As part of the “Park Hyatt Masters of Food & Wine 2012” series, their Toronto team changed it up a bit this spring by presenting the event as an afternoon tea in the Annona Restaurant.  Like all the events in this series, the Park Hyatt made it an interactive experience.  Special guests Carol Ann Savage and Mingzhu Gao from Tao Tea Leaf demonstrated the process of tea making and shared with us samplings of several distinctive teas.

Carol Ann is a Tea Sommelier, graduate of the program at George Brown College and the Founding Director of the Tea Guild of Canada.  She knows a lot about tea and I learned a surprising amount in just two hours.  I even retained most of it, probably because of the relaxed atmosphere, beautiful presentation and, of course, my heightened level of caffeine.  Guests enjoyed tasting the tea, but also the open discussion of the flavours and the chance to see the tea preparation done in Tao’s formal instructive manner.

To read the full article, click here.

I really enjoyed the experience of “Tea at the Park Hyatt”, but I almost didn’t attend.  To make sure we got the story I asked several of our writers and our publisher to join in the event.  All were busy, which worked out very well for me.  

Now, why would I not want to attend (other than my crazy life schedule).   It’s a sad circumstance really, and if you’ve read the article you may have figured out my dilemma.  I was fortunate to have Carol and Michele next to me, as I am allergic to wine.  In fact, I’m allergic to grapes and anything made with grapes.  Not the best thing in my business.  No champagne toasts; no post-dinner male bonding over a glass of port; no delicious juicy grapes being hand fed to me by toga-clad Adonises.  

Fortunately, I can still enjoy lovely teas, tasty foods and delightful desserts.  Oh yes, and lest you start feeling too sorry for me, a nice liqueur still occasionally makes its way into my glass.