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After taking a few years off, I attended the World Tea Expo 2025 last week. It was held at the south hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center and co-located with the Bar & Restaurant Expo. In this post, I’ll be sharing my experience attending the educational conference as well as what I saw on the show floor. Most years, I am speaking or tied up in activities (like when I judged the Tea Master’s Cup), so it was nice to relax and enjoy the show a bit more this time around.
What is World Tea Expo?
World Tea Expo is a B2B tradeshow for the tea industry. It is not open to the general public, and you must provide proof of a direct industry affiliation to register and attend. I was able to go as an approved member of the press.
Conference
The educational conference for World Tea Expo 2025 was held each day before the show floor opened. It felt more condensed this year, with 5-6 presentations happening simultaneously each hour. That meant having to choose just one session to attend.
First up on day one was Sourcing Tea Directly from Origin Can Offer a Significant Edge with Pratik Rijal of Nepal Tea Collective. It was really interesting to hear about all of the steps involved in importing tea. I also love the idea of encouraging more tea shops to source directly as a way of helping improve the livelihood of tea farmers.
I also attended Explore & Experience the Multifaceted World of Japanese Tea with Oscar Brekell of Teaism. I saw him give a similar presentation in New York City just before the World Tea Expo, so it was nice to get to see him twice. This one was a bit different since it was geared more towards the industry rather than consumers. He also gave a hojicha roasting demonstration. I found that helpful since I purchased a houroku but haven’t had a chance to use it yet.
On the second day, I was able to fit in 3 sessions. First up was Brewing Excellence: Elevating Tea Service in Hospitality with Kevin Gascoyne of Camellia Sinensis. He shared stories of different restaurants he has worked with over the years as a way to highlight best practices. I will definitely keep these insights in mind if I work with a restaurant to develop a tea menu in the future.
Demystifying Chinese Tea: Understanding Categories, Traditions, and Market Potential with Lauren Luo of JingWei Fu Tea was a rapid-fire discussion of all things Chinese tea. It was a bit chaotic due in part to technical difficulties, but she coped with those challenges like a champ. I appreciated getting a sip of dark tea to start the day.
Dan Bolton of Tea Biz presented Finessing the World’s Fractured Tea Markets. Anyone who knows Dan knows that he is a lover of statistics. He used AI and Google Trends to analyze the behavior of tea consumers over time. It was especially interesting to see the surges of interest in tea during the pandemic, as well as the recent matcha craze.
Expo
The World Tea Expo 2025 opened with great fanfare. There was a ribbon cutting ceremony and a performance by Reiko Wake, a Japanese Tea Ambassador and opera singer. Here is a video I took of the festivities. I loved seeing the big rush of people entering, all excited about tea!
The first day of the expo was very crowded, while the second was a bit more subdued. It was fun to walk around and say hi to friends like Nepal Tea Collective and Sugimoto Tea. I also found new friends like Nōka Imports, who is working to bring the awesome teas from Ikkyu to the United States. Crowded show floors like this can be overstimulating, but stopping to sample tea along the way certainly helps.
The booths on the show floor were a little sparse, with one aisle being almost empty. I don’t have an official source for this, but I have heard that vendors from China, India, and Kenya had difficulty getting their travel visas approved. The opening ceremony was sponsored by Tea Capital Shizuoka, so unsurprisingly, there were many Japanese tea vendors. I did appreciate that the tea side of the expo was separated a bit more from the bar and restaurant side. Smoke machines and loud music don’t quite complement the enjoyment of tea.
My favorite find of the show was these beautiful matcha accessories that Hario will be releasing in the summer. They also come in pink, and I think they will be very popular with the matchatok crowd.
More vendors seemed willing to sell items on the show floor this year. I’m still working on sipping down my stash, so the only purchase I made was a tea-infused soap and face masks from Wuyistar.
Global Tea Championship
The awards ceremony for the Global Tea Championship was held at the end of the first day of the show. It was hosted by Mike Harney of Harney & Sons and Ravi Pillai of DAVIDsTea. Unfortunately, my camera batteries malfunctioned, so I wasn’t able to get many pictures of the ceremony.
Japanese Green Tea Co.’s Ceremonial Matcha and Lumbini Tea Valley’s Silver Feathers were definitely the big winners of the night, each taking home several awards. I sat with Phil from World Tea House so it was great to get to see him accept the award for superior oolong liquor on behalf of The Great Mississippi Tea Co. for their Black Orchid.
This event made me nostalgic for the World Tea Awards and my own previous award nominations and wins. It would be nice for them to be brought back with a transparent public voting system in place.
Final Thoughts
My first World Tea Expo was in 2014 and I have attended most years since. The show back then was very different from its current iteration. Part of that is due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but ownership of WTE has also changed hands several times over the last decade. It still feels like tea is an afterthought, especially compared to the Bar & Restaurant Expo. I’m hopeful that the World Tea Expo will continue to grow so that it can better serve the industry.
Did you attend the World Tea Expo 2025? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!
Press pass to this event provided by Questex.
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