his cookbooks Martin Yan’s Chinatown Cookingand Chinese Cooking for Dummies. He has restaurants in the Bay Area.

Anyway, back to the Fancy Food Show. I have acquired an addiction to teas, the more exotic and unique, the better. Mighty Leaf is one of my favorites. Their silky, artisan tea pouches are hand stitched (no staples) and hold whole tea leaves so you get the full flavor. My favorite flavor is Vanilla Bean. They also have this beautiful Tea Sampler Presentation Book.

Tea is such a huge industry now. What can a tea company like Numi do to offer something special? Flowering Teas. The teas are hand sewn and bloom when steeped in hot water. The woman above is sewing the tea leaves together.

They bloom like this.

Rishi Tea was also at the Fancy Food Show. I somehow missed their booth amidst the 1,100 vendors but I wanted to mention them. I love, love Rishi Organic Masala Chai Teabecause they include all of the organic, whole ingredients in the tea tin. With the black tea leaves, green cardamom pods, ginger, cinnamon, clove, and black pepper, you can boil all of these ingredients together to make your own Chai tea from scratch and adjust it to your taste. It offers a more robust flavor than from a tea bag. Before I discovered Rishi, I once waited eagerly for months for a friend to send me the recipe for Chai! Thank goodness for Rishi Masala Chai tea. You won’t have to hunt down and buy all of the ingredients from the food store. Rishi has expanded their Chai collection to include Rooibos Chai, Minty Green Chai, and Rainforest Chai.

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