For over a month, the staff at T Ching has been walking on air with anticipation! With T Ching having been nominated as one of the top tea blogs for consideration at the World Tea Awards event held on Friday, May 30, we were giddy with excitement.

photo (13)T Ching’s strength is in its “stable” of guest contributors, representing tea growers, merchants, and tea drinkers from all over the world.  We have an 18 year old contributor who will be the keynote speaker at his high school graduation ceremony this coming Friday. Several of our contributors are directly involved with the growing and making of the leaf we love, hailing from China, India, Hawaii, Kenya, Singapore, and Taiwan.  We have a chef who tantalizes us every month with mouth-watering desserts and exotic tea-based beverages.  We have a few bricks-and-mortar teahouse owners and several on-line retailers.   We also feature posts from little old ladies who ” . . . don’t know much about tea, but I know what I like.”  It is the diversity of T Ching that sets us apart and continues to be our greatest strength.

While we ardently hoped to win “best blog” at the World Tea Awards, not winning doesn’t diminish our accomplishment of being named a finalist.  For an entire month we rubbed elbows with the best, and we’re still thrilled to have been in the circle.

We at T Ching congratulate Tony Gebely (congrats also on your recent wedding, Tony!) and World of Tea for the stunning accomplishment of winning best blog bragging rights. When you visit Tony’s blog, you will note the depth of research and post variety. Truly a tea geek’s blog that we plan to visit often.

Watch this space for several contributors’ impressions of the World Tea Expo and the World Tea Awards.

 Loading image of Tony Gebely from World of Tea webpage; image from World Tea Awards courtesy of Erika Cilengir.