The not-for-profit Tea Association of Canada (TAC), will be returning to this year’s annual Canadian Coffee & Tea Show, happening on September 25 and 26 at The International Centre in Toronto. Since 1954, TAC’s founding members — originating in Sri Lanka and India — have worked to promote tea consumption in Canada.
For this year’s event, TAC will offer seminars on the intricacies of serving the world’s second most-loved beverage, as well as conducting its Tea Sommelier certification examination.
On opening day, Monin’s director of Beverage Innovation, Angela Thompson will share insider secrets and insights on the latest flavour-innovations in coffee, iced tea, soda, lemonade and more. She will teach participants how to utilize a single product in numerous applications and how to create seasonal limited-time offers in order to maximize profits.
The Canadian Coffee and Tea Show kicks-off at 8 a.m. on Sept. 25 with a coffee cupping basics workshop — where participants will be taught how to taste coffee to evaluate its quality — followed by TAC’s tea industry update from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m., sharing the latest information on the most important issues affecting the production, distribution and sale of tea.
Monday’s events close out with a coffee retailer panel featuring leading figures in the coffee industry who will discuss emerging trends and threats that operators need to monitor in order to protect their businesses.
A tea-tasting guided by TAC tea sommeleier, Shabnam Weber, includes a variety of teas from different regions of India and Kenya for guests to acquaint their palates with more exotic flavours.
Other sessions include a seminar on crafting blended drinks; a TAC seminar on tea preparation for the 21st century; a Fairtrade-Canada-hosted luncheon focused on discussing how effective fair trade practices in the coffee industry can lead to improving the lives of small-scale farmers and marginalized workers; and an advanced coffee tasting session.
