Xtreme Tea Drinking Competition

Did you know that Stoke-on-Trent was the World Capital of Ceramics? Me neither. To draw attention to this fact the Stoke-on-Trent Tourism people are sponsoring an Xtreme Tea Drinking competition.

As they put it, "Send us a photograph of you drinking your cup of tea out of a Stoke-on-Trent mug in somewhere unusual. Maybe you will be up a mountain, having a picnic in a desert, on a bungee jump, at a summer festival, enjoying time at your favourite place... the possibilities are endless! The more unusual the better!"

For more info, including a list of prizes, go to the competition web site.

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Extreme Tea Drinking

Gives a whole new dimension to the phrase high tea.



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James Norwood Pratt Muses On Tea

If you know anything about tea then chances are you learned some of it from James Norwood Pratt, who has been writing about fine teas for several decades now - long before most people knew that such a thing existed. At The Atlantic recently, Pratt reminisced on how tea fit into his life and how he evolved from being a wine writer to one of the more prominent experts in the world of tea. Read all about it here.

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Spirit of Yixing Tea Ware Exhibit

Ah Leon: “Memories of Elementary School” and the Spirit of Yixing Tea Ware
(from a press release)

Pomona, CA, AMOCA presents Ah Leon: ‘Memories of Elementary School” and the Spirit of Yixing Tea Ware, on exhibit from July 10 through September 25, 2010.

AMOCA presents Ah Leon, an international contemporary artist from Taiwan who merges Chinese Yixing traditions with his signature wood-textured trompe l’oeil style to form illusionistic installations. Originally trained as a painter at the National Academy of Fine Art in Taipei, Ah Leon became a master of the traditional Yixing style teapot; hand-built and unglazed in the prized purple clay stoneware from the southern part of Jiangsu Province in East China, where Chinese teapot production began in the Song Dynasty (960-1279 CE).

Ah Leon is well known for his installation of the Bridge, his most famous 68-foot handmade clay structure. His latest work on exhibit at AMOCA is titled, Memories of Elementary School, an installation of dilapidated school desks with his wood-like stoneware technique. Inspired by rustic Taiwanese wooden furniture, Ah Leon comments that “wood, much like clay itself, tells many stories like an ancient footprint.” Ah Leon’s installation emphasizes the surrealism of what it’s like to return to the past with an adult perspective. The desks personify the friends of his past; people from his home who have come back for reunion after 30 or 40 years to find the desks have aged or bear the same marks as those who once occupied them.

The Spirit of Yixing Tea Ware is part two of the exhibition displaying 100 Yixing teapots from the 18th century to the present. Some of these unglazed teapots were made to look like gourds, eggplant, or bamboo, and many have fanciful spouts and handles, often shaped to resemble dragons, frogs, or other transformative creatures. Interwoven with the ceramic teapots is the historic significance of tea culture, trade, and symbolism. These traditional variations are juxtaposed against the work of Richard Notkin, another contemporary ceramic artist known for his series of unglazed stoneware teapots which are reminiscent of Yixing wares circa 1500 AD to the present.

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Drink Tea...Get a Job!

The Tea Council of the USA "Sip of Success" Dream Job Contest Offers Work Experience and Global Adventure to One Lucky College Graduate
(from a press release)

Almost two million college graduates are unemployed and a recent survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers predicts companies will hire 22% fewer graduating seniors than they did last year. The Tea Council of the USA, Inc. is doing its share to help struggling college grads navigate the brutal job market. Its "Sip of Success" contest offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a recent grad to prepare for a great career and experience a unique and thrilling adventure on tea plantations in India, Sri Lanka, Kenya and the USA. College grads can create a two-minute video showing their passion for tea and knowledge of its many health benefits, for a chance to win this exciting prize.

This year's partners will include The Tea Board and the Tea Research Association of India, The Tea Board and the Tea Research Institute of Sri Lanka, as well as The Tea Board and the Tea Research Foundation of Kenya. The winner will intern in all three host countries, as well as in the US.

One lucky college graduate will embark on the international internship mid-October of this year, with a tea tour of Darjeeling and Assam, India, the second largest global tea producer following China. The winner will remain in Assam to begin a 6-week intensive training program, after which he or she will travel to Sri Lanka for another leg of the internship, and then on to Kenya for the final week, returning to the US in late December, 2010. Sri Lanka and Kenya are the world's two leading tea exporters.

To top off the experience, in early January, 2011, the winner will participate in the US portion of the Dream Job internship at SalonTea, under the tutelage of nationally known tea entrepreneur Tracy Stern.

more

Image: Tea Council of the USA

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Tea Gadget Report 1

There never seems to be a shortage of tea gadgets. Here are a few we've run across lately:

Take the Breville One-Touch Tea Maker, for instance, another of those gadgets that falls into the Fancy Hi-Falutin' Almost Automatic Teamaker category. It's been getting a lot of press lately, including this brief overview from one of the gadget sites and reviews from the Teaviews site and Cnet.

From Treehugger, a report on the Kug, which "is a Travel Mug and Tea Kettle In One." I didn't know we had the technology to do that but apparently we do.

Speaking of tea makers, here's an interesting take on the Teawakers that are (or were?) so popular with the British. It's an Alarm Clock Tea Maker.

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Taragui Yerba Mate Commercial

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Tea House Launches Virtual Tea Bar

California Tea House Launches A Virtual Tea Bar
(from a press release)

Patrons can now lounge about California Tea House by uploading their personalized avatars, socializing live with fellow tea drinking enthusiasts and divulging in earthly conversations, all while earning Tea Token rewards for interactions, feedback and purchases. The Tea Token rewards program allows participants to redeem their earned Tea Tokens to purchase tea at the online tea store.

Visitors can also navigate throughout the site while jamming to original, lounge-style music, akin to a local cafe's "open-mic" night. They can even tip their favorite artists with Tea Tokens to show their appreciation.

A few more features of interest: job-seekers can check the site's "Opportunities" bulletin for openings at coffee and tea shops in a variety of positions around the nation; health buffs can read about the scientific links between individual types of tea and health; gypsys' can learn about and exchange various home remedies utilizing tea.

more

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Loose Tea Company Wins Award For Tea Infuser

Loose Tea Company Wins “Best Innovation” Award for Patent-Pending To-Go Tea Infuser
(from a press release)

The Tea Spot, Inc. has received a US Patent Pending for their new ecosteep tea infuser, being introduced this week at the World Tea Expo, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The ecosteep® won “Best New Product” in the Innovation category of the 2010 World Tea Expo’s New Product Awards.

Ecosteep, the newest Steepware innovation in tea accessories by The Tea Spot, is the sustainable alternative to the tea bag for carry-out loose tea service. This bio-based loose-leaf tea infuser fits in standard to-go cups and allows tea leaves ample room to steep to their full volume, flavor, and aroma potential. Ecosteep® is made with renewable, non-GMO, plant-based material and is compostable.

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Exotic Frogs Thrive In Redbush Tea

You can't make up stuff this good. You really can't. If you were looking for a new use for South African rooibos, an herbal beverage that's popular for drinking and for use in cosmetics, you've got it.

Apparently some "amphibian keepers" in England have determined that the "fungus-beating antioxidants" in rooibos made it ideal for raising exotic frogs. It's all detailed in this article - Exotic Frogs Reared In Redbush Tea In Gloucestershire.

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Innovance LLC Introduces New Coffee Cherry Herbal Tea

Innovance LLC Introduces New Coffee Cherry Herbal Tea, Double the Antioxidants, Healthier Than Green Tea
(from a press release)

Innovance LLC has launched New Kona Coffee Cherry Herbal Tea, The company indicates that it adds a unique new fruity cherry herbal aroma and taste option to the tea market.

Innovance indicates that it is rich in antioxidants. Columbia Phyto Technology, LLC test results prove that its ORAC value is twice that of Green Tea.

According to studies of animals and human blood at the Agricultural Research Service's Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts in Boston high ORAC foods possess the power to slow down or prevent detrimental changes to the body and brain caused by aging and illness.

They indicate that Coffee Fruit has an extraordinary high level of polyphenols (anti-oxidants) with protective benefits to help consumers prevent disease, resist sun damage and delay aging (by neutralizing free radicals).

To create their New Kona Coffee Cherry Herbal Tea, Innovance utilizes the Coffee Tree Fruit and separates it from the coffee beans inside. Their natural process enables them to capture all the special aroma, flavor, and healthful benefits of the Kona Coffee Cherries. They say it is suitable for iced or hot herbal tea beverages.

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Tea Review 110 - Mate Factor Yerba Mate

Mate Factor

Yerba mate can be an acquired taste. I've managed to acquire it and I like it quite a bit, thank you. What I don't care for quite as much (same goes for tea) are most of the flavored varieties of yerba mate on the market. Of course, if you don't care for the taste of mate straight up you might prefer one of these.

In either case, the gang at Mate Factor should have something that fits the bill for you. I don't recall hearing of them (though they've been around since 2003) before they approached me about reviewing their stuff, but with a great line of straight mate and a variety of flavored ones, all of it wrapped up in nice eye-catching packaging, they seem poised to take on that other yerba mate company, the one that seems to be the 800-pound gorilla of mate selling in these here United States.

I didn't much care for MF's flavored products, but don't let that steer you away. As noted above, I simply don't care much for any flavored tea, mate, rooibos and so forth. I sampled their Organic Dark Roast, which was a bit robust for my tastes. Converts from coffee drinking or fans of strong black tea will probably go for this one.

Other flavored varieties on the menu, Organic Mocha Mint and Organic Chai, Lemon Ginger and Hibiscus Lime. Oddly enough, it's this last one that I found most appealing. Oddly, I sez, since I usually don't care that much for hibiscus.

For me, the best of the samples that Mate Facto provided was their organic fresh green variety, which comes in a traditional "loose-leaf" variety or in tea bags. Good stuff.

Samples provided by Mate Factor
TGS Review Policies

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Tea Map & Quotations

A few miscellaneous things to pass along on this Sunday afternoon.

From the Guardian, check out "McDonald Gill's publicity poster for the Tea Market Expansion Board," which was put out during World War II. Alas, though you can enlarge the photo it's not quite large enough to get a proper glimpse.

From the UK Tea Council, a modest Compendium of Tea Quotations.

Image: UK Tea Council

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Worst Bottled Tea

What's the worst bottled tea? Tough choice, that one, given that there are so many to choose from. In 20 Worst Drinks in America 2010, a recent Eat This, Not That feature at Men's Health, they awarded this booby prize to SoBe, which boasts a whopping 61 grams of sugar in one 20-ounce bottle. Praise the Lord and pass the insulin.

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Win A Green Tea Refrigerator

For the tea lover who has everything - it's the Green Tea refrigerator. And what might that be, you ask? Excellent question. Apparently the fridge makers at Amana decided to whip one up that is designed with "a calming shade of metallic green with leaf etching." Aside from the design, there does not appear to be any other connection to green tea.

If you'd like one of these for your very own but you don't want to put forth the cash, head over to Amana's Facebook page and enter to win one. Read more about the Green Tea refrigerator in this press release.

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