Archive for category Tea Industry News
Durban Climate Change Conference: Redbush tea ‘could be victim of climate change’
Posted by Admin in General Tea News, Tea Industry News on December 7, 2011
The Telegraph, by Aislinn Laing, December 2011
Redbush tea, the nutty-tasting antidote to the toxic excesses of the middle classes, could be the latest victim of climate change without drastic action, farmers and scientists have warned.
The tea plant, known locally by its Afrikaner name Rooibos, was first discovered by the San bushmen of South Africa and harvested for its medicinal qualities.
Turkish Tea Aims High
Posted by Admin in General Tea News, Tea Industry News on December 7, 2011
Today’s Zaman, 27 November 2011
The Turkish tea industry aims to make Turkish tea a world brand by 2023, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Turkey, and, to this end, a workshop held last week in Rize, a Turkish province known for its tea, brought representatives from the tea industry together with bureaucrats and officials from the government in a three-day brainstorming session on how to build a world brand.
The Turkish tea brand needs quite a bit of brainstorming because Turkey, in spite of being the fifth biggest producer of tea in the world with a production of around 200,000 tons of tea a year, exports only 1 percent of its total production. Turkey aims to produce at least 10 world brands by 2023, one of them being “Turkish tea.”
Minister of Customs and Trade Hayati Yazıcı, who was one of the speakers in the workshop, believes that Turkish tea, especially organic Turkish tea, has the potential to be developed into a world brand.
China: Tea exports rise but domestic consumption on the decline
Posted by Admin in General Tea News, Tea Culture / Ceremony, Tea Industry News on November 28, 2011
China Daily, by Li Woke, 21 Nov 2011
Two European travelers examining green tea products at a tea shop in Beijing
The Chinese are gradually losing the traditional tea-drinking habit in favor of coffee, largely because of the length of time it takes to brew a decent cup, experts say.
“I prefer coffee to tea,” said Wang Yan, a 25-year-old downtown girl in Beijing. “Drinking coffee refreshes me and makes me feel chic.”
The history of Chinese tea is a long and gradual story of refinement. The original idea is credited to the legendary Emperor Shennong, who is said to have lived about 5,000 years ago. One summer day in 2737 BC, while visiting a distant part of his realm, he and the court stopped to rest. During the break, his servants began to boil water for the court to drink. Dried leaves from a nearby bush fell into the boiling water, and became infused. Being of a scientific nature, the emperor was interested in the new liquid, drank some, and found it tasty.
Thereafter, tea and China developed an extremely close relationship, with a culture springing up alongside its consumption based on a combination of Confucian, Taoist and Buddhist traditions.
Sri Lanka’s October tea output falls 15%
Posted by Admin in Tea Industry News on November 28, 2011
Reuters, 18 Nov 2011
Sri Lanka’s tea production fell in October for a seventh straight month due to adverse weather and a high base effect, the island nation’s state-run tea board said on Friday.
Tea production in October recorded 23.69 million kilogrammes (kg) against 27.88 million kg in the same month last year. The output in the first 10 months has slipped 2.3 percent to 269.89 million kg from 276.15 million in the same period last year.
“The main reason is the climatic conditions and also last year we recorded the highest production that is also a reason for the steep drop,” Sri Lanka Tea Board Director General H.D. Hemarathna told Reuters.
Starbucks, looking to grow Tazo Tea brand, will move its operations to Washington
Posted by Admin in Tea Industry News on November 28, 2011
The Oregonian, by Benjamin Brink
Starbucks will uproot Tazo Tea’s Portland operations within the next year, deciding more than a decade after it bought the brand to move production to Kent, Wash.
The Seattle coffee giant said Tazo Tea’s inner eastside spot wasn’t big enough to meet the growing demand for the tea. As part of the move, it’s spending millions to expand and upgrade the Washington plant, which will help streamline and expand its operations.
It’s all part of Starbucks’ strategy to grow Tazo Tea from a $1 billion business and tap into its worldwide market potential, spokesman Alan Hilowitz said.
Tea made from panda feces expected to be most expensive brew in the world
Posted by Admin in General Tea News, Tea Industry News, Tea Product News on November 28, 2011
New York Daily News, by Rheanna Murray, 15 Nov 2011
The world’s most expensive cup of tea is packed with cancer-fighting elements, but it’s not without a stomach-turning catch — the tea leaves get a boost from panda feces.
Wildlife expert An Yashi is launching the special blend of green tea, which could cost up to $36,000 per pound, Australia’s SBC.com reported.
Yashi, a college lecturer at Sinchuan University, said using panda excrement to fertilize the tea plants has a health-promoting upside because it contains nutrients from one of the bear’s favorite meals — bamboo.
New Tea Comparison Website Launched
Posted by Admin in General Tea News, Tea Industry News, Tea Product News on November 22, 2011
Tea News Direct Exclusive
A website showcasing thousands of varieties of tea and tea-related products has been relaunched. Tea Selector offers visitors a convenient way to browse the whole world of tea.
“We’re excited about this new website” said Tea Selector’s Richard Fray. “We’ve spent a long time researching thousands of products and we think we’ve put together a simple way to compare the baffling number of teas now on the market.”
Tea Selector breaks products down into categories which include Loose Leaf Tea, Teabags, Tea Samplers, Iced Tea and Bubble Tea, with many sub-categories so you can really target what you’re looking for. You can also search for famous and not-so-famous tea brand, as well as explore the worlds of tea wares and accessories, tea gift baskets, gourmet tea foods, tea books and more.
The Tea Spot’s Holiday Spice Tea is Back by Popular Demand
Posted by Admin in General Tea News, Tea Industry News, Tea Product News on November 14, 2011
San Francisco Chronicle, 1 Nov 2011
Best-selling black spiced tea blend is back for the holidays at online tea retailer The Tea Spot. With customers calling months in advance to confirm its return, Tea Specialist Bo Olson prepares new batches of this unique spice tea to launch this week.
The Tea Spot’s Holiday Spice Tea is back in time for the holidays. This is a limited-edition loose tea blend of black tea with orange peel and aromatic holiday spices. The aroma is reminiscent of mulled cider and cinnamon hard candy. It will be available from The Tea Spot in a decorative tin throughout the holiday season, while this limited-time microblend remains in stock.
Cultural thirst drives China’s high-end tea boom
Posted by Admin in General Tea News, Tea Culture / Ceremony, Tea Industry News on November 14, 2011
AFP, by Judith Evans, 2 Nov 2011
Fifteen years ago the Lam family business picked up a consignment of aged tea from a defunct Hong Kong restaurant. Its value has since risen by a factor of 10,000, as the Lams have found themselves part of a boom that is both investment fad and cultural obsession.
“It’s like magic,” managing director Sam Lam told AFP as he prepared tea according to the Chinese ritual, pouring boiling water through rough leaves and then into tiny cups to drink, and spoke of the profits to be made.
Honest Tea Challenges an Industry
Posted by Admin in General Tea News, Tea Industry News, Tea Product News on November 14, 2011
The Motley Fool, By Molly McCluskey, 4 Nov 2011
When Seth Goldman, TeaEO and co-founder of Honest Tea, visited the tea garden in central China that would supply the leaves for his organic tea, he was puzzled by its remote location. Locals explained that the organic garden, located across a river with no bridge, was better served cut off from vehicles that could pollute it.
“That’s when I got it,” Goldman says. “What I saw as a problem, the lack of a bridge, was already a solution to another problem, that of pollution.”
Several years earlier, Goldman had seen another problem. An avid athlete, he found his post-workout beverage options were either sugary sports drinks and soda or watery drinks without much flavor.
Knowing that if he wanted something different he’d have to make it himself, Goldman and co-founder Barry Nalebuff brewed the first batches of Honest Tea in Goldman’s kitchen. Goldman brought the drinks to a Fresh Fields Market (now owned by Whole Foods) representative in five Thermoses and a Snapple bottle with a mocked-up label. The grocery company placed an order for 15,000 bottles on the spot.
 |
 |
RECOMMENDEDComparison SitesBUY TEA ONLINE Online RetailersART OF TEA Tea T-ShirtsARCHIVES
 
   |
 
       
|
Follow @TeaNewsDirect |
