the circuit

Early morning at a convention centre in Las Vegas or Portland feels like a ritual of its own — the hollow echo of roller cases across polished concrete, the slow hiss of water heating in a dozen cupping stations, the scent of dry leaf beginning to open in the air. This is the rhythm of the US tea circuit, a quiet pulse that runs through the year and draws together growers, buyers, importers, and the simply curious.

Sandry Law, Head of Procurement for the constellation and a familiar face at these shows, arrives early. He moves through the halls with the deliberate patience of someone who has spent decades in Yunnan tea markets — where a single conversation can determine the fate of an entire harvest. He is here to meet vendors, to check the leaf, and to offer the kind of insight that only fieldwork can teach. Before the crowds press in, he might set a small gaiwan on a table and pour water over a tightly twisted wò duī (渥堆) pu-erh, letting the steam rise while he listens for the sound of the boil — a tuning fork for quality control.

The calendar stretches from the grand World Tea Expo to regional specialty shows like Coffee Fest, the Northwest Tea Festival, and grassroots meetups in tea houses from Brooklyn to San Francisco. Each event has its own character: the expo floors with their theatre of backlit booths and business cards, the quieter festivals where a farmer from Fujian might sit across a folding table and share stories of a spring harvest. At the heart of it, the tea is what speaks — and Sandry Law helps translate. Over the course of a day, he may lead a comparative tasting of Bái Háo Yín Zhēn (白毫银针) from three different terroirs, gently pointing out the differences in downy texture and the way the sweetness lingers on the throat. He writes about these encounters on thetea.app and puerh.app, turning the fleeting moments of a trade show into something you can return to.

There is no velvet rope here — most events are free to attend — but there is a quiet gravity. At the constellation lounges (pop‑up spaces at select shows) a visitor might find Sandry Law unwrapping a new sheng cake, the paper crinkling under his hands, and offering a first taste to a small group. These are not performances. They are extensions of the work he does in Kunming, where every lot is chosen with the same care.

As the season moves from show to show, the calendar on this page updates with new dates and locations. It is not a static list — it breathes with the industry, gaining new entries as festivals confirm their programmes and team members commit to attending. The circuit is a thread connecting the constellation’s school at tea.school, the online shops at shop.thetea.app and shop.puerh.app, and the deeper exploration of terroir on teamotea.com. Wherever you join it, you are walking into an ongoing conversation — one that started long before the doors opened, and will continue long after the last cup is drained.

what’s in the cup

At any stop on the US tea circuit, the programme is built on direct engagement: cuppings, masterclasses, and one‑on‑one tastings that strip away marketing to focus on the leaf. Sandry Law brings a kit of session teas from recent procurement trips — perhaps a wild arbor sheng from the banks of the Lancang River, a honey‑fragrant mí lán xiāng (蜜兰香) dancong from Guangdong, or a deliberately aged white tea that carries notes of camphor and dust. The tasting always begins with the sound of water poured into a warmed gaiwan and the weight of its lid in the hand — moments of calibration before the first sip.

These sessions are not lectures but dialogues. Sandry Law walks guests through the vocabulary of procurement: how to read a wet leaf, why a certain wò duī was pushed longer, what the price‑to‑quality ratio actually looks like in a Fuding market. The teas are passed around on aroma cups, and the conversation often drifts into the kind of detail that never appears in catalogue descriptions — the angle of a terrace, the personality of a broker, the subtle difference that a single day of withering can make. For those who want to go deeper, the talk naturally extends to the constellation’s resources: the vertical tastings logged on puerh.app, the teaware guides on tea.equipment, and the foundational courses at tea.school.

At larger shows, the programme may include guided flights of pu‑erh spanning a decade, or comparative tables of green, white, and yellow teas arranged by Hunan expert Zhou Xiang, another resident master who occasionally joins the circuit. Each cupping is a study in clarity — no fuss, no ceremony for its own sake, just the quiet discipline of paying attention to what the cup is telling you.

Amenities

• Curated calendar of US tea events for 2026–2027

• One‑on‑one procurement consultation with Sandry Law at select shows

• Cupping workshops led by constellation tea masters

• Samples of current‑season teas from Yunnan and other origins

• Networking with US specialty tea professionals

• Post‑event follow‑up materials on tea.school

• Early notice of constellation lounge appearances

• Printed tasting notes and producer profiles

What’s included

• Entry to listed public events (most free; expo badge for trade shows)

• Digital calendar with location alerts and date updates

• Access to constellation lounge pop‑ups at major expos

• Walk‑through of new procurement arrivals with Sandry Law

• Invitations to tea‑pairing dinners where available

• Connection pathway to constellation online shops (shop.thetea.app, shop.puerh.app)