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.

CNN Go, By Eddy Chin, Jan 2012

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.

Known locally as Longjing, the best harvests are traditionally reserved for government officials and the wealthy elite. And the best way to laugh in their faces and cop free samples of the stuff is to skip the storefronts and teahouses and head straight to the source — Hangzhou’s Longjing Village (龙井村).

Drink Longjing tea in the garden that was favored by Emperor Qianlong.

Longjing Imperial Tea Garden (老龙井御茶园)

The most famous tea garden in the village is Longjing Imperial.

Located at the rear of the village, the tea garden is surrounded by incredibly idyllic terraces roamed by straw-hatted harvesters who pick each leaf by hand.

The grandiosely named garden is something of an out-of-the-way tourist spot, but that in no way diminishes the sheer beauty and tranquility of the place.

The compound covers a tranquil Jiangnan-style (south of Yangtze River) garden, a restaurant serving dishes cooked with Longjing  tea leaves, indoor and outdoor teahouses, and a namesake well.

More on CNNGo: The 5-minute Hangzhou guide

Legend has it that the land occupied by Longjing Imperial was one of Qianlong’s favorite stops on his several trips to Jiangnan, and the Qing Emperor even planted 18 tea trees on the hill by himself.

Great tea, even better garden

Upon entering the garden, you’ll find yourself at the foot of the hill into which the entire garden has been landscaped.

The outdoor space is flanked by a giant teapot and a pair of traditional-style buildings looming overhead, stone stairways crisscrossing upwards and beckoning the visitor to ascend further.

Once inside, you’ll find the grounds very thoughtfully laid-out, with narrow stone paths twisting alongside creeks and under traditional wooden walkways. All of these are amidst heavily forested environs that make visitors feel as if they’re wandering through somebody’s private hideaway.

The origin of Longjing tea‘s name, the dragon well, is near the entrance. Although this is not the exact well the green tea was named after — the tea took the name of the whole village — the resort uses the spring water from the well to irrigate its renowned tea leaves.

More on CNNGo: Longjing Manor: Hangzhou’s most famous restaurant

Grassy terraces set with tea tables made of lacquered tree trunks sit adjacent to small teahouses and the garden’s tiny museum, which displays photos showing the company receiving high-ranking officials.

Follow the paths back as they wind up steps and into bucolic tea plantations that just simply scream to get lost in.

My first visit to the garden was actually in the late evening, with the trees, narrow stairways, and secluded tombs and pavilions subtly illuminated by carefully placed nighttime lighting.

It left such a deep impression on me that I ended up returning six years later to celebrate my wedding there. A lazy afternoon’s visit certainly won’t disappoint.

A walk throughout the garden takes about 30 minutes.

Make yourself a cup of tea from scratch in Longjing Village.

Picking tea leaves at Longjing Village

To head home with some fine green leaves, you can buy Longjing tea directly from any of the villagers, who will try their best to lure you into their homes.

Prime tea harvest season is generally from late March to end of summer, with the March/April harvest fetching upwards of RMB 6,000 per kilo.

The other option is simply plucking the tea leaves yourself.

There are two ways to do this: either join a tour of Longjing with tea-picking included (the cost for an English-speaking private tour guide is around RMB 800 per day) or simply climb up into one of the surrounding plantations and politely ask one of the tea farmers if you can pick alongside them.

More on CNNGo: 12 secrets from a kung fu tea master

If you’re lucky enough, you may even be invited back to the plantation owner’s home to watch how the tea leaves are prepared by hand, a practice that takes years to perfect.

Getting there from downtown Hangzhou:

By bus: from the bus stop on Tiyuchang Lu (体育场路) in front of the post office just east of Wulin Square (武林广场), take No. 28 bus to Qu Yuan Feng He stop(曲院风荷站); walk south a few meters to the Yu Quan stop (玉泉站); transfer to No. 27 bus and ride to Longjing Cha Shi stop(龙井茶室站); walk west to the last fork in road, turn right and go to the end to find the tea garden.

By taxi: fares from downtown should be about RMB 35-45.

Spring and autumn are the most pleasant times to visit.

From Shanghai: catch the high-speed train to Hangzhou from Hongqiao Railway Station, take taxi or B2(区间) bus to Wulin Square, then follow previous directions.

Longjing Imperial Tea Garden (老龙井御茶园)
148 Longjing Lu
龙井路148号
+86 571 8798 0905, +86 571 8796 0843
8:30 a.m.- later
Latest reservation for dinner is 7 p.m.
Admission: RMB 10

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.

“We’re not really businesspeople,” said Ahmed Rahim, 43, who at the time of that fateful vacation had just returned home from living in Europe, where he managed tea houses in Prague and studied film in Paris.

The tea company they crafted in 1999 was focused on offering organic, premium quality tea leaves without flavorings. There’s no Earl Grey in their selection, or fruity herbal drinks, which Ahmed Rahim said are largely produced by spraying on natural and artificial flavors.

Growing movement

Over the years, Numi Organic Tea has become known in the tea marketplace for its business practices, despite the emergence of other high-end tea brands.

“When we started, there wasn’t much talk of fair trade. The movement has grown as we’ve grown,” said Ahmed Rahim. “So, it’s been easier for us to incorporate these principles into our business because we did it starting with a smaller scale. Doing it the other way around, when you’re bigger, is much tougher.”

Recently, news of a breakup between Fair Trade USA and Fair Trade International has created controversy, with critics arguing it could result in a watering down of regulations. Fair Trade USA, however, said the move could enable greater impact, as they change guidelines to allow for fair trade with large-scale farms and estates.

Brian Durkee, vice president of operations at Numi, said it’s far too early to determine what the move will mean.

“People who are more involved in the details recognize that it’s not a watering down,” he said. “The bottom line is that it’s trying to increase the amount of suppliers who can get certified as opposed to decrease the requirements of the certification,” he said.

Tea is still a small component in the world of fair trade, Durkee said. Last year, the United States purchased more than 110 million pounds of fair-trade coffee and only 1.8 million pounds of fair-trade tea.

For Numi, fair trade has become a critical component of the business.

Time with workers

Durkee, who has been with the Rahims for eight years, said the company works with several fair-trade organizations to ensure they’re reaching as many people as possible. His job includes visiting remote parts of rural China, Africa and India, spending mornings hitching a ride in the back of a truck and randomly surveying 100 workers for hours in the field as they pluck tea leaves. Workers have seen their wages increase by 20 percent, he said, once their employers go organic and fair-trade.

“You can’t go to your suppliers with a stick and demand low cost and expect them to be socially or environmentally conscious. So, we don’t go just for the cheapest option. We’re looking for good quality, a fair price, along with social and environmental impact,” Durkee said. “My job as a supply chain expert is to take on that challenge.”

That knowledge of their suppliers is reflected in the packaging, which showcases the farmers they work with.

Reem Rahim, 45, who spent months testing patterns for the boxes, ultimately decided on spiritual designs, a sharp contrast to loud branding labels. The aim, she said, was to remind customers of the soothing effect of tea and the art of drinking tea.

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.

A range of tea variants is got by infusing natural flavours of fruits and flowers through the process of steeping.

FRAGRANT COMPANY

A minute or two after the green and white tea with flavours of peach and chamomile was placed on the table, its sweet fruity fragrance filled the air. It made the earthy spinach dimsum feel light and complemented it perfectly.

The Chun tea with citrus and Ginseng tasted less sweet but was just as fragrant. This well suited the delightfully light Crackling Spinach with Candied Walnuts that was served next. A never-ending stream of starters appeared on our table — water chestnuts and Chinese bread tossed in Kung Pao sauce; stir-fried mushrooms; and the beautifully presented Song of the Dragon, a dish of chicken or baby potatoes fried with potent, dried red chillies and served in a white ceramic pot said to contain the dragon song. Thankfully, there was the smooth, slightly sweet and wonderfully aromatic green tea with Madagascar vanilla flower to punctuate the spicy sauces and chilli in these dishes.

MAIN COURSE MUST-HAVES

The main course was fairly simple with rice steamed in woven bamboo containers, crunchy French beans with pickled Chinese vegetables, tender chicken in hot garlic sauce and perfectly cooked duck in sweet bean sauce. The accompanying floral oolong tea did not have any distinct aromatic notes but the smoky, full-bodied Monkey Pick tea complemented the woodiness of the bamboo rice. The silver needle tea or Dancing Tea, so named because the leaves “dance” from the top to the bottom of the pot, was too light to make any impression.

As was the Fortune Ball with Lotus, an elegant tea served at celebrations, as the opening of the dried flower is said to bring good luck to all who witness it. The flower opened prettily when dropped in the pot of water but did not add more than a hint of floral aroma. The aromatic white tea, on the other hand, was medium-bodied and a lovely pink in colour with notes of peaches and tangy raspberry.

PU-ERH DELIGHT

A pot of Pu-erh then arrived and, while I pondered how to pronounce it right, dessert was brought in.

A smooth, chocolate-filled dimsum garnished with slivered almonds made me forget about pretty much everything else, but the earthy yet slightly sea-like aroma of the Pu-erh forced its way into my chocolate coma. The Pu-erh is celebrated as a dieter’s dream with mysterious slimming properties. Grown on hills near the Yunnan coast, it is infused with a slightly fishy depth.

It is full-bodied with a rounded taste, making it a great accompaniment to the Malai Gao, a roulade made with sponge cake and red bean paste.

The tea tasting menu was well prepared and researched, making for a satisfying and educational experience.

Focus Taiwan, By Lin Heng-li and C.J. Lin, Jan 2012

Taiwan’s tea exports to China grew noticeably this year compared with last year, mainly because of a trade agreement that was signed between the two sides in 2010, the Agriculture and Food Agency (AFA) said Wednesday.

In the period January to November this year, Taiwan shipped 596 metric tons of tea from Taiwan to China, with a total value of US$8.15 million (NT$247 million), which represented an annual increase of 11 percentin quantity and 52 percent in value, respectively, said Su Mao-shiang, secretary-general of the AFA at a tea promotion event in Nantou County.

Taiwan’s tea exports to China are expected to increase further next year, as China will lift all tariffs on the product in 2012 under the terms of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) with Taiwan, Su said.

Currently, there is a 5 percent tariff on Taiwan tea imports to China.

Taiwan tea producers have also benefitted from a government program that offers advice in areas such as packaging, which has helped to increase domestic and international sales, the AFA said.

For example, farmers associations in parts of Chiayi and Nantou counties that participated in the program have become more creative, incorporating geographical and cultural characteristics into their packaging, the AFA said.

The Meishan Township farmers association in Chiayi, for instance, has included images of Alishan on its packaging, the agency said.

To monitor the quality of Taiwan tea, up to 13 special tea zones have been established by the AFA throughout Taiwan. A total of 174 tea manufacturers in certain townships have received AFA verification of their products.

Among the products that have been verified are brands such as Taiwan’s Lugu Township’s Dong Ding Oolong Tea, Alishan High Mountain Oolong, Wen Shang Baozhong Tea, Ruisui Township Tianhe Tea, Beipu Township Pengfeng Tea, Sun Moon Lake Black Tea, and Hehuan Mountain Tea.

Darjeeling tea producers are all set to cheer. The year 2011 has brought smiles to them as the average price of Darjeeling tea in the domestic market has shot up by Rs 35 per kg. Even the end-season Darjeeling teas, being offered at auctions now, are fetching Rs 267 per kg as against Rs 204 per kg in 2010 end — a rise of 31%.

This augurs well for the Darjeeling tea industry which generally depends on exports for revenues.

CTC and dust tea prices have risen by Rs 8 a kg compared to the previous year. Western India companies , Tata Global Beverages and HUL are active in the market which has pushed up the prices of end-season teas.

J Kalyansundaram, secretary of Calcutta Tea Traders Association (CTTA), said: “Darjeeling teas have fetched good prices this year. Even the end-season teas are fetching good prices. There is a demand for Darjeeling teas in the domestic as well as the export markets. Companies and exporters are buying Darjeeling teas.”

Darjeeling tea production has increased by at least 25% compared to the previous year. “Last year, production was affected by a drought-like situation . We lost the premium firstand second-flush teas, which fetch maximum revenues for tea companies. But this year, the weather has improved and this will have a good impact on the production,” said Ashok Lohia, chairman of Chamong Tee.

Chamong Tee is the largest Darjeeling tea producer. Last year, Darjeeling produced 8 million kg tea, the lowest in the last decade. There is an expectation that production this year will be around 10 million kg though the final figure is yet to be published by Tea Board. The appreciation of Euro has helped Darjeeling tea exporters as most of Darjeeling teas are exported to European Union countries.

“This will be definitely a good year for the Darjeeling tea companies . We are happy that the domestic consumption of Darjeeling tea has increased,” said Sanjay Bansal, chairman of Ambootia Group. Generally, 40% of Darjeeling teas, which have the unique muscatel flavour, are exported. The rest 60% are considered as rains teas and do not make much headway to export markets.

But this year, there has been no lull in Darjeeling tea offtake. The CTTA secretary said CTC and dust teas have fetched better prices even at the year-end sale. “Companies are buying tea for the present season and for the Februray-March period. They have been strong this year and bought good quantities of teas,” he said.

Tea farmers in Kenya have in the past struggled to sell their produce abroad, and whenever they were lucky, the yields were low. But their fortunes could soon change following a partnership deal between Iria-Ini tea factory in Nyeri and Marks & Spencer’s to sell Kenyan tea. The supermarket is based in the United Kingdom.

Drinking just three cups of black tea a day can slash the risk of a heart attack by 60 per cent and dramatically reduce the threat of diabetes, experts say.

When I first Googled “tea smoking,” most of the results pertained to a recreational activity that had nothing to do with barbecue, although they were pretty damn edgy. Tea-smoke cooking does involve the munchies, but it won’t mellow you out or treat your glaucoma. Sorry to disappoint. What it will do is give a unique flavor to your smoked meat.

This take on Chinese tea smoking was so straightforward, I only needed two plates for the ingredients. It’s a style of smoking that hails from China’s Sichuan (formerly Szechuan) region, which is known for its hot, spicy cuisine.

Serious Chinese food geeks may be familiar with Zhangcha duck—a tea-smoked Sichuan delicacy that’s a bitch to make but impressive as hell to anyone who’s never had it before.  I was going to make one for this article, but the cops at the park kicked me out of my blind and confiscated my shotgun before I could pick off the Mandarin Duck I wanted. Oh, well. It was from the wrong province of China anyway.

A ticket and a body cavity search later, I was at the supermarket looking for an alternative. Tea smoking a chicken sounded a little bland, they had no duck, and I’ve had bad luck with Cornish game hens in the past. That pretty well left me with pork—the other white meat. Swine and I have a long history together, going back to my college days at USC when my roommate Jim Skinner and I invented the leftovers festival affectionately known as Questionable Pork Day.  But that’s another story.

I headed home with 3 pounds of country-style pork ribs and got down to business. Because I’m a tea-smoking virgin (don’t spread that around, BTW), I kept things pretty simple. I started by mixing up the sauce, then let the ribs marinate in it for four hours.

Yes, I know. The smoking mix looks like potpourri. No, you can’t have my man card.

While that was going on, I created the tea mixture. It’s a combination of the tea, some brown sugar, dry rice, cinnamon sticks, and orange zest/peel. Most grocery stores have an Asian food section where you’ll find some inexpensive black Oolong tea; black teas are what’s used for this type of cooking. It’s great if you can find loose leaf tea but if not, cutting open a bunch of tea packets and pouring them into a measuring cup isn’t exactly brain surgery. The rice acts as filler to keep the tea burning longer. Cinnamon and orange zest are pretty standard ingredients for this sort of smoking. They provide aromatics in the smoke. You could also toss in some other whole spices—like fennel seeds or whole cumin—to put a different spin on the process. I made four batches of tea mixture: one loose in a bowl and the others wrapped in aluminum foil pouches. Leave a gap on top of each pouch for the smoke to escape.

Three hours later I was off to my charcoal smoker.  I hot-smoked the ribs over a water pan, adding fresh tea mix to the coals every half hour. First I tried pouring loose mix onto the coals, but it burned faster than a telemarketer in the afterlife. The packets worked great, though. Since the smoker was open anyway, I also brushed more sauce on my ribs during these little interludes. Yes, I know it adds 20-30 minutes to the cooking time whenever you pop open your smoker, but I had all day and figured the taste would be worth it.

While potpourri and tea smoke mix share some ingredients, here’s the difference—potpourri comes in a sack, Szechuan tea smoking has one.

And I was right. The sauce alone turned the ribs into salty, sweet, deliciousness with a spicy kick. The smoke was distinctly different than the wood chip variety I’ve come to know and love. It has a much more herbal kick to it than hardwood smoke. I’m definitely making this again. Hell, I may even go crazy and share it with other people next time.

Tea-Smoked Country Style Pork Ribs
This is the recipe I used for my rib experiment.  For as simple as it is, I loved it.

Rib Sauce
1/2 cup light soy sauce
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dry crushed chile pods
3 pounds country-style pork ribs

Smoking Packet Mix:
1/2 cup black tea leaves (roughly 17 teabags for you infidels)
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup raw, long grain rice
2 cinnamon sticks, broken into small pieces
4-6 slices of fresh orange rind, 1 inch wide and 2-3 inches long

Mix up the rib sauce, coat the ribs, and let them soak inside the fridge for three to five hours.  Meanwhile, mix up the smoking mix and prep your smoker. Once the coals are ready, you hot-smoke the ribs until they reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees F. (this will take roughly two or three hours).  I made four packets of smoking mix and changed them every half hour while brushing more sauce onto the ribs.

Serves 2-3
Heat Scale Mild

Zhangcha Duck
This bad boy involves three different cooking processes, so if you’re a college kid living in a dorm or a creepy guy dwelling in Mom and Dad’s basement, chances are you don’t have the space to make this.

One 2 to 2 1/2-pound duck
1 1/2 tablespoons Sichuan pepper*
1 tablespoon ginger
1 tablespoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons rice wine
1/2 cup black tea leaves (preferably Oolong)

First you want to clean the duck and open a slit about 3 ½ inches long at the back of it so you can remove the guts. Then, mix everything but the duck and the tea. Marinate the duck in that concoction in the fridge for several hours. Place the duck into boiling water to tighten the hide. This ensures that your duck will have a crispy skin after you’re done cooking it. While that’s going on, you should start preheating enough vegetable oil or peanut oil in a separate pan to deep-fry the duck later on. Drain the water from the duck, and move it over to your heated wok. The tea sits in the bottom of the wok while you smoke the duck in it for 10-15 minutes. After that, steam the duck for 10 more minutes. Think you’re done? Not quite. Let the duck cool off, then deep-fry it in the oil until the skin is crisp. It goes great with rice, veggies, and Chinese dumplings.

Serves 2-4
Heat Scale: Medium

Tea-Smoked Sichuan (or Szechuan) Bacon
Anything that is good for smoking pork ribs has to be worth a go for bacon. Here’s my take on what might be a cool Chinese twist on my favorite breakfast meat.

1 5-pound slab of pork belly, skin on, neatly trimmed
2 tablespoons Sichuan pepper*
2 tablespoons ginger
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1/4 cup kosher salt
2 teaspoons Morton’s Tender Quick or equivalent pink salt cure
1/4 cup packed brown sugar

Mix up all the non-swine ingredients and use the mixture as a rub on all surfaces of the pork belly. Place it in the fridge inside a Ziploc bag or in a covered, non-reactive container just large enough to hold the pork belly. Flip the belly every day for seven days, then wash it off, and let it dry on a rack in the fridge overnight. Hot-smoke it the next day until it reaches 165 degrees F. at its thickest point. Then, remove the skin while the finished bacon is still warm.

Serves up to 8 people
Heat Scale Mild to Medium

*Note: this is not a chile pepper, nor is it related to black pepper. This from Wikipedia:
Sichuan pepper has a unique aroma and flavour that is not hot or pungent like black or white pepper, or chili peppers. Instead, it has slight lemony overtones and creates a tingly numbness in the mouth (caused by its 3% of hydroxy-alpha-sanshool) that sets the stage for hot spices. According to Harold McGee in On Food and Cooking (second edition, page 429), they are not simply pungent; “they produce a strange tingling, buzzing, numbing sensation that is something like the effect of carbonated drinks or of a mild electrical current (touching the terminals of a nine-volt battery to the tongue). Sanshools appear to act on several different kinds of nerve endings at once to induce sensitivity to touch and cold in nerves that are ordinarily nonsensitive. So theoretically, this may cause a kind of general neurological confusion.” Woot!

Have a good one…

Tea, and especially Darjeeling tea, spells magic for me. It’s the world’s most expensive tea, one with an intensely exotic flavour; Darjeeling is to tea, what Champagne is to wine. Many a summer vacation has been spent in the tea gardens, sipping this “champagne of teas”.

And although I personally prefer my tea unadulterated, there is enough to suggest it is a heady concoction when mixed with a few strains of alcohol.

Interestingly though, one can actually combine tea with alcohol. Not many are aware that tea mixed with alcohol proves to be a potent stimulant. A splash of your favourite alcoholic beverage in tea can be a great combination. The aroma is so strong that a whiff is enough to intoxicate the senses. Depending upon the blend of tea one is using, a variety of liquors including vodka, rum and whisky can be paired with it.

Rum might be a safer choice to begin with, though I know for a fact some have even tried vodka and tea. Not many know that the content of monoterpene alcohol — present in the essential oils of plants — in Darjeeling tea is five times higher than other Indian teas. So it’s already quite potent!

But if you are planning to marry the two beverages, then be a little more creative. Pour your drinks in elegant, funky glasses, add bright stirrers and serve them with colourful garnishes. Basically, the cocktail is likely to be termed rather eccentric and many purists might turn their noses at it, so at least have fun as you serve it. They too may give in.

Preparing the perfect cup of Darjeeling tea is important. It is an elaborate ritual and you cannot afford to go wrong. Your palate is the best guide when having a cupful. But make sure you go about preparing it the right way. Ensure you use fresh water each time while you boil. Never add tea leaves to the boiling water. Pour the tea into a teapot, one teaspoon of tea leaves per cup, add it to the boiled water in the pot. Steep it for about five minutes or so.

Strain the brew into your cup and the tea is ready. Generally, tea is consumed black, but milk or sugar may be added as per choice. A useful tip: Never boil Darjeeling Tea directly, as it will cook the leaves and make the tea bitter. If you are adventurous, add any type of alcohol.

The author is a food writer.

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.

Co-organized by two tea associations from Alishan in Taiwan and Xiamen in China, the winter tea final came after two preliminary rounds were held in the two countries on Dec. 1. It also marked the first time that China-grown tea leaves had competed in Taiwan.

The competition was part of Chiayi County’s efforts to further promote Alishan tea in China, where it is already one of the favorite Taiwanese souvenirs, said Wu Jung-hui, secretary-general of the Chiayi County government.

(By Chiang Chun-liang and Kendra Lin)

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.

Water was chosen as the most delicious drink because “as the base of every other drink on this list, of every food in the world and indeed of all life, nothing beats a glass of pure, unsullied water for its thirst-quenching, revitalizing, life-giving properties.”

Filling out the top 10 on the list was beer (global), tea (global), air mata kucing (or longan drink) from Malaysia, American orange juice, red wine (global), gin and tonic (England) and hot chocolate with marshmallows (U.S.).

Japanese sake was ranked 15th and white wine (global) finished 18th.

(By Hsiao Chien-yun and Sofia Wu)

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.

TRA Director Mridul Hazarika said the research station had launched a decade-long scientific effort to give something unique to the tea industry and undertaken research in several non-conventional areas along with conventional research.

The research institute has emerged as one of the major biotechnology research institutes of tea in the world.
A major centenary highlight of the TRA was launching of a tea based non-carbonated soft drink promoted as a health drink along with Plant Growth Promoting Microbes to be made commercially available to the tea industry.

Hazarika pointed out that the significant results of tea research by the organisation had led to release of 30 Tocklai Vegetative (TV) clones, 14 biclonal seed stocks and 151 region-specific garden series clones to the tea industry.

Hazarika claimed it was due to the efforts of the TRA that the industry introduced extended pruning cycle in lieu of annual prune for higher productivity and better distribution of crop.

Optimisation of plant population, new techniques of bringing up young tea, reducing the gestation period from planting to full bearing, land planning, drainage and balance manuring for higher productivity and soil Amendment techniques have been some of the highlights of tea research initiated by the TRA.

Research by the TRA also established the necessity for a light canopy of shade for tea plantations in the plains of Northeast, Hazarika pointed out.

The TRA has also successfully invented several tea machinery adopted by tea gardens, like the MacTear Rotorvane, Borbora Continuous Leaf Conditioner, Continuous Tray Drier, Continuous Fermenting Machine, Borua Continuous Roller, Tea Breaker-cum-Stalk Separator, Green Leaf Storage Device, Continuous Withering Machine Electronic Monitoring and Control System for Withering.

Another major contribution of the organisation has been in the field of safer pesticides for effective pest and weed control, with emphasis on integrated pest management and generation of data on pesticide residues in tea from multi-locational supervised field trials.

The TRA has also successfully introduced bioagents – Trichoderma and Bacillus for control of certain tea diseases and their formulation for commercial application.

Thais 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.

The tea garden is quintessentially British – with vintage decor, a white octagonal garden pavilion, classic furniture, top-quality tea and table accessories, plus such British icons as a classic red telephone box and big teddy bears dressed in the Great British Guardsman costumes.

Tea lovers have plenty of English tea blends from which to choose. There’s the 1706 blend in the original flavour and aroma created 300 years ago. Then, there’s Mulled Spice tea, which is blended especially for this year’s Winter Edition by scenting black tea with special aromas of cinnamon and cloves. Then, of course, there’s Earl Grey, which is light, fragrant and with a distinctive bergamot flavour. Tea lovers should also not miss the English Breakfast tea, which is full-bodied and full of flavour due to the robust blend of the finest Assam and Kenyan leaves.

Twinings will serve baked delicacies by chefs from Le Cordon Bleu, including soft scones with mango jam and macaroons, almond cookies with a touch of Britain.

The tea garden is the brainchild of Piyapong Chitchumnong, Twinings’ business unit manager at the AB Food & Beverages (Thailand).

“The widespread popularity of Twinings teas across England dates to 1666. To commemorate Twinings as part of English tea heritage, we have created the “1706 blend” of finest teas from various sources.

“In Thailand, tea drinking is regarded as a very interesting social culture. Twinings has therefore created this tea garden to give tea lovers a lovely place where they can take full pleasure in a cup of fine tea in a London ambience. Besides, profits from the Tea Garden will go to the Chaipattana Foundation to celebrate HM the King’s 84th birthday.

A glance at Twining tea heritage.

1662

Tea was officially introduced to England by the young Portuguese wife of Charles II, Catherine of Braganza. She served it to her aristocratic friends at the Royal Court and soon tea became the fashionable drink of the day.

1701

Thomas Twining takes a job working for a wealthy merchant handling the first shipments of tea to English shores from around the world.

1706

Thomas Twining opens the first Twinings shop on London’s Strand.

1784

By the time of his death, Thomas Twining was serving customers with royal connections. Hs son, Daniel, was the first Twining to export tea.

1837

Queen Victoria granted Twinings its first Royal Warrant for tea – she appointed Twinings as supplier of teas to her household.

1901

Twinings develops the recipe for its English breakfast blend.

1904

Twinings opens its first Paris shop

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.

Chas Kroll, Executive Director of American Tea Masters Association and Certified Tea Master announced, “This course is a great opportunity for Spanish-speaking people in the USA who wish to take their passion for tea and its health benefits to a professional level.  There has been so much interest in the US, that for the first time, ATMA is offering the course in Spanish.”

The Certified Tea Sommelier Course is suited to restaurant and tea court owners and managers, wine sommeliers, tea aficionados, industry suppliers, and others who wish to incorporate tea mastery skills into their personal or professional lives.

Margo Seymour, owner of the Denver Tea Room in Colorado, became a Certified Tea Master in 2010 and opened her shop.

Now she confidently knows her teas as well as how to best market her tea room.  Seymour expects that her business in 2012 will double that of 2011.

“I bring out trays of 30 teas and sniffing boxes.  Scent will lead them to a tea they like,” says Seymour.

As the profession expands there is growing demand for Certified Tea Sommeliers.  Respected hotels, traditional and modern tea rooms, high-end restaurants, and teashops, create an important base for a professional tea sommelier.

The Certified Tea Sommelier Course provides a thorough foundation for those interested in managing the tea service, including:  vendor selection, creating tea menus, seasonal tea rotation, managing guest preferences, and providing accurate background information on myriad teas.

The course starts with a 4-day intensive training at the Liberty Station Courtyard by Marriott.  This is followed by home study utilizing online tutorials led by Morlachetti between February and September 2012.

About American Tea Masters Association:

Founded in 2007, the American Tea Masters Association promotes education among individuals aspiring to achieve excellence in the world of premium-grade specialty teas.

The association’s prestigious Certified Tea Master™ designation is awarded following completion of the Tea Mastery Certification Course™, to deserving Tea Masters and Tea Sommeliers dedicated to promoting the experience of quality, loose-leaf specialty teas grown around the world.

Further information is available at www.TeaMasters.org

About Escuela Argentina de Te:

Headquartered in Rosario, Argentina, the school is licensed and accredited by American Tea Masters Association.  Launched in June 2010 by Diego Morlachetti, a Certified Tea Master of American Tea Masters Association.  The school is responsible for training and certifying Spanish speaking registrants residing in Central and South America, the Caribbean, Mexico, and Spain.  Additional information is available at www.EscuelaDeTe.org.

Media Contact:
Catherine Milsom
(954) 600 5250 Central Time
Milsom@att.net
Se habla espanol.

SOURCE American Tea Masters Association

The expectation of the tea industry to touch the magic figure of 1,000 million kgs in 2011 may remain elusive. Latest analysis shows that the total tea production of the country this year is bound to be restricted somewhere near 985 million kgs.

Revealing this, sources in the tea industry said as per the January to September figures, the tea production of the country has soared by 41 million kgs in North India and dropped by 4.6 million kgs in South India, compared to the corresponding period last year. In all, India could produce 966 million kgs of tea last year.

This generated a hope in the Indian tea industry that this year it would be able to record an all time high production with 1,000 million kgs.

But, unfavourable weather condition from mid-October affected production this year and hence the above estimate has received a beating. Now, the revised estimate has hinted that the country’s total tea production is going to be limited to around 985 million kgs by the end of this season.

Till 2010, the all time high production of the country was 986 kgs in 2007. In 2010, China recorded an all time high tea production with 1,370 million kgs.

In 1895, India overtook China. Since then, it continued to be the world leader in tea production till 2006. In 2006, China overtook India after a gap of 111 years. It took more than 175 years for India to reach the current area of 5.79 lakh hectares under tea cultivation, and in the contrary, China added an area of more than 6 lakh hectares under tea during the last ten years. In fact, during the last ten years, the global tea area got expanded by 8 lakh hectares and of this, China accounts for 75 per cent. Kenya and Vietnam together increased 1 lakh hectares, while in India, the additional area brought under tea was around 89,000 hectares and that too mainly in the small tea growing sector.

Mighty Leaf Tea is my most favorite tea, mostly because the flavors are incredible and interesting. I’ve had them on my top ten list for years, but I never knew they did anything besides tea.

Turns out they also have a very clever travel mug specifically for tea users, which they were kind enough to send me to review. Putting tea in a normal travel mug isn’t that great—there’s no easy way to get the bag out, so the tea brews too long and ends up tasting bitter. If you do pull the bag out, there’s no easy place to put it and you end up making a mess.

The TeaTop Brew Travel Mugis the first travel mug specifically made for tea I’ve ever tried, and it is very cool.

What it is: a travel mug designed for use with tea bags.

The good: It’s so clever! Allows you to pull the bag out of the tea once it’s done brewing, but keeps the bag inside the cup so there’s no mess. It also keeps your beverages warm for a long time.

The less good: It’s not spill proof, so don’t turn it upside down or knock it over. It also doesn’t really work with non-Mighty Leaf bags.

How it works: Fold the tea tag in half and slide it through the slot so the bag is underneath the lid. Drop the bag into the cup full of hot water and close the lid (picture 1). Brew your tea for the specified time, then pull on the tag to get the bag out of the water (picture 2). The tea bag stays in the indention in the lid, keeping you from over brewing your tea (picture 3). Genius!

The fourth and final madeleine recipe from the book… you can tell Dorie lives in Paris!  The original recipe calls for an Earl Grey tea infusion to give these cookie/cakes flavor, but I usually only have one or two types of tea kicking around my cupboard at a time, and the Earl wasn’t one of them.  So I used chai (from a teabag actually…I tore the bag open and sprinkled the bits into my hot butter to infuse; then I put it through a very fine strainer to remove any sediment).  I thought the chai spices would be nice with the honey that was already in the ingredient list.

I could really taste the tea in here.  They were delicious, and I amped up the spicing even more by tossing them in a cardamom sugar while they were still warm.  I made big, full-sized madeleines… I didn’t really get the pronounced madeleine bump with these, but they had rounded backsides and great texture and taste, so I guess I don’t mind so much.

For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan.

The benefits of drinking green tea are numerous, as various studies have shown that compounds in green tea help to mitigate conditions like obesity, diabetes, autoimmune disorders, and cancer (more). And a recent study published in theJournal of the American Dietetic Associationadds to this body of evidence, as it reveals that consuming green tea or green tea supplements regularly can help naturally lower LDL, or “bad,” cholesterol levels.

For their study, Olivia Phung, an assistant professor of pharmacy at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, Cal., and her colleagues analyzed data from 20 clinical trials on green tea that included more than 1,400 adults. They found that participants who consumed green tea or green tea supplements every day experienced a five-to-six point average drop in LDL cholesterol compared to those taking a placebo.

The various trials included in the evaluation lasted anywhere from three weeks to six months, and the benefits of green tea were most apparent in participants that already had high cholesterol prior to joining the studies. Green tea in beverage form was reportedly more effective than green tea in capsule or supplement form at lowering cholesterol levels.

Green tea contains polyphenolic compounds known as catechins, which in previous studies, has been shown to promote weight loss (http://www.naturalnews.com/News_000…). These same antioxidant compounds are believed to be what is responsible for green tea’s cholesterol-lowering effects.

“Green tea catechins have been studied fairly extensively as preventive agents for cardiovascular disease,” writes Tori Hudson, ND, in her bookWomen’s Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine: Alternative Therapies and Integrative Medicine for Total Health and Wellness. In one cited study, “flavanoid-rich green tea extract (375mg) for three months along with a low-fat diet decreased total cholesterol by 11.3 percent and LDL by 16.4 percent in men and women with mild to moderate hypercholesterolemia.”

Not all cholesterol is bad, however, and the jury is still out as to whether or not having “low cholesterol” is a good thing. It appears as though cholesterol itself is not the culprit in heart disease and artery hardening, but rather the accumulation of oxidized cholesterol, which is a result of other dietary factors.

Researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, for instance, recently found that women with high cholesterol levels actually have fewer heart attacks and strokes than women with lower cholesterol levels (http://www.naturalnews.com/033975_h…).

Learn more:http://www.naturalnews.com/034279_green_tea_bad_cholesterol.html#ixzz1hVTF3opk

The latest in bizarre dresses has arrived. After paper napkins, newspapers, and even condoms, we now have a dress made of tea bags. This one was made by a 16-year-old from Kuala Lumpur, and she used a whopping 4,000 tea bags to create her masterpiece. She won the top prize at the Green Awards 2011 held in Kuala Lumpur in October.

Suraya Mohd Zairin is a science student from SMK Bukit Jelutong, Shah Alam. She says that she chose to make a dress out of tea bags because they were easily available to her. With the help of her friends, she was able to collect the 4,000 bags and then it took her three months to complete the dress. The theme followed by the budding designer was ‘flowers’, because their shapes have always mesmerized her.

Suraya says that people tend to take flowers for granted, and through her dress she wanted to highlight the significance of nature, especially that of flowers. She was the youngest contestant in the category, and never expected to win. Needless to say, she was quite shocked when her name was announced as the winner. The two categories of the award where wildly creative and totally active.

She received RM4000, which is approximately $1,700, along with a trophy, for her efforts.

Still have some last minute gifts to buy in time for the holiday season? Don’t panic – here’s our Holiday Tea Gift Ideas part two!

• Did you miss part one? Click here for more Tea Holiday Gift Ideas 

We’ve spent a long time trawling the internet looking for good tea gifts. Before we make our latest suggestions, we thought we’d give a special mention to MightyLeaf Tea, whose range of tea gifts just about blew us away! They have such an extensive range that they’ve compiled a list of their Top 20 Tea Gifts. If you can’t find something there…

Adagio Tea Loose Leaf Holiday Tea Collection

Every year, just in time for the holidays, Adagio offers loose flavored black teas with a seasonal theme. Sure to instill the spirit of the season and bring a welcome warmth to the growing cold, the Adagio Holiday Tea Collection make the perfect gift for your friends and loved ones, as well as a great indulgence to savor for yourself.

But these are only available for until the end of December, so make sure that you stock your stockings full!

Price: $9.00

The Tea Farm’s Tea Gift Basket

This Hawaiian style Tea Gift Basket is presented in a custom Lauhaula Basket (10″x10″x4″) and includes a maroon glass teapot, can of 4.5oz Mauna Loa macadamia dry roasted nuts, two small 0.5oz packs of macadamis nut with Maui Onion & Garlic flavor and Ghirardelli chocolate flavor, and of course The Tea Farm’s quality best selling tea:

(2 oz) Jasmine Dragon Pearl, (2 oz) Lichee Tea, (2 oz) White Peony and (2 oz) Oolong rose tea

Price: $40.00

Tea From Taiwan’s Splendor Tea Gift Set

Looking for the perfect gift for the tea lover on your list? Look no further! Here are two of Tea From Taiwan’s best-selling teas packed in an attractive gift box.

The Splendor Tea Pack has two canisters of their most popular tea - Tsuei Luan and Shi Zuo. They are representative teas of the top two tea regions of Taiwan – Ali Shan (Mount Ali) and Li Shan (Pear Mountain).

Price: $47.50

MightyLeaf Tea’s Holiday Tea Box

The Abaca Holiday Tea Box makes the perfect eco-friendly holiday gift. Handcrafted of tree-free Abaca plant fibers and cogon grass, our sustainable Abaca Holiday Tea Box is fastened with a whittled coconut-shell button.

Each box comes filled with 30 of Mighty Leaf’s whole leaf biodegradable tea pouches that includes the following seasonally festive blends: Organic Breakfast, Bombay Chai, Marrakesh Mint, Organic Hojicha Green Tea, Rainforest Mate and Ginger Twist.

Price: $24.95

Tea Gift Certificates

It’s definitely easier when you don’t have to choose gifts! If you’ve still not found anything to inspire you, why not let your loved one decide for themselves by getting a tea gift certificate. Here are some particularly good ones…

• Adagio Teas Gift Certificate

• Silver Leaf Tea Gift Certificate

• Tea From Taiwan Gift Certificate

We hope that you’ve taken some ideas for tea gifts from either Part One or Part Two of our Holiday Tea Gift Ideas. Please have a happy and safe holiday season

The Tea Spot launches the ‘Dessert Tea Sampler‘, a perfect guilt-free tea to match a holiday sweet tooth, any time of day. Perfect as a holiday tea gift, the Dessert Tea Sampler has six gourmet loose leaf teas, spanning the gamut from loose black teas to oolong tea and caffeine-free herbal teas. The Dessert Tea Sampler combines chocolate, caramel, vanilla cream, citrus and bergamot, as well as almonds, coconut and hot spices.

This zero-cal, gluten-free, dessert tea collection includes 6 mini tea tins, filled with handcrafted blends that have notes of chocolate, vanilla, caramel, cinnamon, and coconut. The loose leaf teas in the Dessert Tea Sampler are three of The Tea Spot’s signature black teas, one oolong, and two herbals: Chocolate “O”, Creme Caramel, Earl of Grey, Red Rocks, Red Hot Chai, & Coconut Oolong. All six of the teas are handcrafted in Boulder, Colorado.

Click here to buy at The Tea Spot

Chocolate “O” is a certified organic full leaf black tea laced with the purest of chocolate aromas on a delicious malty base, with hints of caramel and honey.

Crème Caramel is an aromatic dessert tea blend of premium black tea with real pieces of gourmet caramel.

Earl of Grey takes traditional Earl Grey to the next level by combining the traditional bergamot flavoring on full leaf black tea then adding other citruses, vanilla, licorice root, and mallow flowers.

Coconut Milky Oolong is a smooth milky hand-rolled Oolong blended with roasted coconut.
Red Rocks is a blend of naturally caffeine-free South African red Rooibos, vanilla, and almond bits.

Red Hot Chai is also a strong naturally caffeine-free South African red Rooibos base spiced with the season’s boldest flavors: red rooibos, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, chai spices and a hint of vanilla.

The Dessert Tea Sampler is designed with teas for anytime of day, to go alongside a sophisticated dessert, or in lieu of a sugary indulgence. It is being launched for the holidays, as the perfect tea gift for gourmet tea lovers and anyone looking for a healthy, sweet holiday treat. The Tea Spot’s Dessert Tea Sampler includes a card with the descriptions & steeping suggestions for each of the teas. The net weight of the teas in the set is 4.0 oz, and the collection of six teas retails for $26.95. It is available exclusively at The Tea Spot’s online tea store at theteaspot.com.

ABOUT THE TEA SPOT: The Tea Spot is a for-profit philanthropic business producing handcrafted loose leaf teas and Steepware® – the tools that make loose tea easy. The Boulder, Colorado-based woman owned and operated company was founded by Maria Uspenski in 2004. A cancer survivor drawn to the health benefits of leaf tea during her recovery, she set forth to modernize the loose leaf tea experience. Her message is simple and powerful: tea in its freshest form renders incredible flavor, unmatched health benefits, and is eco-friendly. The Tea Spot is a Certified B Corporation and ensures that its products uphold clean, sustainable and fair manufacturing standards. The company’s model of social entrepreneurship incorporates a culture of giving as it grows: ten percent of every sale made is donated in-kind to cancer and community wellness programs.

A battle between Unilever and an Amsterdam-based non-governmental group over the rights of workers on tea plantations in India and Kenya shows the difficulties facing multinational companies that are trying to ensure their products are ethically produced.

But doing so is tricky. First, what does sustainability constitute exactly? Does it comprise basic worker rights and environmental protections? Or should it mean that workers on tea plantations in India and Kenya, poor countries, should be extended the same working conditions as most Europeans and Americans? And who makes sure these companies –often not owned by the multinationals but local suppliers–abide by the standards?

The Netherlands-based Center for Research on Multinational Corporations, in an October report, claimed the existing system of checks and balances has failed to stop abuses of workers on Unilever’s Kenyan estate, including sexual harassment and poor housing conditions.

In India – where Unilever buys tea from producers in Assam and Tamil Nadu, but does not own the estates – the report claims workers are kept permanently on rolling short-term contracts, denying them health and pension benefits, and are often exposed to dangerous pesticides while working.

Unilever, in its response to the report, says the center has failed to produce evidence to back claims made about its Kenyan operations. The company said it would look in to allegations of abuses at the Indian suppliers if given specific information.

At the crux of such battles is a debate about whether the move to sustainable production is a real attempt to improve conditions for workers in poor parts of the world or a kind of “green-washing” carried out by multinational companies under intense pressure from customers in Europe and the U.S.

In reality, it’s probably a bit of both. Companies, for sure, have a real interest in managing their brand image, which means not buying from people that exploit workers. But at the same time, they have to watch their bottom lines and produce enough to meet demand for their product, which they say would be impossible if moving overnight to apply Western-style standards uniformly across emerging market economies.

The balance between certifying adequate quantities of sustainable product – of tea, or other products like wood and palm oil – and keeping to strict standards is a tough one to negotiate. The Forest Stewardship Council, which makes sure the paper in your novel is from sustainable sources, got caught out in 2007 and had to change its rules when one of Indonesia’s most controversial paper producers got an FSC certification.

Sometimes it’s difficult to know what is sustainable. Take palm oil, used in products like margarine and cosmetics, which is grown on plantations that have led to the destruction of massive area of natural rainforest in Indonesia and Malaysia. The red palm oil fruit is collected from hundres of small plantations and processed at refineries, making it difficult to know whether the end product is sustainable.

Unilever, one of the world’s largest buyers of palm oil, has been instrumental in developing the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, a group of suppliers, NGOs and producers. But progress toward the RSPO’s goal of sustainability by 2015 has been slow, with lack of clarity on how to ensure a product meets “green” standards.

In theory, tea should be easier to track. But Unilever’s response to the latest report by the Center for Research on Multinational Corporations highlights the difficulties.

The company said it relies on regular, independent audits of its tea plantations by the Rainforest Alliance, a U.S.-based nonprofit environmental group, which has improved rights for workers. Unilever says it has spent €1.2 million on housing upgrades at its estate in Kericho, Kenya, which it claims offers workers among the best conditions in the East African tea industry.

Rainforest Alliance carries out audits for a number of companies according to social and environmental standards set by the Sustainable Agriculture Network, a coalition of leading global conservation groups. During the process, auditors should be allowed to go where they like and meet workers without management presence.

“Attempting to undermine public trust in the Rainforest Alliance scheme is not a responsible approach to addressing these issues,” Unilever said in response to the report.

The center, known by its Dutch acronym as SOMO, retorts that the Rainforest Alliance auditing process is deeply flawed, based on short visits and not deep investigation.

The report points out instances when management at the Kenyan estate tried to cover up housing problems ahead of auditor arrivals.

The center says women who have faced sexual harassment are scared to come forward given their lack of belief in the oversight process.

In India, the report claims that many workers are employed by tea suppliers to Unilever on short-term contracts that offer them no benefits, an effort to cut costs after a crisis in the Indian tea industry a decade ago.

In Assam, as many as 50% of workers in the tea industry are on short contracts, meaning they don’t get benefits, the report says.

Unilever says that tea production is seasonal and defends its use of contract workers with “clearly defined rights” as a usual practice.

The report acknowledges that use of contract workers doesn’t break national or international labor laws. But it argues that heavy reliance on these kinds of workers, who are sometimes employed for decades on rolling short-term contracts, goes against Sustainable Agriculture Network standards that lay down equal benefits to workers for the same kind of work.

You can follow Mr. Wright on Twitter @TomWrightAsia.

A flavonoid found in green tea inhibits the hepatitis C virus (HVC) from entering the liver, a new study has found. According to German researchers, epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) may offer an antiviral strategy to prevent HCV reinfection following liver transplantation.

HCV infection can lead to chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) or primary liver cancer. HCV is one of the most common causes of chronic liver disease and a primary indication for liver transplantation, affecting up to 170 million individuals worldwide according to estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO).

While standard treatment with interferon with ribavirin and newer protease inhibitors may clear infection in some individuals, a substantial number of patients still may not respond to these therapies.

For individuals receiving liver transplants due to complications from HCV, reinfection of the healthy donor liver remains a significant concern. Antiviral strategies that target HCV in its early stages are urgently needed to prevent graft reinfection and improve long-term outcomes for patients.

To address this critical issue, Sandra Ciesek and Eike Steinmann from the Hannover Medical School in Germany investigated the effect of the EGCG molecule in preventing HCV from attaching to liver cells.

“Green tea catechins such as EGCG and its derivatives epigallocatechin (EGC), epicatechingallate (ECG), and epicatechin (EC) have been shown to exhibit antiviral and anti-oncogenic properties,” Ciesek said.

“Our study further explores the potential effect these flavonoids have in preventing HCV reinfection following liver transplantation,” she said.

Results showed that unlike its derivatives, EGCG inhibits entry of HCV into liver cells. The authors suggest that EGCG may impede HCV cell entry by acting on the host cell as the green tea catechin was not found to alter the density of virus particles.

Pretreatment of cells with EGCG before HCV inoculation did not reduce the infection, however, application during inoculation inhibited the rapid spread of the HCV.

Lastly, researchers showed that EGCG inhibits viral attachment-the initial step in the HCV infection process.

“The green tea antioxidant EGCG inhibits HCV cell entry by blocking viral attachment and may offer a new approach to prevent HCV infection, particularly reinfection following liver transplantation.” Ciesek added,

The study has been published in Hepatology.

Green tea powder can be used for many dessert items including green tea ice cream (of which I am sure everyone has experienced at the various hibachi grills around town) as well as smoothies, buttercream frosting, cookies and more. Of course, there has to be a mention of all the health benefits that experts say range from cancer fighting agents to helping your heart. Purchase green tea powder, also known as Matcha.

No-bake cheesecakes are very simple to make and have a much lighter texture than their “New York”-style counterparts. They are folded with whipped cream as opposed to being baked with eggs. These cheesecakes only have to refrigerate for 3 hours instead of overnight so you can make it the same day you serve it.

Most holiday desserts come in fall colors as well as white. This cheesecake makes a beautiful green addition. Serving it with raspberry sauce gives it a definite holiday twist. With its mousse–like texture, it offers a nice option to the other textures of pies and cakes.

Green Tea Cheesecake

1.5 sleeves of Lorna Doone shortbread cookies of a 10 oz box

3 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

1 cup whipping cream

8 oz cream cheese, softened

½ cup sugar

2/3 cup whole milk

1.5 tsp green tea powder

2 tsp unflavored gelatin

2 Tbap water

Fresh raspberries, to garnish

Pour sugar into a food processor. Cover with a dish towel. (Sugar dust is very fine and can escape easily.) Whirl the sugar for a few minutes until superfine. Pour into a bowl and set aside. This step is important. Granulated sugar will taste grainy in this recipe.

Line the bottom of an 8-inch springform pan with parchment paper.  Place the cookies in a food processor and process to a fine crumb. Add melted butter and process until combined. Pour the cookies crumbs into the springform pan on top of the parchment paper. Use a flat bottom cup and press the crumbs into place. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Line the sides of the springform pan with parchment paper. Cut two strips about 4 inches wide and place them like a ring on top of the cookie crumbs. This will keep the cheesecake from sticking to the sides of the pan.

Whip the whip cream until peaks form and set in refrigerator until ready to use. In a separate bowl cream the cream cheese until fluffy. Add the superfine sugar until combined.

Pour the milk into a small saucepan and heat to a boil. Immediately remove from heat so it won’t scald. Add the green tea powder. Whisk until completely incorporated with no lumps. If lumps persist, use the back of spoon and smashed them against the side of the pan.

Mix the gelatin and water in a small bowl until dissolves. Whisk into the milk. Make sure the gelatin is liquid when adding to the milk. If not, microwave it for a few seconds. If it is not liquified, it will not incorporate into the milk. Pour milk mixture into the cream cheese mixture and blend. Set the bowl in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes until almost set. Fold in the whipped cream and pour into prepared springform pan. Chilled for 3 hours. When ready to serve, release the springform pan girdle and gently slide the cheesecake using the bottom parchment paper onto a plate.  Gently remove the parchment paper ring holding up the sides. Serve with raspberry sauce.

Raspberry Sauce

1 – 10 oz box of whole frozen raspberry in syrup thawed

Pour the contents of the box into a blender and blend until smooth. Pour through a fine mesh strainer to remove the seeds. Discard the seeds and refrigerate the sauce until ready to use.

About this column: A local cook gets adventurous in this column, bringing you a fun recipe that features an ingredient found at a local ethnic market.

Tea got a new ambassador, when former President of India, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam said that the brew can be the official drink of India on Tuesday.

Even as the chief minister of Assam, Tarun Gogoi declared tea as the State Drink, Kalam said that on the basis of the size of its consumers tea can be declared the national drink of India. Kalam was inaugurating the three-day World Tea Science Congress at Tocklai Experimental Station (TES), Jorhat, Assam.

Over 51% of India’s tea and 13% of global production comes from Assam. The tea industry in the state is a source of about five lakh permanent employment and five lakh seasonal workers. Another 10 lakh are dependent on it for employment and services.

Gogoi said that declaring tea as the state drink would help increase its value and promote Assam tea as a brand. “Moreover, my government will persist with its effort to secure the recognition of tea as our National Drink,” said Gogoi.

On the occasion Dr Kalam released a number of souvenirs, a documentary titled ‘Young at 100′ directed by Charukamal Hazarika, a tea table book titled, “Tocklai and Tea” and a tea soft drink at the function.

Giving his inaugural address and presenting a blueprint for the tea industry, Kalam proposed formation of tea cooperatives so as to address the problems of the small tea planters and their workers.

In order to boost the industry and give it a global edge the former President also stressed on diversification and development of value-added products such as medicinal tea, organic tea and flavoured tea.

Envisaging a leading role for TES in tea research and helping the tea industry develop a futuristic vision, Kalam suggested it to be named ‘Tocklai Research Centre.’

Kalam further advocated for genetically modified varieties of tea to protect the crops from pests, instead of use of chemical pesticides. He also said that a multi-dimensional research will help tea occupy the world market with its exotic products.

Promising state government’s support to the tea industry, Gogoi thanked Kalam for supporting the call to grant national drink status to the beverage. While urging the industry to follow the roadmap presented by Kalam, the chief minister said the industry need to diversify, prepare for the changing business environment worldwide, upgrade the skills of the workforce and carry out research on the impact of climatic changes on the tea industry.

Tea Research Association chairman D P Maheshwari said the organisation had acquired world class infrastructure for the station and formed a corpus fund of Rs 6 crore for setting up centenary chairs from the Rs 20-crore grant given by the centre to the organisation on Tocklai’s centenary.