Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Restaurants have a tea party | Nation's Restaurant News

Restaurants have a tea party | Nation's Restaurant News


Restaurants have a tea party

Operators offer iced, hot varieties to brew up customer interest

Order an iced tea at Eastern Standard in Boston, and you’ll get a glass brewed from equal amounts of green and black tea, spiked with a little bit of mint. 


The restaurant, which sells the tea for $3, began offering that particular variety three years ago, after general manager Andrew Holden was introduced to the blend by a supplier and thought it would be a crowd pleaser.


“It seemed like a risk to break away from strong black iced tea, [but it] had incredible balance,” he said. “The beauty of this blend is that it’s not so off the beaten path or delicate or floral. People across the board are into it.”


Holden is just one of many restaurateurs nationwide who are tapping into signature blends and new flavors to capitalize on the growing tea market. Aided by a healthful reputation and the decline in carbonated soft-drink sales, iced tea orders rose 4 percent for the year ended March 2011, according to Port Washington, N.Y.-based research firm The NPD Group. During the same period, hot tea orders increased 2 percent.


As customers shy away from sodas, operators are upgrading tea offerings to appeal to their desire for something new — and to keep them from trading down to tap water.


“There’s certainly been a decline in our clientele drinking sodas and ordering soft drinks,” Holden said. “They’re looking for another beverage, and iced tea certainly falls in that category.”


Randy Murphy, president and chief executive of the Mama Fu’s Asian House chain, based in Austin, Texas, said that over the past three years tea has been outselling soda at his chain’s 13 units, half of which are in central Texas.


The chain’s top seller is a jasmine-infused green iced tea. Sweet tea is popular, as well.


Murphy said the jasmine green tea tastes great, but he added that he thinks his customers’ awareness about its reputed health benefits adds to the tea’s appeal. 


“It’s a great complement to our food [and] one of our best-margin items on the menu,” he added.


According to an August report from Chicago-based Technomic, 73 percent of consumers say they are interested in either hot or iced green tea, driven in part by its reputation for being rich in antioxidants. Lemon and honey flavors appealed to 61 percent and 60 percent, respectively, in the same study.


But regardless of flavor, research shows tea has to be high quality to make a real impact on sales. 


In a study of the Canadian tea market, NPD found that customers there are more likely to order tea if they’re confident it’s going to taste good.


“At casual-dining restaurants, 31 percent of tea drinkers surveyed told us they order tap water rather than get a poor cup of tea,” NPD account manager Vince Sgabellone said.


The study found that poor quality, poor selection and poor execution all were leading reasons tea drinkers didn’t order the beverage in restaurants.


And investing in better tea offerings can pay off, experts say.


“The cost to brew a cup of iced tea is pennies per serving,” said George Jage, president of World Tea Expo. Spending 5 cents per cup instead of 3 cents can generally allow for an upsell of between 50 cents and $1, he added.


Brewing tea well can be a challenge, however, as the quality can be impacted by even subtle differences in the temperature of the water.


“It turns out that when they tell you to brew tea a certain way, it does make a difference,” said Sean Henry, owner of Houndstooth Coffee in Austin.


He said a growing number of his customers are interested in tea — black tea in the morning, and others, such as goji berry white tea, mint tea and green tea, in the afternoon and evening.


“We try to develop people’s tastes on different types and styles of tea, and brew them as well as we can,” he said.


Houndstooth uses loose-leaf tea brewed in 18-ounce pots. For teas requiring cooler water, Henry has calculated how much ice to add to just-below-boiling water to get the desired temperature.


At Doc Chey’s Noodle House, an Asian concept with three locations in Atlanta and one in Asheville, N.C., tea makes up the bulk of beverage sales.


Although the chain’s Southern locations help make sweet tea a popular item, the best sellers are a spiced masala chai, a jasmine green tea and an herbal blend called Fire Ginseng, which combines Korean red ginseng and other botanicals.


Most of the tea at Doc Chey’s is hot, sold in 16-ounce pots for $2.50 and usually split between two people. Iced tea is $1.75 and is available either as sweet tea or unsweetened jasmine tea. Owner Rich Chey said the two iced teas are equally popular, adding that, with an average per-person check of $10 to $12, the tea is a good upsell.


“It’s also a nice point of distinction for us,” he said.


Stella Maemoto, manager of the Tea Lounge at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Las Vegas, said having a point of distinction is key to successful tea sales. She noted that the lounge’s most popular tea is the Mandarin orange blend, made with black tea, Mandarin orange blossoms and a hint of vanilla.


“A lot of our customers go for that because they know they can only get it at our property,” she said. 


Contact Bret Thorn at bret.thorn@penton.com.
Follow him on Twitter @FoodWriterDiary



Read more: http://www.nrn.com/article/restaurants-have-tea-party#ixzz1eTGYVBZ7

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Tea & Coffee Trade Journal and Tea Blending.

Congrats to you Josh, and you are welcome!


Hi Everyone, 

Tea & Coffee Trade Journal ran the article on blending last month. I especially want to thank Manjiv, Ron and Desiree for your input and contributions to the article. I have attached a pdf for your perusing pleasure. 


Thanks, 

Joshua Rigsby
Marketing and Communications Coordinator
QTrade Teas & Herbs

http://catalog.proemags.com/publication/4eaba8e8#/4eaba8e8/28

Fox News...Iced Tea is Booming

Iced Tea is Booming...See Fox News and Mary Barnard, vice president and general manager of the Pepsi Lipton Tea Partnership, on the 20th Anniversary of the iced tea market and how the business has evolved. 


Ahhh, job security!



Iced Tea Business is Booming

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

QTrade Expands, plan your visit with us

Share the news! Plan your visit with us next year and tour our new facility!  Our capacity to blend your teas is now 40,000 lbs of tea per day. Check out link below for more info.


http://myemail.constantcontact.com/QTrade-Expands-to-a-New-Facility.html?soid=1102498753007&aid=DL435ETMz1o

Monday, October 17, 2011

From where I sit...

My tea journey started in 1996 in the Ritz Carlton. Harney and Sons Loose Leaf teas where flowing to any $40 a head High Tea ticket purchaser. My absolute favorite was Jasmine Oolong piping hot, with a spike of milk and one brown sugar cube - of course tasting best out of a Ritz Carlton fine bone China cup. The jasmine was light and pure, not heavy and weighted on the tongue. Many of the high tea guests at the Ritz Carlton had no idea about the tea they were drinking and often wanted to purchase everything about the experience to replicate at home; the Ritz had many retail missed opportunities. My fellow tea service gals and I had discussed opening our own tea rooms;  fast forward to 2002 and I actually made it happen. I had spent the interim years in Franchise ownership of quick service deserts and drinks. So what if I could put the two together? And blend my own tea blends with exciting embellishments of fruit pieces, chile threads, or even candy? That is what I did in creating the Lavender Lounge Tea Company. Not a tea room, but a Tea Lounge ~ a tea salon and tea bar type concept. Urban, eclectic, and uniquely like no other. I loved chatting to the guests and taking polls on the next desired flavor concoction or what they enjoyed as their family tea tradition. So many folks grew up with such uniquely special tea traditions. I loved helping to create Southern California's new tea traditions and succeeded in creating the teenage and mother and father alike "hot spot" for sipping hot tea and slurping iced tea, and selling all they needed to take the intimidation out of any loose tea experience, so they could continue the experiences at home. After 7 years, I learned what I needed to in tea, QS tea, and retail and slowly grew exhausted of managing he day to day of owning and operating my own stores, brand, blends, employees, and wholesale accounts. I tried to divide the company when I sold in 2008, but ended up by negotiating entirely all - the sale of the brand, stores, and wholesale accounts as well.  Now I work for one of the largest tea importers in the United States. From where I sit, it is ever so interesting to see all the applications of tea. From RTD, Chai's, blends, to Skin and Dog Food companies using teas and herbs. But what is most exciting is to see - what I created in my small brand that could have gone chain wide - being picked up conceptually by other chains and they are growing more every day. My concepts in my tea shops are what I see in almost every successful brand and growing store tea chain out there. When I started, the only way to find tea was tea at a "tea room" venue, and that was not really for retail, just a meal. Now there are tea retailers like my concept and they are even using more candy shop like feel in tea, more and more. Speaking of fun blends and trends, I can tell you of at least 6 tea blends of mine that were my crazy and unorthodox brainstorms that I see "borrowed" permanently, and I am flattered. (Now I know why these random marketing companies would order one pound here and five pounds there). But how do these
tea chains measure success, I wonder? Tea is an ever so laborious product, if you consider it start to finish, but that is for another blog title! It is certainly exciting to see where Starbucks will go now in the newest tea concept store, and certainly exciting to see this race finally get started. I can't wait to see who will compete on the West Coast in tea retail and tea bar concept action. I am ready to visit and critique. I am ready to see how it measures up to what I dream up of now - adding up what I did then, from where I sit now, to what the gap is on the street today. From where I sit, I am am ready to run. Tea concept stores are about to hit that tipping point, and I am ready.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Congratulations Numi Tea

09 Oct 2011 By World Tea News OAKLAND, Calif. Numi Organic Tea is the nation’s leading brand importer of Fair Trade certified tea and tisanes, according to Fair Trade USA. The announcement is in celebration of Fair Trade Month and recognizes the worldwide program to guarantee that farmers are paid a fair wage for their labor. Growers certified under the program receive a community development premium that can be used to improve education, roads, schools, product quality and healthcare. While a part of Fairtrade International (FLO) Fair Trade USA certified more than 9,500 products in the United States offered by more than 700 industry partners at more than 60,000 retail locations. The organization recently split from European-based FLO to create its own program. The certifier cited examples such as the Dazhangshan Organic Tea Farmer Association in China which was able to purchase new tea processing equipment to improve the quality of its tea and the living conditions of its members. “Members of the association, nearly 35 percent of which are women, now make nearly 20 percent more than other families in the area,” according to Fair Trade USA. In honor of Fair Trade Month, Numi asks consumers to take a deeper look into what goes in their shopping cart – and their teacup, says Ahmed Rahim, CEO and Co-Founder of Numi "From our humble beginnings in 1999, we have made it a major part of our mission to source from suppliers who believe in not just Organic farming but in ethically supporting their workers through Fair Trade initiatives,” says Rahim. The result is access to healthcare, higher wages, better education, homes, roads and overall, a more balanced quality of life, he says. "It is exciting to see Numi Organic Tea grow in market share while maintaining its strong relationship with its tea growers and deep commitment to Fair Trade," said Paul Rice, President & CEO of Fair Trade USA. "In addition to the far-reaching benefits of Numi's Fair Trade purchases, the company has made it possible for consumers to find Fair Trade tea at thousands of retailers throughout the country and make a real difference with every cup they drink." Numi Organic Tea purchases more Fair Trade Certified tea than any other U.S. brand. With more than half of their blends (and 80 percent of the raw ingredients purchased) bearing the Fair Trade Certified label, Numi is proudly dedicated to the Fair Trade system that helps workers earn fair wages across the world. Numi’s Fair Trade imports are projected in 2011 to grow by more than 75 percent over 2010. Numi is also working on a new social certification called Fair Labor Practices, which ensures a level of social responsibility that directly benefits workers, their families and their communities. Fair Labor Practices can certify all crops in all countries, farms of all sizes, domestically and internationally. It audits every step of the supply chain from farm to cup, including domestic operations. During this process, Numi has funded social, economic, and environmental development projects in the villages where the ancient Pu-erh tea trees exist. Numi Organic Pu-erh Teas will be the first product line to bear the Fair Labor Practices label. To learn more please visit http://numitea.com/people/fair-trade-certified/ or join Numi's "communitea" at https://www.facebook.com/numitea. Source: Numi Organic Tea, Fair Trade USA

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Pucker Up: North America Embraces Hibiscus Tea



Hibiscus (Hibiscus sabdariffa) has become increasingly popular across the US and Canada in recent years. Big name brands are now carrying hibiscus products in an effort to cater to increasingly health-conscious and exotically-minded consumers. Yet this surge interest is only beginning to catch up with the global enthusiasm for hibiscus that has been developing for some time.

Hibiscus the World Over
Technically a tisane, infusions made with Hibiscus often go by the name “Hibiscus tea” in English. This “tea” is also known by a variety of other names: Bissap in West Africa (the national drink of Senegal), Karkadé or Karakady in Egypt, Sudan, and Switzerland, flor de Jamaica or rosa de Jamaica in Mexico, Gudhal in India where it is appreciated for its Ayurvedic properties, and Gongura in Brazil. Other common names for hibiscus include “roselle” and “sorrel” (not to be confused with the vegetable Rumex acetosa).

Hibiscus tea is a frequent companion to celebrations of all kinds, as the bright red liquor shows up beautifully in the cup. It has long been a staple of Christmas celebrations in the Caribbean, where it is blended with spices and served with rum or wine. There is a growing trend in parts of the Middle East to drink iced hibiscus tea during Ramadan’s evening meals, while North American consumers are increasingly requesting it from coffee shops during the hot summer months.

Not Your Typical “Loose Leaf”
Few people realize that hibiscus tea is not made from the flowers or leaves of the plant. The infusion is actually prepared using the hibiscus’ calyx (calyces plural). The calyx is the hard, leaf-like protector of the hibiscus tree’s fruit, similar to what you find on the top of a tomato. The hibiscus calyx is harvested along with the fruit, and set out to dry in the sun. As it dries, the calyx develops its trademark purple color. Hibiscus is mostly grown in Egypt, Sudan, China, and parts of Southeast Asia for tea production.

Gorgeous Color in the Cup
Hibiscus tea is made by steeping calyces into hot water for 3-5 minutes and can be served hot or iced. Hibiscus tea has a tart flavor that is frequently compared to cranberry juice. As a result many people blend it with ginger, sugars, or other spices to offset the tartness.

Another appealing quality of the tea is its bright red color. Tea blenders often add hibiscus to their blends for the color alone. A small amount of hibiscus can brighten any blend dramatically, even if it is “steeped” in cold water.

Our Rosa De Jamaica

Rosa De Jamaica TBC
At QTrade we use hibiscus in a number of our tea blends. One of our most popular blends, the aptly named “Rosa de Jamaica” iced tea, recently won an award at the North American Tea Championship and has consistently been one of our most requested products ever since. We carry organic, fair trade, and conventional hibiscus in C/S and TBC cuts.

Please contact us for a complete list of our hibiscus blends as well as information about how we can create hibiscus products for you.http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Pucker-Up--America-Embraces-Hibiscus-Tea.html?soid=1102498753007&aid=54jVpPPftjE

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Consumer Survey Shows Tea Consumption Rising

Consumer Survey Shows Tea Consumption Rising

22 Aug 2011
By Dan Bolton, World Tea News Editor

CHICAGO, Ill.

A national survey released this week found 10% of U.S. consumers are purchasing more iced tea by the cup or glass than they did two years ago. Hot tea was the choice of 28% of customers and 34% report drinking dispensed iced tea. When it comes to flavors, 73% of consumers chose antioxidant-rich green tea because of its healthful benefits, making it the most appealing flavor for hot or iced tea.

“We asked consumers about whether they had “hot or cold specialty tea” in the past month, at home or away from home,” says Mary Chapman, Director of Product Innovation with Technomic, a market research firm specializing in away-from-home. “Consumption rates were low, at 9%, but they skewed much higher for those 18-34 (17%) and Asian consumers (20%),” adds Chapman. She said about 2% of consumers said they were drinking specialty tea such as chai and tea lattes at restaurants or foodservice locations more often than they were two years ago.

Sixty percent of respondents reported drinking drip coffee, both regular and decaf, or black tea within the last month, according to the Technomic Consumer Trend Report.

The Chicago-based market research firm’s MenuMonitor shows prices continue to rise. A cup of tea averaged $2.57 this year up from $2.40 in 2008. Drip coffee averages $2.36 per cup, up from $2.25 in 2008.

Most consumers prefer regular drip coffee and simple cup of black tea over the onslaught of non-fat lattes, cappuccinos and other espresso-based drinks, according to the report.

Technomic Vice President Joe Pawlak says understanding consumer motivations during various dayparts can help improve sales for operators and suppliers. “Consumers who regularly purchase coffee on their way to work are motivated by the convenience of the location,” Pawlak says, “but significantly, they are actually more motivated by the quality of the coffee, making them important loyal customers who return often, integrating the same locations into their normal routines.”

Quoting from the 2011 Market Intelligence Report: Coffee and Tea, Pawlak cited:

- Green tea, healthful and antioxidant-rich, is of interest to nearly three out of four consumers (73 percent), making it the most appealing flavor for hot or iced tea. In recent years, the number of green tea products has increased significantly on chain menus, according to MenuMonitor data. Lemon and honey are also appealing tea flavors for a sizeable percentage of consumers (61 percent and 60 percent, respectively).

- In the second half of 2010, 6.4% of tea drinks on the menus of the top national and emerging chains and leading independent operators were described as being green tea, says Chapman. “In the second half of 2009, that figure was 5.2%. Same period in 08, it was 4.9%. So while it’s not taking the world by storm, green tea is showing some nice growth.”

- Overall, grocery, drug and mass-merchandise stores have experienced a 15.9 percent increase in coffee sales from 2007-10. Sales of packaged tea were $764 million in 2010 with about 92% of that at food stores. Unilever products comprised more than a quarter of that $764 million, says Chapman.

- Although each type of retailer saw a gain, mass merchandisers achieved the biggest increase (53.1 percent) to coffee sales of $318 million in 2010 from $208 million in 2007. While price increases played some role (see below), the rise is also due to mass merchandisers such as Target expanding their food and beverage offerings, increasing pressure on traditional food stores.

- With the exception of frozen/blended coffee drinks, all other types of coffee and tea drinks have steadily increased in price since 2008.

Technomic, a Chicago-based consultancy focused on away-from-home eating and drinking. To learn more about beverage trends in foodservice or on other issues visit www.technomic.com.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Paul Stamets on 6 ways mushrooms can save the world | Video on TED.com

Paul Stamets on 6 ways mushrooms can save the world | Video on TED.com
I love this! Could mushrooms save the world? Help japanese Tea's with radiation clean up? Hmmmmm.....


Here is the Transcript:
I love a challenge, and saving the Earth is probably a good one. We all know the Earth is in trouble. We have now entered in the 6X -- the sixth major extinction on this planet. I often wondered if there was a United Organization of Organisms -- otherwise known as "Uh-Oh" -- (Laughter) -- and every organism had a right to vote, would we be voted on the planet or off the planet? I think that vote is occurring right now.

I want to present to you a suite of six mycological solutions, using fungi, and these solutions are based on mycelium. The mycelium infuses all landscapes, it holds soils together, it's extremely tenacious. This holds up to 30,000 times its mass. They're the grand molecular disassemblers of nature -- the soil magicians. They generate the humus soils across the land masses of Earth. We have now discovered that there is a multi-directional transfer of nutrients between plants, mitigated by the mcyelium -- so the mycelium is the mother that is giving nutrients from alder and birch trees to hemlocks, cedars and Douglas firs.

Dusty and I, we like to say, on Sunday this is where we go to church. I'm in love with the old-growth forest, and I'm a patriotic American because we have those. Most of you are familiar with portobello mushrooms. And frankly, I face a big obstacle. when I mention mushrooms to somebody, they immediately think portobellos or magic mushrooms, their eyes glaze over, and they think I'm a little crazy. So I hope to pierce that prejudice forever with this group. We call it mycophobia, the irrational fear of the unknown when it comes to fungi.

Mushrooms are very fast in their growth. Day 21, day 23, day 25. Mushrooms produce strong antibiotics. In fact, we're more closely related to fungi than we are to any other kingdom. A group of 20 eukaryotic microbiologists published a paper two years ago erecting opisthokonta -- a super-kingdom that joins animalia and fungi together. We share in common the same pathogens. Fungi don't like to rot from bacteria, and so our best antibiotics come from fungi. But here is a mushroom that's past its prime. After they sporulate, they do rot. But I propose to you that the sequence of microbes that occur on rotting mushrooms are essential for the health of the forest. They give rise to the trees, they create the debris fields that feed the mycelium.

And so we see a mushroom here sporulating. And the spores are germinating, and the mycelium forms and goes underground. In a single cubic inch of soil, there can be more than eight miles of these cells. My foot is covering approximately 300 miles of mycelium.

This is photo-micrographs from Nick Read and Patrick Hickey. And notice that as the mycelium grows, it conquers territory and then it begins the net. I've been a scanning electron microscopist for many years, I have thousands of electron micrographs, and when I'm staring at the mycelium I realize that they are microfiltration membranes. We exhale carbon dioxide, so does mycelium. It inhales oxygen, just like we do. But these are essentially externalized stomachs and lungs. And I present to you a concept that these are extended neurological membranes. And in these cavities, these microcavities form, and as they fuse soils, they absorb water. These are little wells. And inside these wells, then microbal communities begin to form. And so the spongy soil not only resists erosion, but sets up a microbial universe that gives rise to a plurality of other organisms.

I first proposed, in the early 1990s, that mycelium is Earth's natural Internet. When you look at the mycelium, they're highly branched. And if there's one branch that is broken, then very quickly, because of the nodes of crossing -- Internet engineers maybe call them hot points -- there's alternative pathways for channeling nutrients and information. The mycelium is sentient. It knows that you are there. When you walk across landscapes, it leaps up in the aftermath of your footsteps trying to grab debris. So I believe the invention of the computer Internet is an inevitable consequence of a previously proven biologically successful model. The Earth invented the computer Internet for its own benefit, and we now, being the top organism on this planet, are trying to allocate resources in order to protect the biosphere.

Going way out, dark matter conforms to the same mycelial archetype. I believe matter begets life, life becomes single cells, single cells become strings, strings become chains, chains network. And this is the paradigm that we see throughout the universe.

Most of you may not know that fungi were the first organisms to come to land. They came to land 1.3 billion years ago, and plants followed several hundred million years later. How is that possible? It's possible because the mycelium produces oxalic acids and many other acids and enzymes, pockmarking rock and grabbing calcium and other minerals and forming calcium oxalates. Makes the rocks crumble, and the first step in the generation of soil. Oxalic acid is two carbon dioxide molecules joined together. So fungi and mycelium sequester carbon dioxide in the form of calcium oxalates. And all sorts of other oxalates are also sequestering carbon dioxide through the minerals that are being formed and taken out of the rock matrix.

This was first discovered in 1859. This is a photograph by Franz Hueber. This photograph's taken 1950s in Saudi Arabia. 420 million years ago, this organism existed. It was called Prototaxites. Prototaxites, laying down, was about three feet tall. The tallest plants on Earth at that time were less than two feet. Dr. Boyce, at the University of Chicago, published an article in the Journal of Geology this past year determining that Prototaxites was a giant fungus, a giant mushroom. Across the landscapes of Earth were dotted these giant mushrooms. All across most land masses. And these existed for tens of millions of years.

Now we've had several extinction events, and as we march forward -- 65 million years ago -- most of you know about it -- we had an asteroid impact. The earth was struck by an asteroid, a huge amount of debris was jettisoned into the atmosphere. Sunlight was cut off, and fungi inherited the Earth. Those organisms that paired with fungi were rewarded, because fungi do not need light. More recently, at Einstein University, they just determined that fungi use radiation as a source of energy, much like plants use light. So the prospect of fungi existing on other planets elsewhere, I think, is a foregone conclusion, at least in my own mind.

The largest organism in the world is in Eastern Oregon. I couldn't miss it. It was 2,200 acres in size. 2,200 acres in size, 2,000 years old. The largest organism on the planet is a mycelial mat, one cell wall thick. How is it that this organism can be so large, and yet be one cell wall thick, whereas we have five or six skin layers that protect us? The mycelium, in the right conditions, produces a mushroom -- it bursts through with such ferocity that it can break asphalt. We were involved with several experiments. I'm going to show you six, if I can, solutions for helping to save the world. Battelle Laboratories and I joined up in Bellingham, Washington, there were four piles saturated with diesel and other petroleum waste. One was a control pile, one pile was treated with enzymes, one pile was treated with bacteria and our pile we inoculated with mushroom mycelium. The mycelium absorbs the oil. The mycelium is producing enzymes -- peroxydases -- that break carbon-hydrogen bonds. These are the same bonds that hold hydrocarbons together. So the mycelium becomes saturated with the oil, and then, when we returned six weeks later, all the tarps were removed, all the other piles were dead, dark, and stinky. We came back to our pile, it was covered with hundreds of pounds of oyster mushrooms -- and the color changed to a light form. The enzymes re-manufactured the hydrocarbons into carbohydrates -- fungal sugars.

Some of these mushrooms are very happy mushrooms. They're very large. They're showing how much nutrition that they could've obtained. But something else happened, which was an epiphany in my life. They sporulated, the spores attract insects, the insects laid eggs, eggs became larvae. Birds then came, bringing in seeds, and our pile became an oasis of life. Whereas the other three piles were dead, dark and stinky, and the PAH's -- the aromatic hydrocarbons -- went from 10,000 parts per million to less than 200 in eight weeks. The last image we don't have -- the entire pile was a green berm of life. These are gateway species. Vanguard species that open the door for other biological communities.

So I invented burlap sacks -- bunker spawn -- and putting the mycelium -- using storm blown debris you can take these burlap sacks and put them downstream from a farm that's producing E. coli, or other wastes, or a factory with chemical toxins, and it leads to habitat restoration. So we set up a site in Mason County, Washington, and we've seen a dramatic decrease in the amount of coliforms. And I'll show you a graph here. This is a logarithmic scale, 10 to the eighth power. There's more than a 100 million colonies per gram, and 10 to the third power is around 1,000. In 48 hours to 72 hours, these three mushroom species reduced the amount of coliform bacteria 10,000 times. Think of the implications. This is a space-conservative method that uses storm debris -- and we can be guaranteed that we will have storms every year.

So this one mushroom, in particular, has drawn our interest over time. This is my wife Dusty with a mushroom called Fomitopsis officinalis -- Agaricon. It's a mushroom exclusive to the old-growth forest, that Dioscorides first described in 65 A.D. as a treatment against consumption. This mushroom grows in Washington state, Oregon, Northern California, British Columbia, now thought to be extinct in Europe. May not seem that large -- let's get closer. This is extremely rare fungus. Our team -- and we have a team of experts that go out -- we went out 20 times in the old-growth forest last year. We found one sample to be able to get into culture.

Preserving the genome of these fungi in the old growth forest I think is absolutely critical for human health. I've been involved with the U.S. Defense Department BioShield program. We submitted over 300 samples of mushrooms that were boiled in hot water, and mycelium harvesting these extracellular metabolites. And a few years ago, we received these results. We have three different strains of Agaricon mushrooms that were highly active against pox viruses. Dr. Earl Kern, who's a smallpox expert of the U.S. Defense Department, states that any compounds that have a selectivity index of two or more are active. 10 or greater are considered to be very active. Our mushroom strains were in the highly active range. There's a vetted press release that you can read -- it's vetted by DOD, if you Google "Stamets" and "smallpox." Or you can go to NPR.org and listen to a live interview.

So, encouraged by this, naturally we went to flu viruses. And so for the first time I am showing this. We have three different strains of Agaricon mushrooms highly active against flu viruses. Here's the selectivity index numbers -- against pox, you saw 10s and 20s -- now against flu viruses, compared to the ribavirin controls, we have an extraordinarily high activity. And we're using a natural extract within the same dosage window as a pure pharmaceutical. We tried it against flu A viruses -- H1N1, H3N2 -- as well as flu B viruses. So then we tried a blend, and in a blend combination we tried it against H5N1, and we got greater than 1,000 selectivity index. (Applause) I then think that we can make the argument that we should save the old-growth forest as a matter of national defense. (Applause)

I became interested in entomopathogenic fungi -- fungi that kill insects. Our house was being destroyed by carpenter ants. So I went to the EPA homepage, and they were recommending studies with metarhizium species of a group of fungi that kill carpenter ants, as well as termites. I did something that nobody else had done. I actually chased the mycelium when it stopped producing spores. These are spores -- this is in their spores. I was able to morph the culture into a non-sporulating form. And so the industry has spent over 100 million dollars specifically on bait stations to prevent termites from eating your house. But the insects aren't stupid, and they would avoid the spores when they came close, and so I morphed the cultures into a non-sporulating form. And I got my daughter's Barbie doll dish, I put it right where a bunch of carpenter ants were making debris fields, every day, in my house, and the ants were attracted to the mycelium, because there's no spores. They gave it to the queen. One week later, I had no sawdust piles whatsoever.

And then -- a delicate dance between dinner and death -- the mycelium is consumed by the ants, they become mummified and, boing, a mushroom pops out of their head. (Laughter) Now after sporulation, the spores repel. So the house is no longer suitable for invasion. So you have a near-permanent solution for re-invasion of termites. And so my house came down, I received my first patent against carpenter ants, termites and fire ants. Then we tried extracts, and lo and behold, we can steer insects to different directions. This has huge implications. I then received my second patent -- and this is a big one. It's been called an Alexander Graham Bell patent -- It covers over 200,000 species. This is the most disruptive technology, I've been told by executives of the pesticide industry, that they have ever witnessed. This could totally revamp the pesticide industries throughout the world. You could fly 100 Ph.D. students under the umbrella of this concept, because my supposition is that entomopathogenic fungi, prior to sporulation, attract the very insects that are otherwise repelled by those spores.

And so I came up with a Life Box because I needed a delivery system. The Life Box -- you're gonna be getting a DVD of the TED conference -- you add soil, you add water, you have mycorrhizal and endophytic fungi as well as spores, like of the Agaricon mushroom. The seeds then are mothered by this mycelium. And then you put tree seeds in here, and then you end up growing -- potentially -- an old growth forest from a cardboard box.

I want to re-invent the delivery system, and the use of cardboard around the world, so they become ecological footprints. If there's a YouTube like site that you could put up, you could make it interactive, zip code-specific -- where people could join together, and through satellite imaging systems, through Virtual Earth or Google Earth, you could confirm carbon credits are being sequestered by the trees that are coming through Life Boxes.

You could take a cardboard box delivering shoes, you could add water -- I developed this for the refugee community -- corns, beans, and squash, and onions. I took several containers -- my wife said if I could do this, anybody could -- and I ended up growing a seed garden. Then you harvest the seeds -- and thank you, Eric Rasmussen, for your help on this -- and then you're harvesting the seed garden. Then you can harvest the kernels, and then you just need a few kernels -- I add mycelium to it, and then I inoculate the corn cobs. Now, three corn cobs, no other grain -- lots of mushrooms begin to form. Too many withdrawals from the carbon bank, and so this population will be shut down. But watch what happens here. The mushrooms then are harvested, but very importantly, the mycelium has converted the cellulose into fungal sugars. And so I thought, how could we address the energy crisis in this country? And we came up with Econol.

Generating ethanol from cellulose using mycelium as an intermediary -- and you gain all the benefits that I've described to you already. But to go from cellulose to ethanol is ecologically unintelligent, and I think that we need to be econologically intelligent about the generation of fuels. So we build the carbon banks on the planet, renew the soils -- these are a species that we need to join with. I think engaging mycelium can help save the world. Thank you very much. (Applause)

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Nepalese Teas

By Agence France-Presse, Updated: 8/7/2011
Nepal's Himalayan tea growers turn a new leaf
After decades spent in the shadow of their neighbours across the border in Darjeeling, Nepalese tea growers are finally laying out their own stalls in the lucrative global market for premium leaves.


Grown at high altitude in lush, emerald gardens among the foothills of the Himalayas, "orthodox" Nepalese teas are now finding their way onto the books of speciality buyers from Europe and the United States.

The orthodox method of production oxidises and prepares teas with a focus on the top-quality, whole leaves and buds that produce a nuanced and slightly fruity flavour and can be used for multiple infusions.

It is a niche but profitable market, supplying high-end tea shops and retailers around the world who cater to an affluent, health-conscious clientele.

"Nepalese tea is increasingly visible in the western world where the demand for high-quality tea has grown in recent years," said Dilli Baskota, manager of Kanchanjangha Tea, a garden based in the hills of eastern Nepal.

Germany and United States are the primary markets, but Baskota said that buyers from France, Britain, Russia and Canada, as well as consumer giants China and Japan, had recently placed sizeable orders.

Premium Nepalese teas can fetch prices as high as $85 per kilo on the international market, and according to the National Tea Board production has almost doubled in the past five years to 2.6 million kilos, of which 90 percent is exported.

The global market for orthodox teas is currently estimated by the US Tea Association at around 45 million kilos.

The hill gardens of eastern Nepal are at an equivalent altitude -- and share a similar climate -- to those just across the Indian border in Darjeeling, which produce some of the world's most sought-after and highest-priced premium black tea.

The Darjeeling brand enjoys international renown, but experts say complacency, price-gouging and a low-level but persistent separatist insurgency in the Indian region have given the Nepalese teas a foothold in the market.

"Around five years ago, some European buyers became frustrated with the Darjeeling growers, feeling they were using their monopoly on the brand to push prices far too high," said Vikram Mittal, a New Delhi-based trader in speciality teas.

"So they started looking more closely at similar-tasting but cheaper Nepali teas as a sourcing option," Mittal said.

Nepal growers cannot compete with the top-grade Darjeeling premium teas -- such as the "Silver Tip" leaves which are traditionally hand-picked under a full moon and retail at up to $500 a kilo.

But their medium-grade orthodox teas are competitive and quality is improving as owners lure Darjeeling planters to manage their gardens.

"Quite a few have moved to Nepal, where they are given more responsibility and better salaries," said P.K. Ganguly, a retired Darjeeling grower.

"They take with them decades of accumulated expertise in growing and processing and that makes a huge difference quality-wise," he said.

Nonetheless, as an impoverished, landlocked country, Nepal poses particular challenges to tea growers who have to struggle with a woeful transport infrastructure, power and labour shortages and a lack of government support.

"The government hasn't provided any real incentives," said garden owner Bachan Gyawali.

"Labour shortages and regular strikes enforced by one group or another have, at times, crippled the business," Gyawali said.

Around 8,000 small farmers are involved in orthodox tea cultivation and employ some 27,000 people -- the vast majority of them women.

In an effort to promote their brands, Nepal's private tea producers launched the Himalayan Tea Producers Cooperative (HIMCOOP) in 2003, and have started to take part in global trade fairs, such as the World Tea Expo in Las Vegas.

HIMCOOP has hired a Darjeeling native, John Taylor, to oversee its marketing side, and has created a "Nepal Tea" brand endorsed by the legendary Italian mountaineer, Reinhold Messner.

While branding is crucial, Taylor said a long-term effort was also needed to woo major overseas buyers.

"Tea is a very personal business. You have to build up a personal relationship with the buyers who often visit the gardens themselves," he said.

HIMCOOP president Sushil Rijal acknowledged: "There is huge potential for orthodox tea in European countries and North America but, up till now, we haven't been able to market our products that well.

"Honestly, we are very new in this trade," he admitted.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Rainforest Alliance and Manik Jayakumar featured


Coffee & Tea Newsletter, July 2011

Rainforest Alliance Certification Grows
New South African Rooibos Farms Added

The Rainforest Alliance recently announced that a group of South African farms growing rooibos—also known as red bush tea--have earned Rainforest Alliance certification. In addition to being a first for this crop type, the farms are also the first to become Rainforest Alliance CertifiedTM in South Africa.

The farms in Zeekoevlei Grootport and Driefontein produce rooibos for Rooibos Ltd, whose marketing arm in the USA is Herbal Teas International. The rooibos range carrying the Rainforest Alliance Certified seal is now available in all major supermarkets throughout Europe and North America.

“Because rooibos is a new crop for the Rainforest Alliance certification program, and we have not worked in South Africa previously, this is a real milestone for us,” said Tensie Whelan, president of the Rainforest Alliance. “By reaching out to new territories, the Rainforest Alliance’s certification program continues its important growth and further ensures the protection of our fragile environment and the livelihoods of farmers around the globe.”

Rooibos is already known for its health benefits—relieving digestive illness and promoting healthy skin, teeth and bones. Consumers can now be reassured that it is also healthy for the environment. Farms that achieve Rainforest Alliance certification have met the environmental, social and economic standards of the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN). The SAN standards co ver ecosystem conservation, worker rights and safety, wildlife protection, water and soil conservation, agrochemical reduction, decent housing, and legal wages and contracts for workers.

“Increasingly, consumers from all over the world want to know that the products they purchase are produced in a way that supports people, profit and the planet, said Martin Bergh, managing director of Rooibos Ltd. “Independent certification authorities such as the Rainforest Alliance reassure consumers that rooibos has been produced in a way that benefits the environment as well as the lives of the farmers and their workers. People who buy Rainforest Alliance Certified rooibos will know that the farmers who produced these products are not exploiting their laborers, and that they taking good care of their land and follow sound business principles to ensure a sustainable future.”

For more information, visit www.rainforest-alliance.org.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Interesting 2011 Teas, Limited Supply


We at QTrade Teas and Herbs are very well known for the large volumes of tea and herbs we supply, as well custom formulation of your signature blends and suppling those blends. But now is time to talk about those in limited supply..so here is what is coming in all very limited quantity, first come first served, and will sell out quickly:

http://www.qtradeteas.com/ (conventional) in this week
2nd flush (WTE previous lot award winner with this before)
1st flush
Guranse (manufactured last week) in at end of July ~ $30 /lb
Seasonal Ceylon Supreme Pekoe $8 /lb (in now)
New Vithanakande (you liked this - will send you samples again)
What about our organic award winning black and green iced teas, ask about these 2010 Expo Award winners.
Booking now for Cardamom and Organic cardamom purchasing!

First come, first served so reply via email today to desiree@qtradeteas.com for pricing and information. Check out our new website
http://www.qtradeteas.com/ .

Thursday, June 2, 2011

North American Tea Champions - Iced Tea Class


30 May 2011
By World Tea News

First Place Winners

• Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, Snapple Green Tea (www.drpeppersnapplegroup.com); Ready-to-Drink-Flavored Green Tea
• ITO EN, LTD, TEA'S TEA Low Calorie-Mango Oolong (www.ITOEN.com); Ready-to-Drink-Flavored Oolong Tea
• Milo's Tea Company, Milo's No Calorie Tea Gallon (www.milostea.com); Ready-to-Drink-Sweetened Black Tea
• Mother Parkers Tea & Coffee, Classic Southern Iced Tea Concentrate, Sweetened (www.motherparkers.com); Foodservice-BIB Unflavored / Sweetened Black Tea
• Numi Organic Tea, Earl Grey Pu-erh Tea (www.numitea.com); Ready-to-Drink-Flavored Black Tea
• QTrade Teas & Herbs, Summer Classic, Organic & Fair Trade (www.qtradeteas.com); Foodservice-Unflavored Black Tea
• QTrade Teas & Herbs, Imperial Green, Organic (www.qtradeteas.com); Foodservice-Unflavored Green Tea
• Rare Tea Cellar, Lemon Berry Meritage-Organic (www.rareteacellar.com); Foodservice-Flavored Herbal
• The Republic of Tea, Calorie-Free Sweet Green Tea (www.republicoftea.com); Ready-to-Drink-Sweetened Green Tea
• Revolution Tea, LLC, Revolution Iced, Classic (www.revolutiontea.com); Foodservice-BIB Unflavored / Unsweetened Black Tea
• Rooibee Red Tea, Herbal RRT Watermelon Mint (www.rooibeeredtea.com); Ready-to-Drink-Flavored / Sweetened
• Teas Etc., Meyer Lemon Black (www.teasetc.com); Foodservice-Flavored Black Tea
• Tejava, Tejava (www.tejava.com); Ready-to-Drink-Unflavored Black Tea
• Walters Bay Bogawantalawa Estates, Tropical Green Iced Tea (www.waltersbay.com); Foodservice-Flavored Green Tea



A Winners’ Tasting Circle will be held at 2011 World Tea Expo, June 24 -26, for all attendees. The next North American Tea Championship is in July 2012 in Las Vegas for an evaluation of hot teas – spring. Entries will be accepted in June. To inquire about entering the competition, e-mail liz@teachampionship.com.

LAS VEGAS, Nev.

Specialty iced teas are gathering steam in popularity and quality, according to organizers of the North American Tea Championship www.teachampionship.com, which named 14 first-place winners in various categories in the annual Iced Tea Class evaluation.

The event took place May 24 in Montebello, Calif. The Championship is the only independent competition, judged by professional cuppers, to distinguish the highest quality and best tasting teas that are commercially available in the North American marketplace.

Tea companies that took a prestigious first-place title at the Championship include:

Dr. Pepper Snapple Group; ITO EN LTD.; Milo's Tea Company; Mother Parkers Tea & Coffee; Numi Organic Tea; QTrade Teas & Herbs (which won two first-place titles); Rare Tea Cellar; Revolution Tea; Rooibee Red Tea; Teas Etc.; Tejava; The Republic of Tea; and Walters Bay Bogawantalawa Estates.

Tea experts who judged the North American Tea Championship include: Michael Cardenas, owner, Innovative Dining Group; David De Candia, senior manager and tea master/tea blender, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf; and Patrick Main, quality manager, Peet’s Coffee & Tea.

A total of 43 tea companies showcased an assortment of more than 130 premium iced teas – nearly double the entries in the 2010 competition. Entrants ranged from small, boutique tea manufacturers to mid-size tea companies and mass manufacturers, and there were winners to represent each.

Kim Jage, executive vice president of World Tea Media, the producers of the North American Tea Championship, said, “The competition was fierce. Across the board, the quality of these specialty iced teas was much more refined than years past.”
Wilbur Curtis, a leading manufacturer of tea brewers and accessories, was the host and equipment supplier of the competition. Cirqua Customized Water provided 300 gallons of water for the Championship.

The tea submissions were evaluated blind and through organoleptic analysis of the following characteristics: dry leaf, brewed color, brewed aroma, brewed flavor, brewed mouth-feel and brewed harmony. An overall numerical value on a 100-point scale was then calculated based on the ratings of each characteristic above. Winners were determined by rank.

A complete list of first, second and third-place winners of the North American Tea Champions is available at www.teachampionship.com.

Box Score

Multiple Winners

1st

2nd

3rd

QTradeTeas&Herbs

2





Walters Bay

1

1

1

Dr.Pepper/Snapple

1

1



Milo’s Tea Co.

1

1



Republic of Tea

1



2

Mother Parkers

1



1

California Teas



2



Shangri La Tea



2



S&D Coffee



1

1

Tao of Tea



1

1

First Place Winners

Category

Tea

Company

Foodservice




BIB Unflavored / Sweetened Black Tea

Classic Southern Iced Tea Concentrate

Mother Parkers Tea & Coffee

BIB Unflavored / Unsweetened Black Tea

Revolution Iced - Classic

Revolution Tea, LLC.

Flavored Black Tea

Meyer Lemon Black

Teas Etc

Flavored Green Tea

Tropical Green Iced Tea

Walters Bay Bogawantalawa Estates

Flavored Herbal

Lemon Berry Meritage-Organic

Rare Tea Cellar

Unflavored Black Tea

Summer Classic [Organic & Fair Trade]

QTrade Teas & Herbs

Unflavored Green Tea

Imperial Green

QTrade Teas & Herbs

Ready to Drink




Flavored / Sweetened Herbal

RRT Watermelon Mint

Rooibee Red Tea

Flavored Black Tea

Earl Grey Pu-erh Tea

Numi Organic Tea

Flavored Green Tea

Snapple Green Tea

Dr. Pepper Snapple Group

Flavored Oolong Tea

TEA'S TEA Low Calorie-Mango Oolong

ITO EN, LTD.

Sweetened Black Tea

Milo's No Calorie Tea Gallon

Milo's Tea Company

Sweetened Green Tea

Calorie-Free Sweet Green Tea

The Republic of Tea

Unflavored Black Tea

Tejava

Tejava

Second Place Winners

Category

Tea

Company

Foodservice




BIB Unflavored / Sweetened Black Tea

True Leaves Sweet

CHINA MIST BRANDS

BIB Unflavored / Unsweetened Black Tea

B.W. Cooper's Organic Iced Brew Tea

Cooper Tea Company

Flavored Black Tea

Mango Black Iced Tea

Walters Bay Bogawantalawa Estates

Flavored Green Tea

Lavender Fields Green Tea

Shangri La Tea Company

Flavored Herbal

TROPICAL CRIMSON

Rishi Tea

Unflavored Black Tea

Quality Blend 1oz. Filter Pack

S&D Coffee, Inc.

Unflavored Green Tea

Serene Green Organic Iced Tea

Shangri La Tea Company

Ready to Drink




Flavored / Sweetened Herbal

Mango Organic Rooibos

Templar Food Products

Flavored Black Tea

Lemon Twist Iced Tea

California Teas

Flavored Green Tea

CHAITEA PASSION FRUIT

GOURMETTI BRANDS

Flavored Oolong Tea

Osmanthus Oolong

The Tao of Tea

Sweetened Black Tea

Snapple Sweet Tea

Dr. Pepper Snapple Group

Sweetened Green Tea

Original Sunshine Green Tea

California Teas

Unflavored Black Tea

Milo's Unsweet Tea Gallon

Milo's Tea Company

Third Place Winners

Category

Tea

Company

Foodservice




BIB Unflavored / Sweetened Black Tea

Teafinity Sweet

S&D Coffee, Inc.

BIB Unflavored / Unsweetened Black Tea

Classic Southern Iced Tea Concentrate

Mother Parkers Tea & Coffee

Flavored Black Tea

Peaches Coconut

MarketSpice

Flavored Green Tea

Pomegranate Crisp

Silver Service Refreshment

Flavored Herbal

Petal Petal

Art of Tea

Unflavored Black Tea

Special ITI Iced Tea Blend 609

International Tea Importers Inc

Unflavored Green Tea

Traditional Green Iced Tea

Walters Bay

Bogawantalawa Estates

Ready to Drink




Flavored / Sweetened Herbal

Natural Hibiscus Tea - Superflower Tea

The Republic of Tea

Flavored Black Tea

Caddy Shack - Half Tea Half Lemonade

Peace Tea Beverage Company

Flavored Green Tea

Peach Sencha

Templar Food Products

Flavored Oolong Tea

Oooli Passion Mango

Oooli Beverages Inc.

Sweetened Black Tea

Calorie-Free Sweet Black Tea

The Republic of Tea

Sweetened Green Tea

Honest Tea Honey Green Tea

Honest Tea

Unflavored Black Tea

Darjeeling

The Tao of Tea

About the North American Tea Championship

North American Tea Championship is produced by World Tea Media, which also produces World Tea Expo, World Tea East and World Tea News. Until 2010, the North American Tea Championship was called World Tea Championship and it was held in-conjunction with the Expo. Today, it is an independent event, judged by professional cuppers, that evaluates premium teas from around the world that are sold in North America. The annual Championship is made up of two classes: Hot Tea and Iced Tea. Each class consists of its own categories and judging panel. The Hot Tea Class is evaluated twice a year: February for fall teas and July for spring teas. The Iced Tea Class is evaluated once a year in May. Winners of the Tea Championship are announced after each respective evaluation. For more information, visit www.teachampionship.com

Related news on:
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Geography:
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Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Who's Tea Brand Are You Building?


Who's brand are you building with your Tea Program? Why not build your own brand in tea that is in synch with your quality of coffee? We are direct importers of herbs and teas and provide custom formulation and packing of filter packs and pyramid bags, etc. Love to chat. desiree@qtradeteas.com (Our website was hacked and is under redevelopment so call/email for more details!) 949 766 0070 x525 less

Tea Cupping Photos


Added to my work Face Book Page...cheers! http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.136981339689254.36115.100001321675151

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Bigelow Tea New Line of Teas

New Bigelow Teas Come to Market With Powerful Antioxidant Appeal
— The Bigelow Tea Company (www.bigelowtea.com) is on a mission: to infuse fresh interest in the tea aisle with unique blends that deliver both the pleasures and the health benefits of tea. Bigelow Tea brings three new varieties to market that combine delicious taste with the outstanding health benefit appeal of today's most popular antioxidant fruits. The new introductions are:

Linked In: Tea Industry Careers & Trends


"Tea Industry Careers & Trends" is a new group as of March of 2011, we have grown to almost 150 members in a short time. Many international companies and associates. I would love to see you join if you are in the industry. I am especially wanting to know what trends and interests there are abroad. This is also a great place to catch the latest jobs available in the industry, or post openings.

Join now!

http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=3806199

Cheers!

Convincing Coffee Brands to Create Own Tea Label

This article helps weigh out your decision....although if you research the Tea & Coffee Journal's net history - this is only the most recent as they have always helped in addressing "branding" and "private label". Check out this most recent article:

http://catalog.proemags.com/publication/066b80e8#/066b80e8/22

Here is another favorite...http://www.teaandcoffee.net/0109/tea.htm

Monday, May 23, 2011

Argo Tea Opens Fifth Manhattan Location

Argo Tea Opens Fifth Manhattan Location

Sri Lankan Tea Video

Good Find, Josh!

The Perfect Brew from Matthew Allard on Vimeo.
The Sri Lankan tea industry is undergoing a renaissance. Once upon a time nearly 60% of all revenue exports were from tea. With the end of decades of civil war and an improving economy the tea industry is set to boom again. Eco tourism and organic blends are being used to try and help sell Sri Lankan tea to the world.

Aljazeera's Steve Chao reports from the Western Highlands of Sri Lanka.

Shot and edited by Matthew Allard.

Shot on a Canon 5D Mark II

Friday, May 20, 2011

Tea companies to merge

Tea companies to merge - http://www.dailycamera.com/business/ci_18100193

Third Street Chai and Cooper Tea to operate under DrinkWorks umbrella
By Alicia Wallace Camera Business Writer
Posted: 05/19/2011 10:44:28 PM MDT

Third Street Chai and Cooper Tea Co., two Boulder County-based makers of concentrated beverages, have agreed to merge operations, company officials announced Thursday.
As a result of the transaction, both companies and their brands will operate independently under the DrinkWorks trade name, officials said. The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Officials said the merger is intended to leverage the manufacturing capabilities and distribution reach of both Boulder-based Third Street, a supplier of chai and lemonade concentrates under the Third Street and Pixie Mate brands, and Louisville-based Cooper Tea, which makes iced tea concentrates.

The merger evolved out of a September 2010 joint venture between the two firms under which they launched a line of co-branded iced tea concentrates, said Barry Cooper, founder and chief executive officer of Cooper Tea.

"When we put together that joint marketing venture with the iced tea, it was almost a natural progression," he said. "It sort of emerged and we found ourselves kind of simpatico."

Both specialized in concentrated tea beverages and commitments to organic and sustainable products, but had different distribution areas and specialties, Cooper said. While Cooper distributes primarily to the food service and convenience store channel, Third Street plays in the retail realm, he said.

In addition, Third Street has expertise in the manufacturing and production side, while Cooper`s expertise is in global sourcing and research and development, he said.

"One of the tremendous assets that we bring to the party is a really, really strong (research and development) background," he said, noting his past roles with Celestial Seasonings and Lipton. "We have some really good stuff in the hopper."

Both companies will continue to operate in their respective locales, their employees and their brands, said John Simmons, president and founder of Third Street.

"Where it makes sense to realize synergies, we`ll do so," he said, giving Cooper`s connections to global tea estates as an example. "... For me, personally, it`s a great learning experience to take part in those relationships and essentially to connect our consumers more directly to the tea estates and the farmers we work with around the world."

Third Street, which recently was a recipient of a Local Producer Loan from Whole Foods, has ramped up its production capabilities to meet increasing demand, Simmons said. Further manufacturing, work force and infrastructure investments could be made as a result of the merger, he added.

Simmons and Cooper both said that their work forces could grow as a result of the merger. Third Street has 22 employees and Cooper has 18 employees.

Contact Camera Business Writer Alicia Wallace at 303-473-1332 or wallacea@dailycamera.com.




Read more: Tea companies to merge - Boulder Daily Camera http://www.dailycamera.com/business/ci_18100193#ixzz1MukeyJFW
DailyCamera.com

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Just for fun...

All things really are tea to me....but for fun, I broke out and had some fun with some local "kids" (they'll love that comment) in a Frito Lay commercial. So you see, I have a party-with-the-chips side to me too. My kids are my biggest fans (especially of the chips but they like the commercial too hoping I will buy more).
Enjoy

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Global Warming and Specialty Coffee


This article makes me glad that I - 1) always ask for Rainforest Alliance Coffee at Starbucks (even though I know they rarely brew their 1 selection) 2) am glad I only drink coffee as a treat or specialty coffee as a treat 3) sad that I have learned to love coffee a bit more this year ~ being I am the tea girl...read on: Desiree Nelson
Image credit: Gino Santa Maria and http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2006/11/20/global_warming_and_climate_change.htm


NYTimes: Heat Damages Colombia Coffee, Raising Prices

By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL

TIMBÍO, Colombia — Like most of the small landowners in Colombia’s lush mountainous Cauca region, Luis Garzón, 80, and his family have thrived for decades by supplying shade-grown, rainforest-friendly Arabica coffee for top foreign brands like Nespresso and Green Mountain. A sign in the center of a nearby town proclaims, “The coffee of Cauca is No. 1!”

But in the last few years, coffee yields have plummeted here and in many of Latin America’s other premier coffee regions as a result of rising temperatures and more intense and unpredictable rains, phenomena that many scientists link partly to global warming.

Coffee plants require the right mix of temperature, rainfall and spells of dryness for beans to ripen properly and maintain their taste. Coffee pests thrive in the warmer, wetter weather.

Bean production at the Garzóns’ farm is therefore down 70 percent from five years ago, leaving the family little money for clothing for toddlers and “thinking twice” about sending older children to college, said Mr. Garzon’s 44-year-old son, Albeiro, interviewed in a yellow stucco house decorated with coffee posters and madonnas.

The shortage of high-end Arabica coffee beans is also being felt in New York supermarkets and Paris cafes, as customers blink at escalating prices. Purveyors fear that the Arabica coffee supply from Colombia may never rebound — that the world might, in effect, hit “peak coffee.”

In 2006, Colombia produced more than 12 million 132-pound bags of coffee, and set a goal of 17 million for 2014. Last year the yield was nine million bags.

Brands like Maxwell, Yuban and Folgers have increased the retail prices of many grinds by 25 percent or more since the middle of last year in light of tight supply and higher wholesale prices.

Profits of high-end coffee chains like Starbucks and Green Mountain have been eroded. Coffee futures of Arabica, the high-end bean that comes predominantly from Latin America, have risen more than 85 percent since last June, to $2.95 a pound, partly over concerns about supply, extreme weather and future quality, said George Kopp, an analyst at the International Futures Group in Chicago.

Yet as stockpiles of some of the best coffee beans shrink, global demand is soaring as the rising middle classes of emerging economies like Brazil, India and China develop the coffee habit.

“Coffee production is under threat from global warming, and the outlook for Arabica in particular is not good,” said Peter Baker, a coffee specialist with CABI, a research group in Britain that focuses on agriculture and the environment, noting that climate changes, including heavy rains and droughts, have harmed crops across many parts of Central and South America.

A top coffee scientist, he has rattled trade forums by warning, Cassandra-like, of the possibility of “peak coffee,” meaning that, like oil supplies, coffee supplies might be headed for an inexorable decline unless growers make more concerted efforts to expand production globally.

The Specialty Coffee Association of America warned this year, “It is not too far-fetched to begin questioning the very existence of specialty coffee.”

Arabica and Robusta coffee account for virtually all consumption. With its more delicate taste and lower caffeine content, Arabica is more popular and more expensive, though generally more finicky in its weather needs. Robusta production dominates in Asia and Africa.

Colombia is the No. 2 Arabica exporter after Brazil, where production is centered on larger, more mechanized farms and continues to grow.

The Colombian Coffee Growers Federation says high fertilizer prices have also dented yields. But it agrees with a 2009 report from the International Coffee Organization that concluded, “Climatic variability is the main factor responsible for changes in coffee yields all over the world.”

Average temperatures in Colombia’s coffee regions have risen nearly one degree in 30 years, and in some mountain areas the increase has been double that, says Cenicafé, the national coffee research center. Rain in this area was more than 25 percent above average in the last few years.

At the new, higher temperatures, the plants’ buds abort or their fruit ripens too quickly for optimum quality. Heat also brings pests like coffee rust, a devastating fungus that could not survive the previously cool mountain weather. The heavy rains damage the fragile Arabica blossoms, and the two-week dry spells that prompt the plant to flower and produce beans occur less often, farmers say. Arabica beans take about seven months to mature.

“Half a degree can make a big difference for coffee — it is adapted to a very specific zone,” said Néstor Riaño, a specialist in agroclimatology for Cenicafé. “If temperature rises even a bit, the growth is affected, and the plagues and diseases rise.”

While climate scientists agree that the increase in temperature is a clear signal of global warming and high ocean temperatures are generally associated with more frequent storms, scientists are uncertain whether the peculiar weather patterns in the area are directly related to warming, said Stephen E. Zebiak, director general of the International Research Institute for Climate and Society at Columbia University.

“It is hard to know whether this severe weather represents natural fluctuations or is a climate change signal, though from a risk management sense, there is good reason to consider how to cope with these extreme events,” Dr. Zebiak said.

In the hope of restoring coffee output, researchers at Cenicafé’s labs are toiling on a mission that seems as pressing a priority for Colombia as curing cancer is for medical researchers.

Agronomists are teaching the farmers how to control the pests that arrived with the change in the weather. Climatologists are working to provide better local weather predictions. Geneticists are breeding plants that are more resistant to diseases or that can withstand torrential rains or a hotter environment.

The Coffee Growers Federation has advised farmers to switch to a newer, hardier strain of Arabica that has been developed by plant breeders at Cenicafé over the last two decades.

While the federation says it tastes the same as traditional variants, farmers have resisted because they can ill afford to forgo the income of a yearly crop as they wait for new plants to mature. They have also been wary that a switch could affect flavor.

Taste, quality and supply are delicate issues for an industry whose aficionados are notoriously picky. Coffee companies are “working with farmers across the region to address the impact of changing weather patterns that are a direct result of climate change,” said Lisa Magnino, a spokeswoman for Starbucks,

Starbucks has already bought enough coffee to last until 2012, she added. Luis Fernando Samper, a spokesman for Colombian Coffee Growers Federation, said that the beans that do make it to breakfast tables in the United States will yield coffee that is as good as ever. The problem is for Colombian farmers, who are producing far fewer beans over all and “more defective beans” that do not meet export standards.

For decades, said Luis Garzón, who started growing coffee at 7, it was dry from June 1 to Sept. 8 in Timbío. Several years ago, the perplexing weather arrived. “It can start raining at 6 a.m. and go on for 24 hours,” he said.

First, yields declined. Then last year, the coffee rust fungus arrived at the Garzón farm, killing entire fields. “We learned our lesson,” he said, stroking the mottled yellowed leaves of some damaged plants. Now, the family is planting the new, hardier Arabica variant, called castillo. The coffee federation hopes that such innovation will allow growers to keep expensive Arabica coffee on American tables.

Meanwhile, it is creating a “product origin” certification program for Colombian coffees, similar to the one that protects Italy’s Parmesan cheese. That way importers will not be tempted to substitute beans from Brazil or Indonesia.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Iced Tea Formulation and Packing


Private Label and Custom Iced Tea in bulk created just for you. Email Desiree Nelson - desiree@qtradeteas.com or call 949 766 0070 x525.

Friday, March 4, 2011

New Tea Import Regulations Introduced in USA & Canada


Article from: http://www.tea.ca/


Due to the new regulations on food safety being implemented in the United States, under President Barack Obama's legislation, Canada is also planning to change its current regulations. Responsibility is now shifting to the "importers," who will be solely liable for the safety and traceability of all products being brought in.

Regulations were first established when our food was grown domestically. Now with more and more imported products arriving each day, governments are updating regulations to reflect our new diets and consumer trends. The philosophy in the United States mirrors previous laws that aim to counter terrorism on the domestic home front. As North American governments are taking a proactive stance by focusing on preventing possible terrorist attacks in our food chain, we can expect a direct impact on the importers and their businesses, as well as the entire tea industry.

For Canada, this means that the inspections conducted at the "shelf" level will now be conducted at the borders. This will have a tremendous impact on tea, as the totality of our product is completely imported. This also means that we need to make sure that we are part of the low risk product groups. The call to move faster on our compliance issue is louder than ever. TAC cannot stress enough that this is the time for the Industry to work together towards compliance, as there is no doubt that we are not only a safe product but a healthy one.

Please visit our website www.tea.ca and sign in under our member's only section. All PDF files and information on new policies can be found under the Government Regulations tab and then under Updates.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

LIST OF TEA EXHIBITIONS IN 2010-11


Does this list miss anything?

Event / Country / Date Office

APRIL, 2010
Food Expo Kazakhstan, Almaty, 15-18 April'10

Tea & Coffee World Cup, Vienna 25th to 27th April, 2010 + BSM + Special Event/Tea Auction London

Food & Hospitality, Beirut, Lebanon (27th to 30th April, 2010) Dubai

MAY, 2010
Iran Food & Beverage / Days of Indian culture - org by Indian Embassy May/June 2010 Tehran, Iran Dubai

JUNE, 2010
Coffee, Tea, Cocoa Hamburg (4th - 6th) + BSM London

JULY, 2010
IFT Annual Meeting & Food Expo, Chicago, USA (17-20th July ) H.O.

AUGUST, 2010
Hong Kong International Tea Fair BSM (12th to 14th August ) H.O.

SEPTEMBER. 2010
World Food, Moscow (23 - 26th September ) Moscow

Polagra, Poznan, Poland (13th to 16th) + BSM London

GIDA, Istanbul, Turkey ( 23-26th September) + Tea Tasting event Dubai

China Tea Expo, Beijing + BSM (20th 23rd September) H.O.

Tea - Coffee, Canada, Toronto, (26th - 27th September ) + BSM H.O.

OCTOBER, 2010
World Tea Expo, East, Boston, USA + Tea Tasting Event (13 - 16th October) H.O.

World Food Ukraine, Kiev (28th-31st October), 2010 Moscow

SIAL Paris, France (17th to 21st October ) London

Tunis International Fair, October 2010 Dubai

FEBRUARY, 2011
Gulf Food 2011, Dubai Dubai

Prodexpo, Moscow + BSM Moscow

Bio-Fach, Nurenburg, Germany London

MARCH, 2011
Foodex, Tokyo, Japan (ITPO) + Tea Tasting ( 1st - 4th March ) H.O.

Cairo Intl. Fair, Cairo, Egypt Dubai