Art of Tea has a couple of great deals this month. Their Springfling Deal – $5 off any product (excluding Tea of the Month or Gift Certs) starts on March 17 and runs through April 15 2010. The Customer Code is: SPRINGFLING. They are also offering free shipping on orders of $75 or more (continental USA only), Customer Code: ILUVT.

Teas Etc is running a Celebrate Spring Sale with 20% off all tea and tea ware products and Free Shipping on orders of $60 or more (after discounts have been applied). In addition, for every order received, Teas Etc will plant a tree as part of CarbonFund.org’s Million Tree Challenge. This special offer runs from today, Friday, March 19, 2010 through Monday, March 22, 2010, so get in quick! The promo code is SPRING. Click here for full details of the sale

Staying with Art of Tea, their excellent Pyramid Teabag Gift Box Set are still on sale with a saving of $10. It’s one of the nicest gift boxes we’ve seen, and the presentation is perfect for B&Bs or restaurants, or to add a touch of class at home. The superior pyramid teabags are a bonus!

Golden Moon Tea has one of the bargains of the century! Their outstanding Iced Tea Starter Set includes a Bodum Ceylon Iced Tea pitcher, a tin of their award-winning Coconut Pouchong loose leaf tea, a tin of refreshing Vanilla Mint loose leaf tea, and 100 T-sacs. Save 25% and get this great package for just $29.99.

Generation Tea is offering a real opportunity to make an investment in tea and profit in the future. You can buy a stack of seven 2005 Green Beeng Cha Pu-erh Tea Cakes for just $175, a saving of $55. This works out at just $25 per cake! These classic cakes, in the original bamboo leaf wrappers, are already aged five years, and the dated neifei inner paper seal and Awazon company name will make this edition desirable in the future. Store the entire 2.5kg package in a well ventilated place, preferably within the 60-85% humidity range, and be sur to avoid extreme temperatures and strong odors. Aged ten years these cakes can fetch $80 each; leave them for another decade or two and they will be worth hundreds of dollars per cake. I couldn’t resist getting a stack myself…

And my last special offer this month is also from Generation Tea. They are offering their Organic Loose Leaf Baimudan White Teabags, a bargain at $5 for a pack of 18, saving you over 37%. Top quality loose leaf white tea in the convenience of a tea bag… for $5? I’m in!

Look out for more special offers and discounts on tea and tea wares in our special tea offers section.

But don’t hesitate – this special runs only until TODAY, Monday, January 25, 2010… so get in right now!

Teas Etc: After a great cup of premium loose leaf tea on her honeymoon, Beth Johnston quit her job to form Teas Etc, which has grown to become an important company in the tea business.  Quality Certification Service (QCS) certified USDA organic, their teas are of the highest quality. Based in West Palm Beach, FL, they have offices in Atlanta, Georgia and Shanghai, China. Their Shanghai office gives them instant access to the most recent harvests direct from the garden. Direct trade such as this benefits farmers, workers and the community. They look firsthand at the working conditions and environment from which their teas originate to deliver quality products and service with genuinely ethical roots.

Tea News Direct Exclusive Review

We’ve recently tried a few offerings from Green Tree Coffee & Tea and were pleasantly surprised by the quality of their teas. They’ve got a classic range of loose leaf teas with fine examples of many of the great tea staples from China, Taiwan, India, Sri Lanka and South Africa. Their loose teas are available in bulk or by the pound. They have an attractive range of teabags, again available in bulk or smaller quantities, and great pyramid tea sachets.

Green Tree’s Loose Leaf Tea Selection is available at Buy Tea Online and we recommend that you take a look. In particular, their Darjeeling FTGFPO1 Black Tea, one of India’s most famous teas, is a product of genuine character. The Jasmine Pearls are good value, whilst the China Magnolia Oolong Tea is a high-grade tea for a very reasonable price.

The whole Green Tree range is worthy of exploration as they offer many of the world’s famous teas - the standout Chinese green and black teas, Formosa oolong, Assam, Darjeeling and Chai teas from India, Ceylon estate teas, the list goes on. Check them out for yourselves and tell us what you think. We’d love to hear your opinions.

X-Men star signs up with drink firm

Hugh Jackman, the actor most famous as the testosterone-fuelled Wolverine in X-Men, is to show his softer side in a global advertising campaign for Lipton Ice Tea. Jackman, who also played the rugged stockman Drover opposite Nicole Kidman in Baz Luhrmann’s Australia, has signed a three-year deal to front a multimillion-pound campaign, the first he has starred in outside his native Australia.

The European marketing director for Lipton Ice Tea, Francois Bazini, said that it was Jackman's singing and dancing performance as a host at last year's Academy Awards that convinced the company to sign him up. “He has a great personality liked by men and women,” said Bazini. “He is very different from many other actors. He is a true entertainer who can dance, sing and act. We will use all of his skills.”

Lipton Ice Tea, which is owned by PepsiCo and Unilever, used celebrities in its TV advertising during the 1980s and early 1990s, including Tom Selleck, when he was at the height of his fame from Magnum PI, Sylvester Stallone in Rocky-style ads for the US and the tennis star Jimmy Connors. But the brand has not used a “face”, according to Bazini, since 2002, when Eric Cantona fronted a campaign across Europe.

Two Lipton ads featuring Jackman are now being shot in Brazil, for a worldwide launch in March. They are the work of the agency DDB Paris, and aim to position Lipton as a positive, guilt-free, optimistic drink. Jackman was quoted as saying: “I’m delighted with my new role as the Lipton Ice Tea ambassador, which is a totally new experience for me, so it’s very exciting.

“Lipton Ice Tea is a really positive brand and its values match those that are important in my life, so I can't wait to get started on all our plans.”

Long before he co-founded TWG Tea Co. in 2007, Manoj Murjani was an avid tea collector, keeping about 70 different kinds in his home at a time. Mr. Murjani, chairman and chief executive officer of the brand, which is sold in Dean & Deluca stores in the U.S. and Harrods in London, is a purist when it comes making and drinking tea.

When entertaining or dining with his family, Mr. Murjani often brews loose-leaf teas by the pot. He prefers large whole leaves and avoids using tiny tea balls, which he says don’t give the leaves room to unfurl and infuse the water with flavor. Instead, he places about two and a half teaspoons of leaves in a large strainer. “You don’t want the water to be boiling hot,” he says. It could “burn the tea leaves.” After about three minutes—or up to seven minutes for more delicate varieties like white teas—he removes the strainer. He generally avoids adding milk or sugar and feels lemon “overpowers the taste.”

Mr. Murjani likes to kick off his day by pairing a mint tea or light green tea with his breakfast. He sometimes sips tea during lunch and dinner; if he is having a light lunch of salmon or a salad, he usually chooses a fresh-tasting tea such as a green or white tea. “It’s light and balances well with the freshness of what you’re eating.”

With heavier foods such as steak, he likes to sip more robust or smoky varietals such as Pu-Erh or Lapsang Souchong. With spicy food, he likes to go with a more “daring” tea spiked with cloves, cardamom or ginger. Mr. Murjani says the smoky flavor of Earl Grey is a good accompaniment for chocolate. He likes to finish his meals with mint tea, saying it’s refreshing and helps with digestion.

Sometimes, he combines iced tea with champagne for a pre-dinner cocktail, using fruity black teas with berry or floral tones. “You don’t know what that extra something is, and that extra something is tea,” he says.

Bloomberg.com By Eric Ombok

Kenya, the world’s biggest grower of black tea, may see a 10 percent rise in output of the leaves in January following torrential rains that have fallen since December, said Peter Kegode, an agricultural economist.

Tea and coffee require a lot of water and won’t be washed away because they are deep-rooted, Kegode, an independent economist who advises sugar, dairy and tea industry associations, said in a phone interview from Nairobi today. “There has been above-average rain in tea- and coffee-growing areas. There should be 10 percent increase in tea production,” he said.

Tea production will increase immediately because the leaves are picked daily, Kegode said, while this won’t be the case for coffee as January isn’t its flowering season.

At least 18 people died and 520,000 were displaced in the East African nation over the first week of this year because of flash floods following more than three years of drought, the Kenyan Red Cross Society said. Kenyan tea production fell to the lowest since 2004 during the first nine months of 2009 as the water shortage hindered growth, the Kenyan Tea Board said.

Production by the Kenya Tea Development Agency, the country’s biggest grower and exporter of tea, is forecast to rise to 84 million kilograms (185 million pounds) of green leaf from 81 million kilograms a year earlier, it said today in an e- mailed response to questions.

“The rains of course translates into increased production,” said Fred Gori, a spokesman for the agency, said. “The forecasts indicate that the current rains will continue into February.” The only downside to the heavy rains could be tea and coffee diseases, Kegode said.

The quality of tea leaves will not be affected by the heavy rains as long as key parameters are maintained, Gori said.

“Some of the parameters include plucking only two leaves and a bud, maintaining regular plucking rounds, pruning at regular intervals, proper transportation and generally, maintaining good husbandry practices,” Gori added.

Production of the leaf advanced to 35.8 million kilograms in November from 34.4 million kilograms in November 2008, the Tea Board of Kenya, the industry regulator, said last month.

Drinking green tea may offer some protection against lung cancer, say experts who studied the disease at a medical university in Taiwan. The latest work in more than 500 people adds to growing evidence suggesting the beverage has anti-cancer powers. In the study, smokers and non-smokers who drank at least a cup a day cut their lung cancer risk significantly, a US cancer research conference heard.

The protection was greatest for people carrying certain genes. But cancer experts said the findings did not change the fact that smoking is bad for health.

Green tea is made from the dried leaves of the Asian plant Camellia sinesis and is drunk widely across Asia. The rates of many cancers are much lower in Asia than other parts of the world, which has led some to link the two. Laboratory studies have shown that extracts from green tea, called polyphenols, can stop cancer cells from growing. But results from human studies have been mixed. Some have shown a protective effect while others have failed to find any evidence of protection.

In July 2009, the Oxford-based research group Cochrane published a review of 51 studies on green tea and cancer which included over 1.5 million people. They concluded that while green tea is safe to drink in moderation, the research so far is conflicting about whether or not it can prevent certain cancers.

Dr I-Hsin Lin, of Shan Medical University, found that among smokers and non-smokers, people who did not drink green tea were more than five times as likely to get lung cancer than those who drank at least one cup of green tea a day.

Among smokers, those who did not drink green tea at all were more than 12 times as likely to develop lung cancer than those who drank at least a cup a day. Researchers then analysed the DNA of people in the study and found certain genes appeared to play a role in the risk reduction.

Green tea drinkers, whether smokers or non smokers, with certain types of a gene called IGF1, were far less likely to develop lung cancer than other green tea drinkers with different types of this gene. Yinka Ebo, of Cancer Research UK, said the findings should not be used as an excuse to keep smoking.

“Smoking tobacco fills your lungs with around 80 cancer-causing chemicals. Drinking green tea is not going to compensate for that. Unfortunately, it’s not possible to make up for the harm caused by smoking by doing other things right like eating a healthy, balanced diet. The best thing a smoker can do to reduce their risk of lung cancer, and more than a dozen other cancer types, is to quit.”

A new website has been launched offering “the biggest collection of chai teas on the web.”

Chai Buyer is aimed directly at those looking to buy chai tea, the delicious traditional spicy Indian tea made with milk. The website makes the final selection that much easier for those who already know they want to buy chai tea.

Chai Buyer is divided into simple categories to make browsing for chai tea straightforward. The categories are:

• Loose Leaf Chai Tea Blends
• Loose Leaf Black Chai Tea
• Loose Leaf Green Chai Tea
• Loose Leaf White Chai Tea
• Loose Leaf Pu-erh Chai Tea
• Loose Leaf Herbal Chai Tea
• Black Chai Teabags
• Green Chai Teabags
• White Chai Teabags
• Herbal Chai Teabags
• Chai Teabag Samplers
• Sugar and Spice…

There’s also an advanced chai tea search facility which allows you to pinpoint exactly what you want using keywords and category filters.

Chai Buyer plans to become the ultimate chai tea source on the internet, and many more chai teas have been identified for inclusion on the site over the coming weeks. Chai tea fans will be able to browse hundreds of products from the best suppliers around the world.

Manufacturers and retailers of chai tea are sought for possible inclusion on the site. For more information, please go to: www.ChaiBuyer.com

Kenya will step up lobbying for a review of the import duty charged on tea by Pakistan to help curb smuggling through the neighbouring Afghanistan.

“There is very little we can do in terms of regulating what volume goes into Afghanistan because its an open market system and everyone has a right to buy from anyone but we have resolved to continue lobbying Pakistan to lower the import duty on tea that enters its market. This will deny smugglers the incentive to engage in the malpractice,” Tea Board of Kenya (TBK) managing director, Sicily Kariuki told Business Daily.

Pakistan currently charges 10 per cent import duty, alongside a 15 per cent sales tax and an additional 10 per cent value-added tax and another two per cent income tax on imported tea. Smugglers charge between 15-20 per cent overall duty on their consignments.

A Perfect Cup of Tea on a Cold Morning. What better way to warm up than with a cup of hot tea. Emeril’s spiced orange tea will warm you right up. From the kitchen of Emeril Lagasse. Servings: 6-8 – Difficulty: Easy – Cook Time: 1-30 min

Ingredients

• Thinly peeled strips of orange peel, about 1/2-inch wide, from 1 orange
• 3 cups freshly squeezed orange juice, about 6 large oranges
• 3 cups water
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 small toe of fresh ginger, 1/2 ounce, sliced into 1/4-inch slices
• 1 teaspoon whole cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Pinch of salt
• 3 Orange Pekoe teabags
• 1/2 cup sugar

Cooking Directions

In small pot combine the orange peel, orange juice, water, lemon juice, ginger, cloves, cinnamon and salt. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove pot from the heat. Add the tea bags and let steep for 5 minutes. Add the sugar and stir to dissolve. Strain the tea through a fine mesh sieve set over another pot or into a warmed tea pot. Serve hot.

Yield: 6 cups, 6 to 8 servings

Recipe courtesy Emeril Lagasse, courtesy MSLO, Inc.

Recipe Summary

Main Ingredients: orange, tea, ginger, lemon

Course: Drinks