East West Crossings – A State College Tea Shop and Cafe

Sun, Mar 30, 4pm – 6pm: - Bashakov is a musician that is not part of the pop culture, but whose songs-in the style of folk-rock, are widely known. His lyrics are very uplifting, gor example, in his use of the words like “sun” and “light”. Although Mikhail will sing in Russian about different aspects of people’s everyday life, he will explain the context and content of the songs for our audience. Mikhail is part of a dying breed of poet/musicians and we are happy to present this performance. The afternoon will begin with a short recital on guitar and cello by Isaac Mognet and Nikolai Balashov- both members of the band The Hot Teapots.

Friday Night Music which has suffered due to weather conditions the past two weeks, will be returning tomorrow night! We hope to see everyone out and about! Cole Hons will be entertaining us with a medley of musical, comical and poetic variety.

Due to popular demand, we will be having another set of tea workshops to accomodate those who were not able to make it in time for the first sign up. To keep the classes intimate for the best tea enjoyment atmosphere, there will be limited number of spots available. They’re already filling up so we’re taking final confirmation right now.

 ______________________________________________

TEA CULTURES
TEA TASTINGS

Joy Mitra of East West Crossings, member of the Specialty Tea Institute, will present a sequence of 3 workshops at 2:00 p.m. on three Sunday afternoons, April 6th, 13th and 20th

These workshop/classes can be taken independently, but there is greater benefit to taking them as a 3-course sequence.

Reservations are strongly recommended, because class size is strictly limited. Cost is $12 per session (if enrolling separately), or $30 for the 3-course sequence and includes teas and tea dainties. The workshops will provide an overview of specialty teas and will include tea tastings.

Details below
for a printable version of the workshop details, click here
for printable version of registration form, click here

Friday, February 15th – 6pm-8pm. Friday Night Live Music series will feature two exceptional musicians with romantic songs and serenade. We are happy to welcome singer, songwriter and guitarist Maryjo Oster back to the stage at East-West, and to introduce for the first time, singer and pianist, Will Sirois in his first performance at the teashop.

Weekend Activities:
The 2nd class in the tea workshop series will continue as planned this Sunday at 2pm. We’re looking forward to seeing everyone from the first class again as well as welcoming several new members!

Friday Live Music at East West Crossings Books, Teas & Arts – State College, PA – We welcome the return of Trixie Neptune performing eclectic rock and progressive jazz numbers this Friday (February 8th) from 6-8pm. Trixie Neptune consists of: Liz Jones – Keyboard, Jenn Henry – Singer, Steve Christensen- Guitar, Dave Skipper- Base. To read more about Trixie Neptune, please visit their blog.  See you there!

Also coming this week:
Saturday – Feb. 9th 11am – Children’s Storyhour featuring professional talekeeper, Jon Vickers-Jones. Children of all ages welcomed! To find out more about Jon, please visit his website.

Sunday - Feb 10th 2pm – The first of a series of 3 workshops on Tea Cultures and Tastings. To find out more about each class please click here.

“Three Sundays” – Tea Cultures and Tastings

Joy Mitra of East West Crossings, member of the Specialty Tea Institute, will present a sequence of 3 workshops at 2:00 p.m. on three Sunday afternoons, February 10th, 17th and 24th

These workshop/classes can be taken independently, but there is greater benefit to taking them as a 3-course sequence.

Reservations are strongly recommended, because class size is strictly limited.  Cost is $12 per session (if enrolling separately), or $30 for the 3-course sequence and includes teas and tea dainties. The workshops will provide an overview of specialty teas and will include tea tastings.

Workshop/Class One –An Introduction to the World of Specialty Tea and Tea Cultures
Focus:  Black teas from India and Sri Lanka
 Loose-leaf, specialty tea is the fastest growing beverage industry in the U.S.  We will discuss where and how tea is grown and the basic types of processing approaches. 
The focus of this class will be on black teas grown in India and Sri Lanka. 
These teas are the hearty teas that many in the West are familiar with as “English” tea or “Irish” tea.  People often drink black teas with cream and sugar, but some of the finer grades, like the champagne teas of Darjeeling, taste best taken “straight up.”
We will taste 3 different black teas grown in different regions with different properties and grades. 
The session will end with a brief guided meditation about tea and its cultural journey from east to west.

Workshop/Class Two – The 5 Basic types of Tea
Focus:  Oolong teas from Taiwan and China and Flavored Teas
In workshop two we will review the 5 basic kinds of tea, and how processing and brewing results in different types of tea. 
We will focus our discussion and tastings of oolong and flavored teas. 
Taiwan and China are the countries that are most famous for growing and processing oolong teas.    Flavored teas have been developed to a high art by Chinese makers of hand-made teas, tea vendors such as Mariage Freres in Paris and by many Western developers of fragrant flavored teas.
We will end with a tea meditation and tea pouring exercise to honor these ancient tea traditions.

Workshop/Class Three – Health Benefits of Tea
Focus:  Green teas from China and Japan
This class will focus on the essential components of tea and the health benefits associated with drinking tea, focusing on the green teas of China and Japan.  We will discuss how climate and environment affect the flavor and quality of the tea and review the growing body of research that has developed to document the positive health benefits of tea drinking.
We will discuss some of the premises of tea cultures and tea ceremonies, including the historical role that tea has played in social interactions in these countries. 
The class will taste 3 varieties of green teas and physically examine the leaves and the differences in the taste and quality of these different samples. 
The class will end with a brief meditation on the peacefulness and contentment associated with tea drinking in many parts of the world.

Registering for Classes:

Please call, fax or email to register. For printable version of registration form, click here

East West Crossings
201A Elmwood Street,
State College, PA 16801
814-234-8810; 814-234-8840 (fax) or info@eastwestcrossings.com
www.eastwestcrossings.com