Coffee and Tea Newsletter: Special Festival Edition 2007

- Coffee & Tea Festival: NYC-
Special Guests

Ellen Easton, author of Afternoon Tea: Tips, Terms and Traditions
Ellen will share her expertise of how she created the afternoon tea programs for the Plaza and Waldorf-Astoria hotels.

Learn the proper protocols of afternoon tea-including the correct answers to pinkies up!...how to eat a scone...gloves on or off? The times for tea, how to serve tea to a crowd and more.

“We knew that to create a successful program, we required the expertise of a true professional. It is clear that your wealth of knowledge and your passion for the world of tea made this new endeavor a true success story. Your relentless efforts to seek perfection through education and training made a tremendous impact, and was received with praises by both line professionals and guests. Thank You ...You have taught us that there are no limits to the rites of afternoon tea.” -- Waldorf Astoria Hotel

“It has been a pleasure working with you in regard to the Plaza Tea service. Your suggestions and helpful hints concerning Tea Etiquette are being implemented in order to better our guests dining experience. You have been a great help to the Plaza. Thank you.” -- The Plaza, NYC, NY

Ellis Avery, author of The Teahouse Fire
Avery is the author of The Teahouse Fire (Riverhead, 2006), a novel set in the tea ceremony world of 19th century Japan. It explores the shifting cultural ground of late 19th century Japan through the story of Aurelia, an orphaned American girl taken in by Yukako, the daughter of Kyoto's most important tea master, herself destined to change the fate of the Way of Tea.

Avery studied Japanese tea ceremony for five years in New York and Kyoto, and now teaches creative writing at Columbia University. THE TEAHOUSE FIRE has been named a Kiriyama Prize Notable Book for 2006.

Dina Cheney, author of Tasting Club
Have you ever really tasted before? In this fun event, Dina Cheney--author of "Tasting Club" (DK Publishing)--will show you how. She'll share with you the joys of deep-tasting, which she defines as "slowing down and savoring food and drink in a structured fashion, to get in touch with your palate." The learning vehicle in this case: dark chocolate. While deep-tasting chocolate, you'll discover how at-home tastings are a new, fun, educational, delicious, and easy way of entertaining! Get the low-down on "Tasting Club"--the guide to organizing at-home tastings--and ask Dina how to plan your own tasting event! Afterwards, Dina will be available to sign copies of her book.

Karen Eland, coffee artist
For self-taught artist Karen Eland, coffee is so much more than a steamy beverage that delivers her morning buzz, it is a way to express her creative imagination—she paints with it.

karen eland We drink coffee, use it in recipes, and can even marinate a steak with it. But, paint with it? You’ve go to see it to believe it. Coffee art is a truly unique art form. It requires a thoughtful and delicate touch. Eland uses a slow and sophisticated process of building layers upon layers of espresso to capture the depth of the classic works she showcases.

Putting a modern and caffeinated spin on classic paintings by famous painters like Vermeer, DaVinci, Michelangelo, and Picasso, you’ll enjoy each of Eland’s interpretations--the most popular being Mona Latte.

Karen Dunlap, Tea Sommelier
Karen Dunlap, tea sommelier, co-founded Matcha Source in 2006 (www.matchasource.com). She had her first sip of matcha, and exposure to whole leaf teas a decade ago while working at Teaism, a teahouse in Washington DC. She comes to Matcha Source from In Pursuit of Tea where she consulted with NYC restaurants and retailers. She is a regular contributor to Asian Food & Lifestyle and has been a guest speaker at MTV Networks and on WNYC’s the Leonard Lopate Show.

Karen has traveled extensively in Asia, Europe, Australia and South America, following her passions: culture, tea, and photography. Prior to tea, she worked in the nonprofit arts sector (National Endowment for the Arts, Sundance Film Festival and the Oregon Cultural Trust), a background that inspires her quest for exploring art and cultural traditions of tea.

She continues to learn about matcha from Japanese Tea Master Yoshihiro Terazono in New York City, where she makes her home.

Mitchel Margulis, Real Coffee Corp.
Mitchel Margulis has been in the Specialty Coffee industry for over 17 years and has developed passion about coffees. He has learned from some of the most knowledgeable and passionate experts in the industry. He started his career working for an importer of high-altitude roasted coffee from Switzerland. From there, he moved to Lavazza USA, where he received extensive training in Italy about coffees in general, the culture behind a “fine roast” and the art of making a perfect espresso. He became an expert on coffees and was responsible for training & supporting many of Lavazza’s distributors and sales staff. He has conducted training seminars and lectured at numerous trade shows including a panel in Venice Italy with Dr, Ernesto Illy. Mitchel taught regularly at many major culinary schools throughout the United States, including the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, where he became a permanent “guest” lecturer for 8 years. He is a founding member of the Training Committee for the Specialty Coffee Association of America and co-created the extremely popular Espresso Labs which is conducted at their national and regional events. As Director of Sales and Training for a large local office coffee service distributor, he was responsible for training and supporting its sales staff and is largely responsible for increasing annual sales to in excess of $50 million dollars. Tired of working for others and not being satisfied with the quality of the coffees being sold, he and long time associate Stew Cooper formed Real Coffee Corp.

Chris Cason, Tavalon Tea
Chris Cason is considered one of the top young tea experts in the country. He most recently worked with one of the nation's leading online tea company, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the most widely read tea newsletter in the industry. Chris also created and developed a free online tea education site, designed to help tearoom owners train their staff with the necessary knowledge of the product. In 2005, he completed "A Guide to Tea," a book that serves as a beginner's introduction to gourmet tea, with a first-run circulation of more than 20,000 copies.

Patrick Spillman, Director of Coffee for Fresh Direct
Since January 2005, Patrick Spillman has been the Director of Coffee for FreshDirect, the online food business which delivers fresh food to our homes here in New York City. He buys green, raw coffee from around the world and roasts it at the FreshDirect plant in Long Island City. Everyday, FreshDirect roasts between 900 and 1,300 lbs for delivery the next day.

fresh direct Before joining FreshDirect, Patrick was the quality control manager for the Colombian Coffee Federation and the Juan Valdez, 100% Colombian Coffee Program in North America. He would taste hundreds of cups of Colombian Coffee everyday to ensure the quality which consumers expect when they purchase 100% Colombian Coffee.

From 1995 to 1999 he was the roastmaster for Dallis Coffee in Queens. Patrick roasted coffee and designed blends for the best restaurants in New York City and Washington D.C. He started roasting at a small coffee shop in his home town of Keene, New Hampshire. In addition to his 14 years of coffee experience, Patrick enjoys playing his harmonica with blues bands, visiting pubs and perfecting his backhand on the tennis court.

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