2025 Garden Tea Festival
Please help us keep this calendar up to date! If this activity is sold out, canceled, or otherwise needs alteration, email mindy@kidsoutandabout.com so we can update it immediately. If you have a question about the activity itself, please contact the organization administrator listed below.
Date: May 17, 2025 (Saturday)
Time: 10 am-5 pm
Location: Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, 578 Carrall St, Vancouver, BC V6B 5K2
Ticket:
- Admission: $12/person. Visitors are encouraged to bring their own small teacup (smaller than 40ml).
- Garden Tea Festival special deal: $15 (admission + a small teacup) — You need a small teacup to taste different tea made by tea artists during workshops/demos and enjoy the tea served by vendors.
- Free for Garden Annual Pass holders.
Activities:
• Teas from local small tea business, tea tasting and tea-related products
• Chinese tea ceremony all day
• Educational workshops by experts in different fields
• Tea snacks, including Chinese tea snacks, Japanese matcha delights and gourmet cookies
• Incense ceremony: agarwood appreciation
• Chinese calligraphy demonstration and interaction with the public
• Musical instrument performance all day by young talents with BC Chinese Music
Association-BC Chinese Chamber Ensemble (Guzheng and other Asian musical instruments)
• Photo booth of tea ceremony set-up (all day)
• Hanfu try-on provided by SiruPlum Culture Studio from Toronto
Educational Workshops:
To deepen the public’s understanding of tea from different cultures, the Garden invited professionals from diverse backgrounds to share their expertise and experiences. All workshops are included with tickets to the festival.
The keynote workshop will be led by Kevin Gascoyne, Director of the Canadian Tea Association and co-owner of the renowned Camellia Sinensis tea shop in Montreal. Kevin will travel from Montreal to Vancouver for this special event. With over 30 years of experience in the tea industry, he spends every spring visiting tea regions in Asia. Kevin is a sought-after lecturer worldwide, co-runs two tea schools, and is a co-author of the award-winning book TEA: History, Terroir, Varieties.
Another highlight will be a workshop by a Japanese tea expert from O5 Tea in Vancouver, who will introduce a unique and rarely discussed topic—Japanese “foam tea”, a style of tea that has almost disappeared in Japan.
Jeff, a tea artist, will lead a fascinating workshop comparing specialty coffee from Yunnan, China, with Yunnan tea. Yunnan is traditionally known as a major tea-producing region with a history spanning over a thousand years. However, in recent years, coffee plantations have emerged in response to China’s growing coffee culture among young people. Yunnan coffee has become increasingly popular. Jeff’s workshop will explore the similarities and differences between Yunnan tea and coffee, appealing to both tea and coffee enthusiasts.
Additional workshops include a Japanese Tea 101 session and a Traditional Chinese Tea workshop for beginners.
We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of The Edna May Eng Family Foundation.
*Times, dates, and prices of any activity posted to our calendars are subject to change. Please be sure to click through directly to the organization’s website to verify.