The Spirt of Tea Tour rides again. Back for a third lap, Spirit Tea and Marco’s combined US tea tour isn’t going coastal this go round; they are going straight down the middle for a three-stop engagement starting at the end of September. And they are shaking things up.

Previous Spirit of Tea Tours have centered around a talk during the day followed by a matcha latte throwdown at night. While there will still be talks—topics include Chemistry of the Tea Leaf, Barista Best Practices, and How to Dial-In Tea—there will be no throwing down on this tour. Instead, attendees will get to take part in a pair of new competitions: a tea triangulation and a dial-in competition. The tea triangulation will work similarly to that of a coffee triangulation: sets of three cups will be filled, two the same brew of a tea and a third with a different but similar tea. Competitors then have to pick out the non-matching cup. The person who gets the most right in the shortest amount of time wins.

The dial-in competition works a little differently. A team event, the dial-in competition is by invite only and will feature some of the best shops in each host city vying to make the best cup of tea. Teams will receive sample teas and brewing vessels from Spirit in advance of the competition along with some simple brewing guidelines. The day of the event, each team will have 10 minutes to create their best interpretation to be evaluated by a special guest judge.

Dates for the Spirit of Tea tour are:
9/21: Austin, TX — Merit Coffee
10/16: Kansas City, MO — Messenger Coffee
11/8: Chicago, IL — Spirit Tea

As with previous versions, this round of Spirit of Tea tours is free to attend. It is intended for coffee professionals but is open to anyone interested in learning more about the wide world of tea. No RSVP is necessary but Spirit and Marco would appreciate it if you did anyway using each event’s respective Eventbrite page (linked in the cities above). For more information on the Spirit of Tea Tour, visit Spirit Tea’s official website.

Zac Cadwalader is the news editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.

Top image via Spirit Tea

Disclosure: Marco is an advertising partner with the Sprudge Media Network.

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