Tea in Film

I recently asked my Twitter peeps about their favorite movie scenes involving tea. Here are their responses:

Winnie at Teance said, "the scene in Fearless with Jet Li before the fight is good."

HonestTea said, "The Mad Hatter's tea party from AliceinWonderland!"

JeeJuno said, "Karen and Felicity drink tea in a scene from Out of Africa, not a grand scene, but a GRAND movie!!"

dcbuck said, "The only scene I can even think of is the bit from the second Karate Kid movie just before the very dramatic storm sets in."

Also, thetearooms linked this segment on tea at Harrods. (I visited Harrods' tea department when I was in London. Fantastic!) The film clip includes an amusing (and very dated) segment on how to brew tea with a teabag. YouTube kindly led me to this old film how to brew tea with information that's (mostly) still relevant today. (I love the use of the words "tea juice" throughout...)

What's your favorite movie scene involving tea? Seen any interesting old tea films lately?

Random Fun Links, Part Two

Here are a few more random, fun and vaguely tea-related links. Enjoy!

Hot Tea/"Hottie" T-Shirt (Fans of Arrested Development may remember Lucille making the same pun about, ahem, Buster's Dad. *Queue music*)

Broken English Tea Packaging... Winning.

Top Tea Cocktail on LA Weekly

Jeremiah Weed Sweet Tea (This stuff got me into trouble when I got a round of it -- and won a t-shirt and hat -- at my local music trivia night last week. It's dangerous! Here are some Vee Tea tea cocktails, in case you want to make your own dangerous tea-based beverages.)

This tea steeps in your mouth. I'm kind of horrified.

Of Montreal's Id Engager has a teapot (among many other things. Can you find it?

Join the Tea-V Set. Join the Vee Tea Set!

Pots de Creme with Matcha Stars Yum!

Have a link to add? Post it below or email it to me at VEE _at_ VEETEA _dot_ COM.

Web Two Point What? (Part Two)

The Expo was awesome! More on that later...

You may remember that I wrote about using the Internet as a marketing tool for your tea business a while back. Well, here's tea & the Internet, part two. It talks about social networking, photo, video and other means of using the internet to market your tea company, and has a few notes on web culture. Here's an excerpt on sources' web marketing ideas that were not covered in detail:

*Imbed Web 2.0 tools like Digg and StumbleUpon into your site.

*Offer RSS feeds on specific topics, such as green tea.

*Include real-time reviews on your site.

*Respond to reviews on sites like Yelp and Citysearch. (Jacobs politely responds to every Yelp reviewer with a coupon, which he said increases loyalty and causes 80 percent of the negative reviewers reverse their reviews.)

*Launch specific, targeted, unique Google Adwords campaigns. (Lawrence went from all organic traffic to 75 percent search engine traffic after doing this.)

*Encourage viral marketing.

*Post on community message boards, related informational sites and blogs to increase backlinks.


Most of the rest of the article goes into much more detail. It's been getting some retweets, so I'm guessing that means it's useful. :) Check it out on World Tea News.

I'll post about the Expo next week, when I'm a little more caught up on things. In the meantime, I'll just say that it was fantastic connecting with so many tea people!!!

Random Fun Links, Part One?

None of these warrant a full post on their own, so I bring you: RANDOM FUN LINKS

This is probably part one in an ongoing series of me being too lazy to write cohesive blog posts because I'm too busy writing even less cohesive articles and copy. (I hope I'm kidding about that last part, but too busy to know for sure!)

This book is awesome. Read it.

Good Magazine says tea is more sustainable than coffee. Rad.

I officially declare this the cutest tea packaging of all time.

Bryan Stafford gets added to the World Tea News blogger list. Welcome!

Samovar on How to Get Into Tea. Forward it to the uninitiated.

The World Tea Expo is NEXT WEEK. I'll be there. Will you?

This message was brought to you by...
a giant tea cozy.

Enjoy your tea!

New Article: Tea & the Internet

I have a new article out on using the Internet as a marketing tool for your tea business. Excerpt:

Twitter is sometimes referred to as “micro-blogging” because it has informal, blog-like content and a 140-character maximum. For each tweet (Twitter message), Jacobs said, he averages less than 10 minutes of writing and more than $500 in revenue.

Cason launched a Twitter campaign in March to reach 10,000 followers (readers) by April 1. Although he failed in the goal, he did generate publicity and reached 1,100 followers – enough to temporarily crash his site when he tweeted a 40 percent off sale.

“The best thing about Twitter is you get to follow who you want,” Cason said, “so you know that everyone who is receiving your tweets wants to know what you have to say. All you have to worry about is telling them what they want to hear.”

Dake recommended Twitter over other social media, video and blogging, explaining that it’s efficient, easy, free and effective for immediate connections with people. At the recent SXSW festival in Austin, TX, he used Twitter for a Tweet Up (get-together) where he gave away Mighty Leaf. He said it generated word-of-mouth publicity that lasted weeks after the event.

Sources gave these tips for using Twitter:

*Put content before sales.
*Keep posts educational, casual, unique and personable.
*Give it a face, but don’t make it overly personal.
*Follow Twitterers in related areas.
*Tweet often.


You can read the full story on World Tea News. Enjoy!

VeeTea on Twitter/New Tea Article

I finally did it. I joined Twitter. You can Tweet me and/or follow me here.

Also, I have a new article out on WTN: Which Medium for Your (Tea) Message? Oh, and I had a new one out last week that I never posted about: Sales Tactics That Move Inventory. Oh, and one more from two weeks ago... Puer Market Crash Creates Opportunity. It seems I forgot that this is why I should be posting daily!

Resolution

My New Year's resolution? Drink more tea! A lot of people seem to agree, as evidenced by a recent tea article on Reader's Digest that made the top ten list on digg.

Side notes:

"Bag it." I wonder if, when they say tea from bags had the highest antioxidant content in Consumer Reports' testing, they meant compared to bottled and instant. I think that must be the case, as full-leaf tea is higher. What do you think?

"Dunk the bag." Yes, or the brew basket. But don't squeeze the bag! It only makes your tea bitter (ah, tannins).

"Brew a batch." Did you know that antioxidants are lost as tea sits out? Brewing it means it's much fresher than, say, bottled tea, but letting it sit in your fridge kind of defeats the purpose if you're trying for antioxidants, especially if it's not in a sealed container (like bottled tea is).

Sale

Urbana Teas and Tonics is having a 15% off sale for first-time online buyers. Just enter the promo code "URB6853" during checkout for the discount.

Those of you who know me or have been reading my blog for a while probably know that I used to be the teabar manager there, and that a large part of my passion for tea grew out of drinking it regularly at their South Charlotte location. My favorites? Darjeeling 2nd Flush Muscatel from Makaibari (where I had the pleasure of visiting last year), Vanilla Cream (I rarely like flavored teas, but this one is fantastic!), Strawberry-Pepper/Unity (complex, piquant tisanes), Kukicha (a very creamy one...) and Spicy Ginger Yerba Mate (with emphasis on the spicy!). If you try them, let me know what you think!

Tea A Magazine Goes Digital

Exciting news for you internet addicts and eco-conscious readers out there. Tea A Magazine went digital! Those who prefer print can still get their paper issues through their website. Otherwise, let's welcome Tea a Magazine to the digital world!

SNL "Tea Break"

Saturday Night Live recently had a skit about an "Extreme Activities Competition," during which two contestants battled in tasks like balancing a hat on his/her head and pinning a chair down by sitting on it. Of course, this is humorous because there are so many absurd "extreme" shows out there, and this skit is pitting people against each other in activities like "acting casual." In the middle of the competition, they take a tea break. To me, this says a lot about tea in American culture. It's the antithesis of the extreme sport lifestyle, a way to relax and notice the everyday things, like acting casual and even walking. The obvious internet counterpoint to this is Powerthirst: Energy Drinks for People Who Need Gratuitous Amounts of Energy. Why do you need to win at yelling, anyway? Win at contemplation, or happiness, or observation. Win at TEA.

Teapot Condom

This is the weirdest "teapot" (and the weirdest condom) I've ever seen. Just... wow. You can find more rubbery weirdness here, if you dare. Happy Labor Day! (Maybe I should have saved this for Halloween!)

Green Tea Girlie

So, I was doing some research for the series I've been working on for World Tea News about tea and sugar, and I happened upon the strangest thing. There's this YouTube weirdness from a woman calling herself Green Tea Girlie. Have you heard of it? Very weird... She does silly dances, tells rambling stories and tries to sell green tea/fruit powder. Most of them appear to be dances, but here's an especially weird video: The Going Green Song.
She's also referenced on a rather amusing (but very long) cooking show parody about baking green tea cookies in a trailer park (which is the first time I heard of her and just HAD to look her up). Ah, YouTube.

Nuclear Tea Shortage, Heavy Metal Tea

Here are two tea news oddities I recently stumbled across:

British Feared Nuclear Tea Shortage

Egyptian Tea Contained Heavy Metal

How odd! Have you seen any weird tea stories out there on the internet lately? If so, please link them!

Tea Videos

First, tea companies got websites. Then, some took the extra step and started blogs or forums. Now, the big thing is video. From YouTube's many flowering tea vids and ceremony demos to Twinings' and Dr. Tea's video posts and even various organizations' tea video competitions, tea videos are hot. As someone with a video editing background (I edited videos and animations through high school and college), I can't say I'm disappointed! Though it's not new, video is an exciting and vibrant medium. You can convey huge amounts of information quickly while keeping it easy (and even fun) to understand. I'm glad to say that I'll be taking a new step in the tea video world soon. I've been interviewed by the local TV news as a "tea expert" and I've worked with a professional video editor to make a video of my footage from India for an Indian tea tasting event, but this week I'm writing and narrating a tea video for Urbana Cityspa & Teabar to post on Citysearch. Fun! It seems that most tearooms have so much to share and simply lack the means to get it out there. I hope to work with other tearooms on similar projects in the near future--let's get those stories and unique features out there!

07/02/08--Update!
Oregon Chai has announced a new video contest. Here's how to compete for Digital Nirvana.

Tea-Shirt

A few months back, I saw this "tea"-shirt on Cafe Press. Cool! However, I wish they had an "I Love My Nerdy Tea Chick" shirt as well. There are enough of us around with people who love us to warrant it.

Tea Scholarship

The Tea Council of the USA has launched their second annual "Calm-A-Sutra of Tea" national scholarship competition. They are asking for submissions of 1-2 minute videos that portray a creative/unique way of drinking tea and highlight at least one of tea's many health benefits. The winner will receive a $20,000 scholarship (and have tea and go on the news with some celebrity I've never heard of before). Here's last year's winning tea video. Learn more on The Tea Council's site.

PS--Here's another tea video submission that didn't win last year, but I thought it was cute. Check it out!

Record-Setting Tea Party

Clearly, I am on a "post all the old drafts" kick with my blog as of late. Soon, I'll be back to more of the regular blogging style. In the meantime, here's an odd story I've been meaning to post for a while: The world's largest tea party! Excerpt:

As more than 30,000 people on Sunday (February 24, 2008) raised their designer cups and took a sip of tea, Indore city of Madhya Pradesh set a new record for hosting the largest tea party.

Citizens responded with enthusiasm to the novel event and started arriving at a stadium, the venue for the function, well ahead of the scheduled time of 3.30 p.m. and within an hour all seats were taken.


Cool! It broke the previous record, which was 14,718 people in Nishiao, Japan in 2006. Read more on the world's largest tea party on Sify News.

Food Blogs, Tea Blogs

The Associated Press recently released an article industry trends with food blogs. The trend of sending merchandise to food bloggers has become very popular amongst major food companies. "Courting one blog with a couple of thousand daily readers may not have a huge impact, but marketers can easily reach several such blogs with little effort, said Debbie Weil, a corporate blogging consultant based in Washington, D.C."

The same trend can be seen on many tea blogs across the net. So far, it is mostly limited to tea samples, however, some companies are now sending out teaware and other tea-related merchandise. In this era of splitering media and a return to tribalism (in terms of ideas and information) through new media, I think that this shift in corporations' (and smaller companies'!) attitudes toward marketing reflects a significant change in how information is disseminated and received. After all, how many people still buy a particular tea or tea product because they saw an ad for it? And how many people buy a tea or product because someone whose opinion they respect raved about it?

Lately, a lot of tea companies have been starting their own blogs. This is due to blogging's overall rise in popularity, but I'm sure the recent New York Times article on business blogging didn't hurt. I've been lucky enough to work with a few companies as a tea blogging consultant, and I have to say that it is a very exciting trend in the tea world! It personalizes the companies for the clients, and it ensures that clients will check back regularly for new products, events, and other updates. Just as the NYT article says, it can be a major marketing tool at a low cost to even small businesses. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next, and to being a part of it!

Woman Jailed for Worshipping Teapot

A woman in Malaysia was recently jailed for worshiping a teapot.

"For the eccentric sect, which emphasised ecumenical dialogue between religions, the tea pot symbolized the purity of water and 'love pouring from heaven.' But in Malaysia, despite constitutional guarantees of freedom of worship, born Muslims such as Mrs Ali are forbidden from converting to other religions."

In other random news, I leave for Austin, TX tomorrow for the annual insanity that is South by Southwest. When I'm not listening to the incredible array of music, I'll be interviewing local tea people and checking out some tearooms. My posts this week will cover the music and the tea, so all you indie rocker tea fans should check back often!

A Watched Pot...

Apparently a watched pot (or kettle, as the case may be) DOES boil... at least when it's a digital simulation intended for entertainment and increased sales. Wait a few seconds and enjoy the show.