Nutritional Iced Tea For Women

(from a press release)

First Iced Tea For Women

Two San Francisco Bay Area brands - The Republic of Tea and LUNA - collaborate to create the first line of organic bottled Nutritional Iced Tea For Women.

Nutritional Iced Tea For Women is brewed from the finest organic tea, has just 50 calories per 12-ounce bottle, is made with 70 percent organic ingredients and is all natural (no preservatives). It includes many of the essential nutrients women need everyday for overall health and wellness including folate, calcium and vitamin D, together with the reported values of tea itself.

Nutritional Iced Teas for Women includes the finest organic black, green, white, red and decaf black teas, expertly blended with vitamins, minerals and a touch of organic evaporated cane juice and comes in five original ready-to-drink flavors: Ginger Currant Black Tea, Lemon Blueberry Decaf Black Tea, Kiwi Strawberry Green Tea, Mandarin Orange White Tea and naturally-caffeine-free Cherry Vanilla Red Tea. Available March 5, 2007, Nutritional Iced Tea For Women has a suggested retail price of $2.99 per 12 fluid-ounce bottle.

The ideal complement to Nutritional Iced Tea For Women is a line of LUNA Tea Cakes, also made with The Republic of Tea’s collection of premium teas and herbs. They are available in three delicious varieties: Vanilla Macadamia for mood balance, Orange Blossom for healthy skin and Berry Pomegranate for longevity.

Republic of Tea

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Starbucks Invades India

Okay, maybe "invade" is a bit of an exaggeration. Starbucks hasn't done anything in India yet, but a recent AFP report indicates that they're planning a foray into this great tea-drinking nation by the end of 2007. As you may recall, we recently wrote about Starbucks' activities in another nation of tea lovers - the United Kingdom.

According to the AFP report, Indians currently consume ten times as much tea as coffee. In China, where Starbucks has also gotten a foothold, the chain currently operates nearly 200 outlets. Of course, keeping in mind that China has more than a billion inhabitants helps to put a number like that in perspective.

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Book Review - Tea, by Lydia Gautier

Tea: Aromas and Flavors Around the World
by Lydia Gautier
Reviewed by William I. Lengeman III

It would be a bit of a stretch to call Lydia Gautier's Tea the ultimate book on the topic. But in less than 200 pages she and photographer Jean-Francois Maliet have managed to put together an entertaining, informative, and lavishly illustrated overview of a very expansive subject.

Read more at Epicurean.com

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Japanese Tea

Japanese tea, invariably served without milk or sugar, which wouild be harmful to its armona, is the most mellow, most agreeable drink that one could be given to taste...Gyokuro, for example, which is the most highly regarded tea in Uji and throughout Japan, instills into its flavor such balsamic subtleties that it more resembles a perfume; it is as if some marvelous alchemy has suceeded in ilquefying the aromas of flowers - garden flowers, wild flowers - transferring the pleasure of smell to that of taste. Such is Gyokuro.
(Wenceslau de Morales, The Cult of Tea - referenced in Tea, by Lydia Gautier)

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Lu Yu On Water

Water from the mountains is the best, then river water, and finally well water...Water from slow-running streams, lakes with stony beds, or milk-white springs is the best mountain water."
(Lu Yu - referenced in Tea, by Lydia Gautier)

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Lu Yu On Tea

When tea has a delicate perfume, it is called chia. If it is less fragrant and has a bitter, strong taste, it is called ch'uan. If it is bitter or strong in the mouth but sweet when swallowed, it is called ch'a.
(Lu Yu - referenced in Tea, by Lydia Gautier)

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Yerba Mate Ale & T Bars

Can't decide whether to have yerba mate or beer? You're in luck. As we mentioned before, Mateveza Yerba Maté Ale is a new product that combines both. The product and its creator were profiled recently at SFist.

If we're to believe the gang at Food Processing magazine, T Bar Green Tea Nutrition Bars are nothing to write home about. The vegan-friendly bars are available in three flavors — Green Tea, Natural Rice and Tropical Fruit - but the reviewers tasked with evaluating them were quite unimpressed.

How unimpressed? How about "I once ate a paperback novel that tasted like this.” Now, that's not very nice, is it?

Image: Tzu The

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New Tea Books For 2007

Here are a few tea books to watch out for this year, including one that's already on the shelves.

Liquid Jade: The Story of Tea from East to West
by Beatrice Hohenegger
St. Martin's Press (January 9, 2007)

Dragonwell Dead (Tea Shop Mysteries)
by Laura Childs
Berkley Hardcover (March 6, 2007)

The Biography of Tea (Juvenile)
by Carrie Gleason
Crabtree Publishing Company (March 30, 2007)

Tea Party: 20 Themed Tea Parties with Recipes for Every Occasion, from Fabulous Showers to Intimate Gatherings
by Tracy Stern & Christie Matheson
Clarkson Potter (April 24, 2007)

Tea: The Drink That Changed the World
by Laura C. Martin
Tuttle Publishing (May 15, 2007)

Tea Bliss: Infuse Your Life With Health, Wisdom, and Contentment
by Theresa Cheung
Conari Press (August 2007)

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Gnat's Piss & Siberian Colt Tea

Here's an interesting entry from Food Banter's tea forum about an unusual Siberian brewing method called "zherebchik." I have to confess that I'd never heard of it before.

While we're on the subject of unusual tea and whatnot, here's a recipe, from Australia's Taste magazine, for Barley Tea.

Here's a piece from a quite opinionated British bloke who asserts that Americans haven't got a clue when it comes to making a proper cup of tea. Perhaps he's got a point, though I'd like to think we're improving. In any event, he makes his points in such an entertaining manner that it's worth a read, regardless of where you stand on the issue. Gnat's piss, indeed.

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Yerba Mate Beer & More

It seems that yerba mate is all the rage these days. So it was probably only a matter of time before someone came up with yerba mate beer. That someone would be Butte Creek Brewing Company, who, in concert with Mateveza USA, have devised a brew called Mateveza Yerba Mate Ale.

As the manufacturer puts it, Mateveza Yerba Mate Ale is "an organic, naturally caffeinated pale ale brewed with yerba mate, the ancient tea from South America."

Butte Creek Brewing Company is based in Chico, California. Mateveza Yerba Mate Ale will be available initially on draft and in 22-ounce bottles throughout California and Oregon. Retailers will include Whole Foods, Wild Oats, and more.

The Web site is here, though it looks kind of sparse at the moment.

In other yerba mate news, be sure to check out the new Happy Gaucho site. It's a production of the gang over at Natural Latitudes, who got me started on "proper" yerba mate consumption.

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Daltrey's Kombucha Tea & More

I'm not sure what retirement age is on Roger Daltrey's side of the Atlantic, but here in the United States it's 65 and he's closing in on it fast. The Daily Mirror reported recently that the 62-year-old singer for the Who swills kombucha tea to keep himself going at this sort of advanced age.

I have to say that the notion of instant Darjeeling tea is not one that makes me want to jump up and cheer. But we all like what we like. The Hindustan Times reports on the Indian Institute of Technology's progress in devising such a concoction. More here.

Do you take your tea with sugar? According to a poll conducted by teadog.com, 69% of tea-drinking Americans use something to sweeten their tea. For the full lowdown, check out this press release.

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