Archive for category General Tea News

Rock Star Opening Suburban Chicago Tea House

NBC Chicago, Jan 2012

Billy Corgan Opening Suburban Tea House

Billy Corgan is proving to be a man of many talents these days, with the latest news that the Smashing Pumpkins frontman is planning a tea house in Highland Park, Chicago. Corgan lives in the area and told the Web site that he decided to pursue the venture because there’s a “lack of culture for someone in their 30s or 40s.”

A lease has already been signed and the opening is planned for March or April. The tea house will offer lectures, cultural programs, rotating exhibits and teas from around the world. In other words, it’ll be the anti-Starbucks, which Corgan called “cookie-cutter culture.”

“I don’t want to hang out with those people,” Corgan told Eater. Corgan says he won’t be running the day-to-day operations of the business.

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Longjing Village: Hangzhou’s ultimate green tea experience

Where to find Hangzhou’s best tea gardens and how to arrange a tea-picking tour

CNN Go, By Eddy Chin, Jan 2012

Longjing Village

Go to Hangzhou’s Longjing Village in spring or summer to pick dragon well tea alongside local villagers

If Marco Polo had traipsed through Hangzhou in a single day, he probably would’ve left the city remembering three things – West Lake, beautiful women, and dragon well tea (龙井茶). Fast forward about 800 odd years and that still holds true.

One of the most prized and expensive teas in China, dragon well green tea has a light yet unmistakable fragrance and calming taste.

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Fair trade is crucial ingredient in Numi Organic Teas

San Francisco Chronicle, Jan 2012

A little more than a decade ago, two Iraqi American siblings were vacationing at the Grand Canyon when they decided to create a tea company that prized art and social justice. Today, Numi Organic Tea in Oakland is the leading brand importer of fair-trade certified teas in the United States.

For co-founder Ahmed Rahim, the desire to build a people-focused company came out of his experience as a child growing up in Cleveland, the son of Iraqi immigrants. For Reem Rahim, his sister and co-founder, a near-fatal car accident as a college student studying biomedical engineering led her to embrace what she really loved – art. And so it was that the two came up with the idea to start a business named after the dried lime tea they had drunk as children, Numi.

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Tea junction!

The Hindu Business Line, by Archana Achal, Jan 2012

Tea time: The Fortune ball tea with a dried lotus flower.Prefer to pair your food with refreshing tea rather than heady wine? Enter the Golden Dragon in Chennai, India.

Pairing wine with European and even Indian food is fairly common at many restaurants today, but Golden Dragon, the Chinese fine-dining restaurant at the Taj Coromandel, Chennai, likes to do things a little differently. Besides a glass of red or white, it also specialises in pairing food with tea, seen by many as a healthier option. Its tea bar has long been the focus of the restaurant, but until now the brew has never really been paired with the food. Now, with 14 different teas on offer, diners can look forward to more than just the popular Jasmine in Chinese tea.

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Seasons Greetings!

Tea News Direct would like to wish all our readers a happy and peaceful festive season.

Have a good one… :D

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Taiwan, China tea neck and neck in joint competition

Taiwan News, 11 Dec 2011

Taipei: The final of an inaugural cross-strait tea competition took place Sunday in Chiayi City, where some of the country’s best tea is grown, with teas from both Taiwan and China each showing specific strengths.

Based on the evaluation of five judges — two teas from China and three teas from Taiwan - Taiwan had the most varieties enter the final of the high-mountain tea category, for teas grown in areas with altitudes over 1,000 meters. But Chinese varieties dominated the tieguanyin category. Tieguanyin is a type of oolong tea.

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Taiwan’s bubble tea ranked as world’s 25th most delicious drink

Focus Taiwan, 11 Dec 2011

Taiwanese bubble tea is the world’s 25th most delicious drink, according to a ranking of the world’s top 50 drinks posted on the CNN travel website. The list, unveiled Saturday, was topped by plain water, Coca-Cola, and Ethiopian coffee. Taiwan’s bubble tea drew attention for its variety and the popular chewy “pearls” made of tapioca.

“More bubble than tea, this is a tea-slash-milk-slash-fruit drink and its most famous variety includes chewy ‘pearls,’ resembling oversized frogspawn, at the bottom that you suck up with an oversized straw,” CNN said of the drink. “It sounds weird, but it has become a favorite drink snack among Asia’s millions of young shoppers,” CNN added.

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India: Tea Research Association celebrates centenary

ZeeNews, 10 Dec 2011

Guwahati: Tea Research Association, the oldest and largest of its kind in the country, at Tocklai in Assam has played a pioneering role in tea research leading to pathbreaking initiatives subsequently adopted by the industry.

The research organisation, which began its existence as the Tocklai Experimental Station in 1911, concluded its year-long centenary celebrations on November 22 by holding a World Tea Science Congress inaugurated by former President APJ Abdul Kalam.

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Thailand: Taking tea with Twinings

The Nation, 10 Dec 2011

Taking tea with TwiningsThais enjoy little more than a strong coffee made the traditional way and are happy to sip their java juice at coffee shops, at home and in the office. Today though, many in Thai society are turning to English tea as their preferred tipple.

Tea is nothing new in this country, but lounging around a tea garden for a balmy afternoon tea over Earl Grey and cucumber sandwiches has never been a much-cultivated practice in Thailand unless you come from an aristocratic clan with a proper English education.

But Twinings of London, with its 300 years of expertise, believes the concept of English afternoon tea along the lines of its creator Anna Russell, Duchess of Bedford, will go down well with Thais. So last week the leading English tea brand launched its first Twinings Tea Garden at The Nine Centre, Bangkok’s newest semi-outdoor lifestyle mall.

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American Tea Masters Association Offers Certified Tea Sommelier Training In Spanish

PR Newswire, 9 Dec 2011

The American Tea Masters Association proudly announces its special upcoming Certified Tea Sommelier Course – conducted entirely in Spanish.  This course will be conducted January 21 - January 24, 2012 (inclusive), in San Diego, California.  Diego Morlachetti, Certified Tea Master and Executive Director of the Escuela de Te inArgentina, will teach this course.

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