This year, the World Tea Expo also played host to the country's first Tea Auction, in which teashop owners and tea connoisseurs were able to purchase 5- and 10-kilogram lots of one-of-a-kind premium teas from the Nilgiri region in India. 42 different teas from 14 different Nilgiri estates were auctioned. The evening before the auction, a special tasting event was held, giving buyers a chance to see, smell, and taste the teas they would be bidding on as well as a chance to meet the growers from Nilgiri. A stunning success, the Tea Auction had already set a world record by the time the first lot was sold. After a spirited bidding war on Glendale SFTGFOP leaves, Jennifer Cauble, who hosts tea tastings in Fort Worth, Texas, purchased the first ever tea sold at auction on US soil. The tea sold for $600 per kilogram, which may be the highest price ever paid for black tea in an auction.