Tasting a hibernating tea

I'm always game for tasting anything that's been aged in a cave for half a century — intentionally. So I'm excited about the recently announced Tea Extravaganza 2009 event here at Chicago's Drake Hotel next month. It's two days of tea tastings, including a great green (Cha Wang Tai Ping Hou Kui / Tea King Monkey Chief), an intriguing oolong (Dong Fang Mei Ren) and a rare, collectible pu-erh: a 1949 Cave-Aged Private Reserve Pu-erh that sells for $400 an ounce. Two-day tickets for the event are just half that.

There's lunch the first day (Aug. 10) and afternoon tea the second (Aug. 11), so come rub elbows with the camellierati.