Westward Bound... to EXPO!

Feels like the night before Christmas - when all through the house, not a creature was stirring at The Tea Spot.

3 of our team of 7 are already in/on their way to Anaheim, CA for the largest Natural Food Show of the year, EXPO West.  EXPO's hosted by the Boulder media powerhouse, New Hope Media.  We'll be one of over 2000 exhibitors. From our town alone, about 40 companies are exhibiting - no small feat!  Our local paper ran an article, appropriately titled "Naturally Hopeful" in the biz section this week, stating (quite accurately, I might add) that this event is, for many companies, the largest annual marketing expenditure they'll choose to make.  So even from our 10x10 spot in the basement, we intend to wow many of the 53,000 anticipated "industry professional" passer-bys with our outstanding teas and innovative Steepware products, including some previews of exciting developments coming in 2010. Our newest development dovetails perfectly with the strong Going Green initiatives that New Hope has taken with CO2 emissions reductions initiatives at the show this year ;)

Our Natural Foods sets are growing, both in quality of products and number.  We're thrilled to be offering our teas in bulk to grocery shoppers in select stores like Whole Foods (Southglenn store set pictured at center) and Food Lion.  But the cornerstone of our brand and affinity for the natural and organic shopper comes from retailers like Lazy Acres in Santa Barbara, and Ellwood Thompson's (set pictured at the bottom) in Richmond Virginia.  This is our customer, and this year, we hope to be able to better represent our brand on their shelves, offer a wider variety of products in bulk, as well as new and innovative tea steeping tools for the consumer as well as foodservice.

The feeling of pending expectation has been building... now in our 5th year of exhibiting at the show, we're (thankfully!) at our most organized and well-mobilized, and looking forward to not only representing our own products and mission of fostering health and wellness through loose leaf tea, but taking in what others are doing in our industry. 

So please come by and visit us (and enjoy some tea!) at booth 5766 in Hall E - our hall opens at 9:30 AM - 30 minutes earlier than all the others (is this 'cus it's hard to get to, I wonder?!)

The Natural Products EXPO West show runs from March 12-14 at the Anaheim Convention Center. 

And I'll do my best to report here on our experience at the show :)

Steep up a little dust lately?

read on... odds are, if you're a US tea drinker, you probably have :(

I did a double take then I first saw this headline in the Financial Express: "Clean tea, dusts in strong demand" Who's demanding dust, I wondered... but of course - your best-known tea companies!

From Wikipedia: "Dust tea...Traditionally these were treated as the rejects of the manufacturing process in making high quality leaf tea... has however experienced a huge demand in the developing world in the last century as the practice of tea drinking became popular. Cheap tea stalls in India and the South Asian sub-continent, and Africa prefer dust tea because it is cheap and also produces a very strong brew - consequently more cups are obtained per measure of tea dust."
 
Terrific... We Americans and Brits established dust's popularity, and tea bags made it all possible.  I guess there's something to be said for the vertical integration and sustainability aspect to being able to use the whole leaf, even the rejects from the manufacturing process ;)

Even the "clean tea" that was in high demand was - fannings!  Fannings are barely a step up from dust. They're defined in the tea industry as: Dust or very small particles of tea left over after processing. This is the lowest grade of tea.  Some auctions, however, include "dust" as an actual grade of tea, namely the one being reported on in our subject article.

Take heart, however, in that you'll probably never find dust or fanning grade tea in any loose tea product.  From the seven main grades of tea auctioned off, we're the ones who buy up the top 3 grades. So you can drink up and feel good about it :)

Photo Credits:
* Teabag beauty shot from prwatch.org 
* New Moon Darjeeling leaf pile from theteaspot.com

Tea-n-Drinkin' (Calm-A-Sutra of Tea scholarship competition)

A runner up in the Calm-A-Sutra Tea Competition, this video made me feel stronger just watching it.

Tuffy Video Review by Organic Earth

Dear "Addict in the Blue Mountains"

It seems that our Blue Mountain Nilgiri is turning out to satisfy a certain type of palate. Maybe it's because this tea is so understated or because it lacks nearly all the astringency people might expect in a black, but it seems that this delicate tea gets lost on many people. And since we all really love it over here, we get excited to hear when others love it too.

So "Thank You!" to the writer of Tea For Today, for writing about our Organic Nilgiri tea, from the Blue Mountains of southern India. It sounds like our tea came in at just the right time to offer some solace to your day. Check out her post here called, Tea Addict in the Blue Mountains.

He could make a PG Tips drinker out of me :)

Adorable!

So Stinkin Cute!

With a tip of the hat to The Beatles, this tiny yellow submarine infuser is made from heat-resistant silicone (like our Tuffy Steepers), and submerges to the bottom of your cup to steep. Though it doesn't look like it offers your tea leaves much room to expand, I'd like to see this Tea Sub go head-to-head with the Sharky Infuser in a cuteness contest.

I found this new tea infuser on The Green Head - a great gadget site with quite a lot of tea gear, including our own Steepware. I also snagged these photos from there.

Love for our retailer, Living the Sweet Life, this Valentine's!

Since I'll be talking about one retailer each week, I decided to focus my attention, this week and next, to retailers (and e-tailers) who have a particularly good shop for the Valentine's season.

My focus this week will be on a new bakery in Denver called Living the Sweet Life. This past fall, owner and baker Erika Cunha opened her shop in the Highlands of Denver and has been selling fantastic sweets to people all over the Denver metro area. Click on the website and you begin by seeing mouthwatering red velvet cupcakes (pictured here) that you know are completely moist and delicious.

Take a look at their downloadable menu and you'll see many other delicious treats ranging from Cinnamon Swirl Sweet Breads to Colorado Cherry Pie to my favorite, the Raspberry Linzer Bars (honestly who doesn't like raspberry bars). After less than 2 months, Erika's Huckleberry Pie was reviewed in 5280! This unfortunately is only a seasonal item because Erika goes all the way to Idaho to pick the huckleberries herself! Check out the article and don't miss all the comments which have great reviews as well!

Where does The Tea Spot fit in do you say? If you can force your finger to keep scrolling past all the scrumptious desserts on the menu, you'll find us listed at the bottom with the other drinks served at the shop. Six of our signature loose leaf teas are served at Living the Sweet Life. Since they have some cute sitting areas you can go to either sip a cup of tea while munching on one of their treats or take a cup to-go with your box of Valentine's desserts (we know there was one more cookie in that box before it got to your loved one :) ).

If you haven't already been there and are looking for a cute, quaint shop with unbelievable delicious (have I said their stuff is delicious yet?) treats to grab for Valentine's day, or ANY day, then you HAVE to check them out! Call ahead to place any special order you might have. Contact details and address listed below.

Have a Happy Valentine's Day and go enjoy some desserts with your sweet(tea) ;)


303.477.8088
1535 Central St., Denver, CO 80211
livingthesweetlifedenver.com

Stir-fried Shrimp & Veggies Sprinkled with Tea-sonings

This dish is so easy to make it is tea-diculous...I know it's not a word, it's a play on words...

Ingredients:

• 2 TBS oil
• 2 TBS garlic, minced
• 1 red onion, diced
• 1 lb shrimp, peeled & deveined
• 1 yellow squash, cubed
• 1 green zucchini, cubed
• 1 red bell pepper, choped
• 1 can corn, drained
• Tea-sonings, blend the following ingredients together:  

o1 TBS Roasted Green Mint, finley grounded

o 1/2 TBS salt

o 1/4 TBS cilantro

o 1/4 TBS basil

o 1/4 TBS thyme

o 1/4 TBS cayenne pepper

o 1/2 tsp cardamom

o 1/2 tsp oregano

Preparation:

1. Heat oil in wok over medium-high heat. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 2-3 minutes. Add onion and cook until soft, about 2-3 minutes. Sprinkle 1/2 of teas-soning mixture over garlic and onion, about 1 1/2 TBS. Add shrimp and saute until pink, about 3-4 minutes, remove & reserve. Note: The shrimp don't have to cook all the way because they will continue to cook after they are removed from heat.
   
2. Add zucchini, squash, bell pepper and corn to wok. Sprinkle the remaining tea-soning mixture and cook until soft but still crispy. Add reserved shrimp and cook to combine for another 1-2 minutes.

Serve with Oolong Fragrant Rice, for recipe visit Tea Spot's Chef Blog 

Video Review of Monkey-Picked White

I just found this video this morning, made by Lainie from the LainieSips tea blog. She has some interesting tips on varied brewing methods for our Organic Monkey-Picked White Tea. This loose leaf tea is both Organic & Fair Trade Certified, and comes in tea tins as well as bulk bags. Check out what Lainie thinks!