Monday, March 31, 2008
Tea Business Survey
World Tea News has launced a new tea business survey to see how businesses across the nation measure up. The data will be compiled for tearooms to use and will include "regional and national averages for average check total per customer, margins, and prices for select teas each month." It seems like it could be a very useful tool if enough tearooms get involved. (Nudge, nudge!)
Friday, March 28, 2008
Tea Sale, New Organic Tea, and a New "Tea" from Crystal Light
A few quick notes on tea news for today:
Ito En is having a sale on their Dr. Andrew Weil for Tea line. If you haven't tried them, now is an especially good time to do so. The World Tea Expo previously awarded their ready to drink Darjeeling and Jasmine White teas. I also quite like their Turmeric Infusion, which is a natural anti-inflamitant traditionally drunk in Okinawa.
There's a new line of organic teas on the market. Cool. (FYI, this link will open as a pdf file.)
Crystal Light is releasing a new line flavors for water, several of which are tea-based. According to their press release, "Metabolism+ Peach Mango Green Tea contains a blend of natural green tea antioxidants and caffeine for a short-term boost in metabolism.... Red Tea Mandarin... has 55mg of Natural Rooibos Polyphenols (and) is the first herbal tea mix from Crystal Light." I'm sure it will be disgusting, but it is interesting to me that they are trying to make a comeback by touting tea.
Ito En is having a sale on their Dr. Andrew Weil for Tea line. If you haven't tried them, now is an especially good time to do so. The World Tea Expo previously awarded their ready to drink Darjeeling and Jasmine White teas. I also quite like their Turmeric Infusion, which is a natural anti-inflamitant traditionally drunk in Okinawa.
There's a new line of organic teas on the market. Cool. (FYI, this link will open as a pdf file.)
Crystal Light is releasing a new line flavors for water, several of which are tea-based. According to their press release, "Metabolism+ Peach Mango Green Tea contains a blend of natural green tea antioxidants and caffeine for a short-term boost in metabolism.... Red Tea Mandarin... has 55mg of Natural Rooibos Polyphenols (and) is the first herbal tea mix from Crystal Light." I'm sure it will be disgusting, but it is interesting to me that they are trying to make a comeback by touting tea.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Campaign for Little Britain
A recent trip to Tea & Sympathy tearoom in the West Village in NYC reminded me of the Campaign for Little Britain. Shops and residents in the West Village are trying to get official designation as NYC's "Little Britain" to support small businesses, recognize the area's traditions and identity, honor Tea & Sympathy (which has been there for almost 18 years), increase tourism, and more. <--pdf file, FYI.
A quote from the Campaign for Little Britain site:
"Tea & Sympathy, located on Greenwich Avenue between 12th and 13th Streets, is located at the heart of Little Britain. The owners, Nicky Perry and Sean Kavanagh-Dowsett, have dedicated the past fifteen years to creating a British community on Greenwich Avenue. Thirty million cups of tea, several thousand tons of chips served at A Salt & Battery next door, and seventeen Tea & Sympathy staff marriages later, we think it’s time to put Little Britain on the map of New York.
The couple is joined by Virgin Atlantic Airways, which flies over half a million people between New York City and the UK each year. New York is important to the history of the airline, which launched its inaugural flight in 1984 from London to New York, and has carried over 13 million travelers between the two cities since."
With deliciousness like this (and a surprizing number of vegan and veggie options for British food), how can you not support them?
Sign by May 2 to get your voice heard!
A quote from the Campaign for Little Britain site:
"Tea & Sympathy, located on Greenwich Avenue between 12th and 13th Streets, is located at the heart of Little Britain. The owners, Nicky Perry and Sean Kavanagh-Dowsett, have dedicated the past fifteen years to creating a British community on Greenwich Avenue. Thirty million cups of tea, several thousand tons of chips served at A Salt & Battery next door, and seventeen Tea & Sympathy staff marriages later, we think it’s time to put Little Britain on the map of New York.
The couple is joined by Virgin Atlantic Airways, which flies over half a million people between New York City and the UK each year. New York is important to the history of the airline, which launched its inaugural flight in 1984 from London to New York, and has carried over 13 million travelers between the two cities since."
With deliciousness like this (and a surprizing number of vegan and veggie options for British food), how can you not support them?
Sign by May 2 to get your voice heard!
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Drinking Tea, Eating Local
Yesterday I had a fantastic conversation with one of the co-founders of The Steeping Room (Austin, TX) about the importance of drinking tea and eating local. We agreed that tea is a marvelous healing herb and that trying to eat local (aside from tea) helps to build community and personal health, and to increase sustainability levels. Over the last ten years, I've found that the more tea I drink, the more I source my food from local areas. (It seems to be a major part of the foodie progresssion.) This year, I'm joining my first CSA (Community Supported Agriculture organization). Fresh, local vegetables for 26 weeks--what a way to stay healthy and offset my carbon footprint!
If you're in NYC and interested in CSAs, check out the CSA in NYC Conference this weekend.
If you're in NYC or Baltimore and interested in eating local, check out Local Fork. They're also building new online communities for local eaters in other areas, so if you're a leader in your community, you might consider working with them in your area.
The weather in NYC is divine today. I'm off to enjoy a nice bup of white tea to celebrate!
If you're in NYC and interested in CSAs, check out the CSA in NYC Conference this weekend.
If you're in NYC or Baltimore and interested in eating local, check out Local Fork. They're also building new online communities for local eaters in other areas, so if you're a leader in your community, you might consider working with them in your area.
The weather in NYC is divine today. I'm off to enjoy a nice bup of white tea to celebrate!
NYC Coffee & Tea Festival Interview and World Tea Expo Press
I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Lynda Calimano of The NYC Coffee & Tea Festival. Here's the full tea interview. Excerpt:
"We could have easily designed a show around either coffee or tea but found that there is a tremendous cross over between coffee and tea lovers. Sure, you have some purists that love either coffee or tea, but we’ve seen many sophisticated consumers who really appreciate the quality of specialty coffees and teas. We design the show, and its programming, to appeal to both."
Read more about the festival's history, this year's festivities, and Lynda's love of tea on VeeTea, or learn more about The Coffee & Tea Festival on their site. Don't forget that you can get half-price tickets by entering the promo code "VEETEA" at checkout!
Also, while I was away at SXSW enjoying music and tea, I received some mail of note. The World Tea Expo included my photo in their new press release. I'm the one in red. What a nice thing to come home to!
"We could have easily designed a show around either coffee or tea but found that there is a tremendous cross over between coffee and tea lovers. Sure, you have some purists that love either coffee or tea, but we’ve seen many sophisticated consumers who really appreciate the quality of specialty coffees and teas. We design the show, and its programming, to appeal to both."
Read more about the festival's history, this year's festivities, and Lynda's love of tea on VeeTea, or learn more about The Coffee & Tea Festival on their site. Don't forget that you can get half-price tickets by entering the promo code "VEETEA" at checkout!
Also, while I was away at SXSW enjoying music and tea, I received some mail of note. The World Tea Expo included my photo in their new press release. I'm the one in red. What a nice thing to come home to!
Monday, March 24, 2008
Adagio's Custom Blends
Adagio has announced a new option on their site: customer creation of custom blends. Returning customers can now place orders for their own blends of Adagio's teas. This seems like a very exciting idea for people who have developed a palate of flavored teas and want to experiment in that range, or for people who have a special occasion and want a themed tea to match. It reminds me of another cool beverage trend from about 8 years ago--Jones Soda's custom labels. Of course, the teas are much healthier. :)
Here's another cool online marketing trend I noticed recently: software that reads food product nutrition labels for its online shoppers. This is great for vegetarians (like me), people who have specific allergies, or people who follow other dietary restrictions (Halal, Kosher, etc.). Cool!
Here's another cool online marketing trend I noticed recently: software that reads food product nutrition labels for its online shoppers. This is great for vegetarians (like me), people who have specific allergies, or people who follow other dietary restrictions (Halal, Kosher, etc.). Cool!
Friday, March 21, 2008
American Airlines Serves Tea
American Airlines is testing new "food-for-sale" options on their flights. Until the end of this month, the testing includes Lipton Citrus Green RTD tea. Next month it will include vitaminwater and the month after it will include smartwater. (Funny how both companies decided to go all lower-case with their drink names.)
I flew on AA from NYC to Austin and back and I have to say that the food-for-sale program was not being actively promoted at all and, if it had been, I would have considered it to be even MORE of a joke. These were offerings like $3 for a cookie and $7 for a sandwich (with only one choice of type--turkey). The Lipton Citrus Green tea (NOT my favorite, to say the least) was also $3. Perhaps it wouldn't have bothered me so much had my booking not made such a point of asking me what type of meal I would prefer (Pure Vegetarian) in order for them to NOT serve any food besides overpriced meat, chips, cookies, and bad tea. Oh, well. It probably wouldn't have been quite as bad as the atrocious cuppa I was served on my Jet Air flight to San Francisco last year. I guess that sometimes you just really need some tea, no matter how bad it is. (For the record, I didn't finish the tea from Jet Air.)
I flew on AA from NYC to Austin and back and I have to say that the food-for-sale program was not being actively promoted at all and, if it had been, I would have considered it to be even MORE of a joke. These were offerings like $3 for a cookie and $7 for a sandwich (with only one choice of type--turkey). The Lipton Citrus Green tea (NOT my favorite, to say the least) was also $3. Perhaps it wouldn't have bothered me so much had my booking not made such a point of asking me what type of meal I would prefer (Pure Vegetarian) in order for them to NOT serve any food besides overpriced meat, chips, cookies, and bad tea. Oh, well. It probably wouldn't have been quite as bad as the atrocious cuppa I was served on my Jet Air flight to San Francisco last year. I guess that sometimes you just really need some tea, no matter how bad it is. (For the record, I didn't finish the tea from Jet Air.)
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