Tea Drinking

According to public health nutritionist Dr Carrie Ruxton, and colleagues at Kings College London, drinking tea is actually better for you than drinking water + tea replaces fluids and contains antioxidants so it's got two things going for it. Just do it.

Useful links:
www.tea.co.uk
www.teausa.org
www.tea.ca

Kikunoi

The Art You Can Eat
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124242719429025155.html

After spending three days in Kyoto, where visitors can eat variations of kaiseki for breakfast, lunch and dinner, I began to see why this centuries-old cuisine holds so much fascination for the most inventive chefs of Europe and America. Kaiseki is a tonic to the senses from every direction, and something no Western restaurant I've ever dined can approach. It demands perfection from the freshness and preparation of the ingredients to the dishes they are served on. The noise in some New York restaurants makes it impossible to concentrate on your meal; kaiseki diners sit in a tranquil, private room and gaze onto a Japanese garden while polite, efficient waitresses in kimonos cater to every need. The cost, at Kikunoi, is $150 a person -- a bargain compared with, say, the $275 tasting menu at Thomas Keller's Per Se in New York.
- Stan Sesser

Useful link:
www.kikunoi.jp

A kaiseki dinner at Kikunoi is an experience visitors won't quickly forget. The simplicity of a kaiseki dinner masks its complexity. A must visit, really.

Tea Update

Digg This: Tea Is the New Coffee
http://blog.wired.com/business/2009/04/tech-millionair.html

It's the new social lubricant. You're never hung over and you can never drink too much.
- Jesse Jacobs, Samovar Tea Lounge

Useful links:
http://kevinrose.com
www.fourhourworkweek.com
http://samovarlife.com

Interesting viewpoint. I've always been a fan of tea.

Fair Trade

A Fair Wind for Fair Trade
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/global_business.shtml

Useful links:
www.maxhavelaar.ch
www.fairtrade.org.uk
www.wto.org
www.tropicalwholefoods.co.uk
www.nasfam.org
www.cafedirect.co.uk
www.divinechocolate.com

Great program. I enjoyed it. Thank you Peter.

Tea Market Update

Storming the Teacup
http://www.time.com/time/travel/article/0,31542,1871630,00.html

Useful links:
www.rareteacompany.com
www.tea.co.uk

Great essay. I loved it. I've always been a fan of tea.

Honest Tea

Seth Goldman: Brewing Organic Tea with a Mission-based Business Model
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/2124.cfm

Useful link:
http://honesttea.com

Seth Goldman's mission-based business model was inspiring.

The Tea Business

Rediff's article on tea business + other viewpoints @ http://specials.rediff.com/money/2008/oct/08sli1.htm was brilliant.

Useful link:
www.makaibari.com

Tea Update

Elliot Wilson's article on the fast-growing tea markets @ http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/aug/17/fooddrinks was interesting and insightful. I think the real for passion for tea is back.

Useful links:
www.newbyteas.com
http://jingtea.com
www.postcardteas.com
www.tatatea.com
www.inttea.com
www.greenfieldtea.co.uk

Tea is like wine 10 or 20 years ago - people were drinking it, but they didn't know what they were drinking. That has changed for the better, and the same thing is happening in the tea industry.
- Raschid Gibrail

Pu'er Tea

Pu'er Tea from Yunnan, has become a fashionable, must-have variety in the tea shops of Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing + I think in a way to appreciate Pu'er tea is similar to enjoying wine because you need to understand the different areas where tea grows to differentiate flavors + among the wealthy, health-conscious Chinese there is also a belief that Pu'er tea lowers cholesterol, cures hangovers, helps fortify teeth and trims away fat + like with many other products in China it is difficult to tell the real from imitations.

I think buying Pu'er tea is like buying rubies and sapphires--you must have product knowledge.

Useful links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pu-erh
www.pu-erh.net
http://community.livejournal.com/puerh_tea

Tea Notebook

Mr. Churchill, if you were my husband, I'd poison your tea! And if you were my wife, I would drink it!
Winston Churchill

A woman is like a tea bag, you can not tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water.
Nancy Reagan

If man has no tea in him, he is incapable of understanding truth and beauty.
Japanese proverb

How To Grade Tea

Grading tea is an art than science + it owes its special effect to its caffeine, tannins, amino acid, protein content (s) + trace element (s): fluoride, potassium, calcium, manganese, vitamins: niacin, vitamin B1 and B2 + it acts directly on the brain and central nervous system (s) + it increases concentration.

Look how similar the concept is to diamond grading (old + new terms) + colored stone grading: it's either the color (due color causing trace elements), saturation or tone (based on percentage of elements + other modifiers) + other factors (like clarity + size, shape, proportion, symmetry, finish) that creates a unique gradation.

- Whole Leaf

- Flowery Orange Pekoe (FOP)

- Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe (GFOP)
- FOP with golden tips

- Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe (TGFOP)
- FOP with lots of golden tips

- Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe (FTGFOP)
- Exceptional quality FOP

- Special Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe (SFTGFOP)
- The very best FOP

- Orange Pekoe (OP)

- Pekoe (P)

- Flowery Pekoe (FP)

- Pekoe Souchong (PS)

- Souchong (S)

Experts may also add 1 to decribe top quality after leaf designation (s): like FTGFOP1, OP1, S1 and so on.

- Broken Leaf
- Broken Orange Pekoe (BOP), Golden Broken Orange Pekoe (GBOP), Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe (FBOP), Tippy Golden Broken Orange Pekoe (TGBOP), Golden Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe (GFBOP), Tippy Golden Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe (TGFBOP)

- Fannings
- Broken Orange Pekoe Fannings (BOPF)

- Dust
- Broken Orange Pekoe Dust (BPOD), Pekoe Dust (PD), Red Dust (RD), Super Red Dust (SRD), Fine Dust (FD), Super Fine Dust (SFD), Golden Dust (GD)

The grades of tea are represented by initials or a series of initials. Here are the grades of leaf sizes from largest to smallest:

- Whole Leaf
- Souchon
- FOP: Flowery Orange Pekoe
- OP: Orange Pekoe

- Broken Leaf
- P: Pekoe
- BOP: Broken Orange Pekoe

- Fannings and Dust
- F: Fannings
- D: Dust

- Additional Modifiers
- T: Tippy
- G: Golden

Usually they start at the lowest grade PS (Pekoe Souchong) to FOP (higher quality). They may also add modifiers such as GFOP (Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe) + even more modifiers such FTGFOP (Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe) + SFTGFOP (Special Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe) to improve the overall quality.