Tay Home Visit

My man and I recently had the pleasure of visiting Nini Ordoubadi and her fabulous tearoom, Tay Home, upstate. As much as we love NYC, it's wonderful to get away every now and then, especially if it happens to be somewhere both beautiful and tranquil. (Bonus points for lots of tea and changing leaves!) Here are some photos of our trip:



The leaves. Stunning! It was strange to see them go back from red, orange and brown to green on the return trip. Who would have thought that going to NYC would make one feel as though traveling back in time!











The view of changing leaves and pumpkins from Nini's charming (and gorgeously decorated) farmhouse.










Amazing heirloom tomatoes from Nini's garden. They are sweet, with no acidity.











Nini, the woman behind the beauty of Tay. She's drinking Better Than Sex, one of their most popular blends. Note the joss paper on the wall -- beautiful!







Checking out the single-note teas at Tay. (Those of you who know me but haven't seen me lately will notice that my hair has changed drastically. I'm going back to my natural hair color. It's more sustainable!)










More of Tay. Can you tell Nini's background is in interior design? She has a great eye, and has collected a wonderful array of items in her shop from beautiful handmade candles (some cast after a statue of Buddha) and soaps (I picked up the white jasmine soap) to vintage teapots to soapnuts (natural alternatives to laundry detergent) to handcrafted jewelry.


My man and I checking out Tay's line of blends. They specialize in rooibos, but also blend other botanicals, as well as black, green and oolong. On the right, you can see their cool sampler boxes. The tea tins are also very well designed.


Tasting teas with Nini. Yum! On the right are a few soon-to-be-introduced teas. More on them later!


Persian Rose, my personal favorite from Tay -- sweet and complex, with a phenomenal aroma.


Me just enjoying Tay and good company.

www.taytea.com

Nestea

Did you notice that Nestea revamped their teas? I guess all the RTD companies are improving tea quality now. Great news for America's growing population of tea-drinkers!

You can read more on Nestea's changes on Beverage Spectrum Magazine.


PS -- Today I'm starting classes at Urasenke Chanoyu. Exciting!!!

Tea Chest Bass

Did you know that there is a bluegrass tradition of making basses out of old tea chests? Yup. Here's a tea chest bass demo. Cool!

Bonus -- A tea chest bass cover of Daydream Believer.

England Goes Foodie, Tea Prices on the Rise?

England is following and surpassing the American trend of "going foodie." Acoording to a recent article on CNN, they are getting ahead of the American trend towards for organic, fair trade, and local: the British govenrment has even asked retailers to develop "eco-labels" that indicate the environmental impact of each product. The focus is much more on sustainability than on personal health. (It seems to me that most Americans are more interested in their own health than the planet's when it comes to organic food production.) The ethical treatment of animals (still a mojor taboo in the US, despite all of PETA's well-meaning efforts) has also gained some attention in the press on both sides of the issue.

I wonder how the foodie movement in one of the world's biggest tea-drinking nations will impact the tea market. Will more plantations and gardens go organic/biodynamic? Will packaging be altered to be more sustainable and will marketing begin to reflect the (in many cases, newfound) sustainability more? As tastes change in England, will the ubiquitous teabag be replaced more and more by loose leaf tea?

As for the prices, it is already predicted that tea prices will rise in 2008 due to civil unrest in Kenya. Of course, most tea production in Kenya is CTC at present, so it may not impact the prices of loose leaf. Perhaps a price increase in CTC black tea (Kenya's main tea product and England's favorite cuppa) will actually encourage a shift to loose leaf. We shall see!


EDITED TO ADD: A new article on the UK's efforts to make grocery stores more sustainable, ethical, and healthy. Yay!

World Tea Expo Forecast

The World Tea Expo is approaching fast. They have new programs lined up, including a New Business Boot Camp and an Executive & Technical Series. They will also continue to have the Exhibit Hall and the Core Conference Program, which I covered on the Vee Tea Blog last year (scroll down). Very exciting. Below are some of the Core Conference Seminars which I think will be highlights of the 2008 World Tea Expo.

Skill Building Workshop: Cupping
I think that everyone in the tea industry should have at least a basic working knowledge of cupping. If nothing else, it cultivates a fuller appreciation for the product.

2008 Tea Report
Tea trends of the past few years and tea forecasts for the upcoming one, all summed up in a neat little hour-long presentation. If you don't stay on top of the trends for yourself (which you should!), this is the "Cliff's Notes" way to try to stay on top of the game.

The Profound World of Pu-Erh
Pu-Erh is a misunderstood and under-represented tea in the West. I hope this seminar will help more tea professionals (and, in turn, their clients) understand this complex and sophisticated tea.

Tea Purchasing
Tea purchasing can be overwhelming for new tearoom owners. In fact, many of my clients come to me for consultation on this very matter. While a seminar can't provide much in the way of one-on-one time and customization, it may be a quick fix for sourcing woes.

Marketing Organic
Organic products are making up an increasingly large segment of sales revenue in many areas of the food and drink markets. This seminar addresses how to market organic teas effectively. This course would pair well with this is "Social Responsibility Panel Discussion."

Focused Tasting: Taiwan
This tasting is led by the renowned Jane Pettigrew. Need I say more?

Super Workshop: Tea and Chocolate Pairing
I attended last year's version of this seminar and it was pure fun. If you, like me, have a fairly well-developed palate and understand the concepts of pairing, then you probably won't gain much in the way of profound knowledge from this seminar. However, it is highly entertaining and also quite delicious.

Skill Building Workshop: Blending
This session addresses the art of tea blending, which is cool. I hope that next year, they also address the legality of blending, which is not so much cool as it is absolutely necessary for you to not get in loads of trouble for blending tea in your tearoom's back room.

Whole Body Tea Retailing
A few years ago, tea spa treatments were the hot new thing. Now, this trend is filtering down to the mainstream in the form of tea soaps, lotions, etc. This workshop addresses expanding your tea line to include tea body products.

Package Design for the Green Generation
Green packaging is huge (or, rather, tiny) in Europe. It seems that many American companies and designers have forgotten that bigger is not always better, and flashy and fast is not always the best way to win the race. However, this trend is changing, and not just in the local health food stores. More people are using totes for their groceries and noticing just how much they have to throw away to reach the product inside the packaing. This workshop seems like a good intro to sustainable packaging and its potential benefits to your brand.

How to Conduct a Successful Tea Tasting
I attended this workshop last year. It was so good, had to restrain myself from signing up again. The entire audience was so thrilled with the depth and breadth of information presented, as well as the clarity of the presenter. The question on everyone's lips afterward was, "When can we expect your book?" Even if you have held tastings before, this is a fantastic workshop to attend.

Tea and Meditation
I have the feeling this will be a hit or miss workshop with attendees. Personally, I think it will be amazing, but it all depends if you're into that kind of thing. If you are, check it out!

Super Workshop: The Way of Tea
This workshop is led by the Ura Senke Foundation. That alone is enough for me to give it the thumbs up.

Victorian Matrons, Fearless Flappers, and Chai-Sipping Executives: The History of American Tearooms
Despite the typical association of tearooms with the UK, the US also has a fascinating history of tearooms. Personally, I can't wait to attend this workshop.

Social Responsibility Panel Discussion
I think this seminar will be the most important one in the whole Expo. It will address key issues in the future of tea production which directly impact tea quality, not to mention quality of life on this planet. That aside, if you are looking for the dollar signs in your workshops, using marketing to highlight a socially responsibile aspect of your brand can be great for sales.

Social Media Marketing Strategies
Those around my age probably know a thing or two about this. Learn more. For those above their late twenties, welcome to the future. If you are at all interested in having a strong web presence, you should really take this course.


So, that's my forecast for the 2008 World Tea Expo. If you have anything to add, please drop a note in my blog!

Sustainability & Food Purchases

Lately, sustainability has become a much larger factor in food purchasing decisions. Organic, fair trade, biodynamic, low-waste/eco-friendly packaging, and local products are all receiving more and more attention from customers in their shopping habits. According to a recent survey "approximately 50 percent of U.S. consumers consider at least one sustainability factor in selecting consumer packaged goods (CPG) items and choosing where to shop for those products." That's quite a jump from ten years ago, when most people were just learning what organic produce even means. Possible implications for the tea world: more sustainable (reusable, recyclable, minimal, eco-friendly) packaging, more organic/biodynamic estates/gardens, more fair trade companies, and more local estates (which, sadly, goes along with global warming). Read more about the survey here. Have a good weekend!

Sustainability

Today, I've been thinking a lot about green tea. I don't mean green like "we have white, black, Oolong, pu-erh, and green tea on our menu," but green like sustainable. Sustainability is something I've been thinking about a lot in general ever since I was a kid. In fact, it's the primary reason I'm vegetarian. However, today the focus of my thoughts is on sustainability as it relates to tea.

This train of thought started when I read a magazine called Eco-structure, which is about ecologically sustainable architecture and building. The April issue had a focus on sustainability in the food and beverage industries. It talked about a wine vinter, a cafe in Brooklyn, and a beer brewer. There was no mention of tea.

Sustainability can be approached from several angles in the tea industry. The main ones I've been thinking about are the production, the packaging, and the consumer use.

Tea production goes all the way from planting to just before packaging. There are a lot of steps involved and many of them could be more sustainable than they are at present.

The most obvious potential for change is the growing of tea. Some companies are making huge steps with this. The leader in the field (no pun intended) is Makaibari Estates. It's a biodynamic (step beyond organic) tea estate with over 1575 acres of land, two-thirds of which are kept as towering six-tier tropical rainforests and temperate forests. They use a holistic approach in an array of aspect of their farming, from composting and bio-fuel production/use, to integrated forest management and organic practices like replacing pesticides with natural pest predators.

There's also the complex issue of what to do with production by-products. (These include tea stalks and stems, dead plants, and other organic waste.) I know that Ito En uses its tea by-products to manufacture things like pens, which are, in turn, used to promote their business. Clever. There has been discussion of using tea-production by-products as mulch for mushrooms in China, which would be profitable and sustainable. I'm sure more companies are doing things like this. If you know of one, please let me know!

As for packaging, I’ll start with an idea of how bad can get. When I worked at Takashimaya, a two-ounce tea purchase meant a small plastic bag, a piece of tape, a paper bag, a sticker, a brad, a brewing instruction card, an excessively large shopping bag, and a large sheet of tissue paper. That's assuming the customer didn't want it gift-wrapped.

What can be done about this? Producers can choose to use recycled post-consumer waste for their packaging materials (like Numi), use minimal packaging, sell in bulk (like Rishi), or sell loose-leaf teas (which, unlike bagged teas, promote reusable brewing methods). Consumers can choose to buy from companies that engage in these practices, reuse the packaging they receive, or request less packaging. Small differences, yes, but differences nonetheless.

Then there's the issue of consumer use. This one is easiest for the "little people" in the tea world (even if you're a big fish in your own pond!). I like to view each dollar I spend as a vote. In spending money, I am implicitly endorsing the companies and products I spend it on. (Sure, McDonalds has a veggie burger, but they also cause massive rainforest destruction, so I don't buy from them.) As a consumer, you are empowered with the freedom of choice. Below are a few of my choices as a tea consumer and ideas that might work well for you, even if they don't for me. (Composting wouldn't go over so well in my apartment building!)

Buy teas with minimal/recycled packaging
Buy organic/biodynamic teas
Brew multiple infusions from each batch of tealeaves (unless you just really want the caffeine)
Use a reusable brewing method (like a tea strainer or a teapot instead of teabags or disposable tea socks)
Use the tealeaves for other things when you're done brewing them
Compost your tealeaves when you're done using them
Don't buy more tea than you need, or, if you do, give the extra to someone who will use it

If you have any other ideas for sustainability from a consumer standpoint or have any thoughts to add about tea and sustainability in general, please share them!