Click here to listen to the inventors tell their story (15 min).
Three college students in Bellingham, Wash., set out to design an innovative magnetic brewing vessel to flip your world upside-down and throw tea bags into the past.
Now they are raising money to launch this project – lots of money.
A 30-day Kickstarter campaign that ended last week received $362,679 from 6,248 backers. The team’s initial $20,000 goal was met May 4, the day it launched.
The infuser design was a fund-raising project at Western Washington University created to support the Industrial Design Program.
The Imbue vessel has a magnetized loose-leaf tea holder on the inside of the lid. When you flip the container upside-down, it brews the tea. Once steeped to that perfect shade, you can flip it right side up and remove the magnetic holder to enjoy your drink.
All of the vessels were manufactured on campus utilizing student labor. The inventors used a cylindrical cutting tool to robotically cut out all the lids and then did finish sanding and assembly.
Juniors in the Industrial Design Program Dan Taylor, Leah Cohen-Sapida, and Ashkon Nina are responsible for this new invention.
In December, once they finished developing a prototype, they made 150 vessels and introduced their product to the public.
“Then they sold out, and you couldn’t buy them anymore. We got so much good feedback, and people who wanted more. So we decided we were going to take it further,” Nina said.
The students then decided to launch a Kickstarter campaign, recording video and publishing schematics. The Kickstarter was meant to bring this product into full production. They’re now working with an overseas manufacturer to produce the infuser in larger quantities and to reach a broader audience, according to Taylor.
The campaign raised 18 times their goal. Donors purchased as many as 10 at a time and it remains unknown exactly how many units have been sold because there were so many different donor packages and so many backers.
The Industrial Design Student Association (IDSA) raises money for the students in the Industrial Design program at WWU. The students plan on giving back a lot of their profits to the association once it is determined how much will be needed for full-scale production costs. They are also working on final modifications and new models.
The team collaborated with a handful of students from the onset, inventing a sustainably produced, practical invention. They said they wanted “something that stood out”
“We looked at a bunch of other tea solutions out there and none of them allowed you to easily get the tea out once it’s done brewing. So you brew it and it just keeps brewing while you’re drinking. That’s the unique thing about this product [is that you can easily remove the tea],” Taylor said.
According to Cohen-Sapida, they researched studies on how long you’re supposed to actually brew tea and they found that it was supposed to be around three minutes. But they recognized there are different steep times for various styles of tea. Everyone likes their tea differently, she said.
“This gives you the opportunity to stop, if you don’t want to keep brewing, you don’t have to,” Cohen-Sapida said.
Currently, the vessels sell for $30 on their website, http://imbuetea.com, and are may be pre-ordered online. According to the Imbue Tea website, shipments should begin around October 2015.
Nanette Jackson is a student at Western Washington University.
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Tea Biz serves a core audience of beverage professionals in the belief that insightful journalism informs good decision-making in business. Tea Biz reports what matters along the entire supply chain, emphasizing trustworthy sources and sound market research while discarding fluff and ignoring puffery.
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What tea professionals need to start the week of Nov. 24, 2014 —
ABC’s terrific tea tally… consider a Confederation of Tea Smallholders… Unilever’s first T2 opens in New York shop…. Guinness awards certificate for biggest tea bag… elegant teapot design updates ancient Chinese masterpieces.
ABC Tea Market Report
Everyone in tea will want to study the American Botanical Council’s newly released Tea Market Report. It is the most thorough analysis of the American tea industry sales by channel I’ve seen. The report, which appears in the November issue of the American Botanical Council’s HerbalEgram, is authored by Sage Group principal Brian Keating and ABC Executive Director Mark Blumenthal with Ash Lindstrom and Mary Ellen Lynch, SPINS director of consumer insights.
Sales of tea (loosed, bagged, concentrated and herbals) grew by 5.9% in the U.S. in 2013 reaching $1.7 billion while ready-to-drink teas in mass market, natural and specialty gourmet channels remained flat at $2.4 billion compared to 2012. Total RTD sales including convenience are estimated at $5.1 billion in the report which cites a Canadean study predicting RTD tea will grow by 6% to $5.3 billion in 2014.
The authors predict “a banner year” for both brewed and RTD tea sales in 2014.
The significance of their work is the breadth of sales channels covered. Herbals and medicinal teas are tallied as well as chai and Rooibos. These are important, fast-growing categories that can be difficult to research.
Chai in bags grew 21.4% compared to 2012 across all channels while Rooibos sales are up 3.5% in bags and 11.1% in loose leaf.
ABC’s first tea market report includes 12 tables covering mainstream, multi-outlet, natural and specialty/gourmet channels along with details on niche categories that include organic, Fair Trade teas and non-GMO labels.
“More impressive than the current size of the tea industry is the fact that, for more than a decade, annual sales totals … have grown consistently in the United States with very few types of tea showing anything other than consistent gains,” wrote the authors. “The onslaught of hundreds of new retail tea outlets — and thousands more projected to open in the next few years — parallels the germinal stages of the fledgling US natural foods industry circa 1980-2000.”
A significant advantage to this report is that it brings to light data on the herbal segment. The top selling herbal is chamomile with 2013 sales of $48 million, followed by mint infusions which earned $35 million and ginger which brought in $3.8 million, a distant third. Medicinal tea in bags enjoyed sales of $177 million.
Even packaging is documented with sales in cardboard boxes accounting for $1.1 billion of all tea and canisters grossing $276 million. Conventional packaging is challenged by tea in capsules and pods which saw a 32.8% increase in sales in 2013 to $138 million surpassing packet tea for the first time.
ABC plans to present its 2014 annual tea market report in HerbalGram issue #105 (January-March 2015).
Every two years the United Nation’s sponsored Committee on Commodity Problems, under the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), takes a close look at tea. This is because the $90 billion tea industry employs close to 15 million people and provides critical trade dollars essential to the stability of several countries. The Intergovernmental Group on Tea (IGG) brings together delegates from all the producing countries. These include government employed agricultural officials, tea board directors, research institute directors, tea association managers and tea executives from the larger brands.
The IGG met in Bandung, Indonesia earlier this month. Climate change, the harmonization of Maximum Residue Levels (MRLs) and the challenges facing tea smallholders were on the agenda along with a discussion on how to increase consumption in producing countries. The group also heard a report on Codex Committee on Pesticides Resident (CCPR) will now recognize and accept that there is an alternative method with scientific merit for establishing MRLs in tea. The CCPR invited tea-producing countries to submit reports containing scientific evidence to establish safe levels of residue in brewed tea.
I will tackle all these topics in the weeks ahead but today the discussion I find intriguing is establishing an International Confederation of Smallholders. Smallholders are the fastest growing group of tea producers accounting for roughly 9 million of the 13 million tea workers and 60% of production. As the colonial model of estates crumbles in many countries smallholders will be responsible for growing most of the world’s tea. In some countries smallholders grow most of the tea, but often account for only a relatively small slice of the high-paying premium teas for export. India, Indonesia, Kenya and Vietnam are all working to improve the skills of smallholders to the point where they can sell direct to Western markets, ideally through cooperatives that provide efficiencies of scale and quality control.
At Bandung this discussion coalesced in a motion to establish an International Confederation of Smallholders identified by a global brand that will help retail customers better understand the contribution made by small tea growers.
The decision may encourage commercial tea brands to inform customers that all or some portion of their product comes from small family-owned gardens.
This is not a cumbersome third-party certification, it simply expands on the idea of traceability and provides an incentive to brands that market to consumers aligned with the idea that smallholders should be encouraged to make better tea.
In China, where 80% of the workers are small holders and only 20% work on estates, the finest teas are produced by smallholders who get top dollar in both the local and overseas market. Once organized as is done in Kenya, this could be a winning model for the world.
Comment below if you think this is a good idea and I’ll start a Linked In group discussion.
Unilever expands T2 to NYC
Last month Unilever opened the first of its Australian-based T2 tea shop on Prince Street in New York’s SoHo. The shop was warmly received and remains busy a month after an opening night party that brought founder and managing director Maryanne Shearer into the limelight of America’s specialty tea scene.
“I have always felt like T2 and NYC were made for each other,” said Shearer. “My goal is to get more people to drink tea in general, and the way we do tea at T2 is different—we modernize it and make it a fun experience.”
New York has witnessed a surge of high-end shops including French Le Palais des Thes’. In April T2 opened a shop in London.
Kevin Havelock, Unilever president for refreshments, said that the company intends to build hundreds of T2 locations, expanding on the 40 in Australia and clearly not limiting its domain to the Asia-Pacific region.
Sales in conventional channels declined for Lipton, Unilever’s top brand, while specialty offerings gain momentum.
Marketers point to the fact that 1.8 billion people will move into the ranks of the middle class by 2020, many in tea drinking cultures. There are also signs of a lessening enthusiasm for coffee shops in Western Europe and renewed expansion of specialty tea shops in France, Poland and Germany.
The British fittingly held the Guinness World Record for the largest tea bag until last week when an enterprising Arab firm took the prize.
Rabea Tea, a Saudi brand manufactured by Ahmed Mohamed Saleh Baeshen & Co., created a tea bag weighing 250 kilograms, enough to make 100,000 cups of tea. The bag, held aloft by steel truss, measures 13 feet by 10 feet (four meters in height and three meters width).
The event coincided with the launch of the company’s full leaf tea bags, which required a decade of research and development.
Once certified in Jeddah the bag began a tour of Saudi cities Riyadh and al-Khobar before the tea was donated to charities.
A report in PSFK notes that despite its rich history and cultural significance, Chinese tea culture is being slowly eroded by contemporary culture. Instead of fighting this trend, the Guanfu Museum in China commissioned Jeff Dayu Shi to design a series of nine unique teapots and a highly crafted bamboo chest. Each teapot corresponds to a different tea and method of preparation, all packaged in a way that appeals to younger generations.
Guanfu Museum Jiu Gong teapot by Jeff Dayu Shi
All of the pieces incorporate functions and aesthetics perfectly. Color transformations that occur as the result of substance changes during the heat and curing treatment have to be carefully managed by a skilled craftsmen with years of experience. Inside the pots, there is even a beehive structure with tiny sesame-sized openings that enhances the flavor of certain teas by facilitating filtration.
All of these teapots are housed in an expertly-crafted bamboo chest used a traditional Chinese tiered handle case as its inspiration.
Tea Biz serves a core audience of beverage professionals in the belief that insightful journalism informs business decision-making. Tea Biz reports what matters along the entire supply chain, emphasizing trustworthy sources and sound market research while discarding fluff and ignoring puffery.
Tea Biz posts are available to use in your company newsletter or website. Purchase reprint and distribution rights for single articles or commission original content. Click here for details.
What tea professionals need to start the week of Sept. 22, 2014 —
North American Tea Conference trends and impressions… Tony Gebely leaves Chicago to fly with an extraordinary Phoenix in San Francisco… IRI Worldwide data indicates capsule tea is making big gains.
Troubling Tea Trends
The North American Tea Conference annually brings together industry executives, growers, government officials from producing countries, marketers and suppliers, making it a good occasion to discern trends and concerns among those who view the US and Canadian market with interest.
Traditionally the ones watching the market most closely are Indian, African and Chinese tea industry representatives, all of whom report increased sales to North American wholesalers and, in some instances, increasing sales from retailers buying direct from growers large and small.
I filled a notebook attending three days of sessions that range from food service trends to discussions on global supply and tea and health to advice on attracting millennials to tea.
That’s too much to cover in one post. I’ll elaborate on several trends in the days ahead but here are three topics to get the conversation started.
Production
Dr. Norman Kelly, the newly named chairman of the International Tea Committee in London, was attending for the first time. He replaces Sir Michael Bunston who served many years leading the ITC, which operates as the industry’s statistician. Tea at one level is a game of numbers.
Kelly shared two important observations. One can point with enthusiasm to the charts detailing tea production increases of the past 30 years. Supply is clearly anticipating increased demand and while some new acreage is under tea, most of the gains are through improved agricultural practices. There is much work ahead extending these practices to the smallholders who produce most of the world’s tea, but the largest tea gardens are models of efficiency, making greater use of mechanized harvesting equipment (35% of the total harvest); introducing new cultivars to resist drought and pests and innovative techniques such as Integrated Pest Management (IPM) adapted to the diverse regions in which tea is grown.
China is particular has put its foot on the accelerator at 1,924 million metric tons, most of which is consumed domestically. India reached 1,200 million kilos and Kenya reported 432 million kilos of processed tea last year. Combined production by these three tops all others tracked by ITC.
What is quite extraordinary is that racing as hard as they are at turning out more tea, both China and India are just keeping up with internal demand “leaving less and less for export,” said Kelly.
Source: International Tea Committee
Production remains ahead of demand but “supply might tighten and it is not beyond the possibility of exceeding supply,” he said. Note in the chart above that only 38% of the tea produced is available for export, down from 47% available in 2004. Per capita tea consumption is rising in both China and India and Kenya is making greater efforts to interest domestic tea drinkers.
Pricing
Pricing is closely tied to production and Richard Darlington, managing director of AVT in London, pointed out that the abundance of land and desire to produce additional quantities will keep China in the lead globally despite the fact that “practically all the new tea is consumed internally.”
Richard Darlington
It seems remarkable, but it’s true – 90% of the new tea produced is consumed by the countries in which it is grown, according to Darlington. Classic economics suggests an abundance of tea will lead to soft prices and while that is true in some markets, much of the world’s tea is selling at a premium.
There is “a paucity of good tea – hence prices are high” while “there is too much medium and low tea around – hence prices coming down,” Darlington explains.
He predicted consumption increases will continue to come from established tea producing countries.
On the topic of production inputs, costs are rising and government support “is vital to the sustainability of tea in many producing countries,” said Darlington.
The situation in Sri Lanka is noteworthy as it illustrates the extreme.
Colombo auction prices are very high and have risen entirely due to a supply squeeze, said Darlington. “The crop has not kept ahead of very strong demand for orthodox tea at a time when India is cutting back on orthodox tea production,” he said.
“The cost of production in Sri Lanka has risen from $1.35 per kilo in 2005 to $3.10 per kilo on 2013,” he said. Government privatization grants are depleted and “investment in new tea areas is prohibitively high. Producers are reluctant to take the risk,” he said. A recent study for the Sri Lanka Tea Board predicted producers will need to get “$14 per kilo to sustain their businesses!!”
Source: International Tea Committee
Darlington’s country-by-country assessment was insightful and not altogether bleak. There is oversupply in Africa and falling yields in Turkey, competition from alternate crops in Indonesia and a drought in Vietnam that will influence local markets.
Averaging all tea sold at all the global auctions shows prices falling slightly from last year’s all-tea, all-auction average of $2.60 per kilo. Kelly’s ITC data indicates a $2.46 per kilo average for 2014 year-to-date.
In general supply exceeds demand and trends negatively impacting pricing will probably continue for some time, said Darlington.
Pesticides
Pesticide use, the challenges of reconciling conflicting and inconsistent global regulations and a growing unease with public disclosure of pesticide residues by groups like Greenpeace was the topic of the week. After-hours and during presentations open to the press, pesticides generated few impassioned debates. I placed it third in my reporting because production and pricing have a much greater day-to-day influence on the industry.
A talk by public relations expert Louise Pollock, who has advised the Tea Association of the USA for 20 years, included a slide or two on crisis management as she discussed marketing the health attributes of tea; the Eurofins presentation hinted at worry that a beverage touted for its health benefits could be tainted by pesticide residues is justified, but media attention and public concern is a long way from crisis levels.
The Tea Association of the USA was concerned enough to host a 1-1/2 day presentation on the topic following the conference.
No reporters were permitted to attend these sessions out of concern that delegates would not speak freely if their comments were made public. As a result I can only write about the events that I witnessed, but I listened to a lot of after-hours conversation and I have covered this topic for more than a dozen years.
Consider this the first in several installments intended to identify challenges and weigh solutions — not frighten the public into foregoing tea.
Tea is an agricultural crop and there is not a crop consumed in which the corresponding industry has not been faced with the task of explaining why various chemicals are necessary to cultivate and process these foods. Perhaps more importantly, the public increasingly demands to know which of these chemicals are necessary and why. The new generation of label readers is a far more formidable audience to appease. Straight talk, transparency and thoughtful explanations of its proven medical benefits will protect the reputation tea justly deserves.
There are no reported instances of people being harmed by tea, Peter Goggi reminded delegates. The discussion of pesticide residues is largely centered on bureaucratic procedure, conflicting regulations and the differing rules of various certifying bodies.
It has never been clear to me why apples were singled out when pears, grapes and other fruit tested high in Alar residue, but 25 years ago the disclosure of Alar (Daminozide) in apple juice practically destroyed the apple business. Alar had been approved for use since 1963 but growing evidence of its carcinogenic links led the EPA to propose a ban and the manufacturer withdrew the pesticide from the market.
Public outcry cost apple growers an estimated $100 million according to a lawsuit following a CBS News broadcast on the program 60 Minutes. There is no question Alar was a financial boon to the apple industry. Application improved fruit-set maturity, fruit firmness and coloring, reduced pre-harvest drop and improved market quality of fruit at harvest and during storage, but the threat to human health was too great. Eventually it was proven to be a carcinogen in humans but at a very high ingestion level. It would require drinking 5,000 gallons of apple juice per day to equal the dose that produced tumors in mice. The lifetime cancer risk was set at 5 per million for humans. Generally EPA considers lifetime cancer risks actionable at 1 per million.
Apples once again topped the list of the most pesticide-contaminated produce this year, the fourth in a row. The Environmental Working Group (EWG), a Washington DC based non-profit, annually publishes the “Dirty Dozen” list of produce and a corresponding list of “Clean 15” fruits and vegetables. The residues are from different chemicals, but the fact remains that chemical applications remain important in protecting this crop.
Tea makes neither list because it is not one of the 48 most popular produce products tested annually by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. USDA conducts an analysis of 32,000 samples.
This is not to suggest government regulators should ignore the obvious lapses in enforcement. In the Greenpeace report on Indian tea, 78% of the samples showed DDT residue, a pesticide long ago banned for use on food.
The tea industry tests far more samples and routinely discards leaf that exceeds Maximum Residue Levels (MRLs) established by importing countries. China learned the hard way when European Union buyers found they could not land thousands of containers of tea, at great financial loss. EU inspectors adhere to tough maximums. Unfortunately these differ widely by country making it possible for growers in places like Vietnam to find a market for tea that could not pass inspection in Japan, the US or EU. Uniform MRLs is an important global initiative.
One of the key presentations during the conference was by Christine McIntosh of Eurofins Scientific, a company that analyzes food products for safety and compliance with a range of import regulations.
There are now 450 pesticides, a number so large that it is not financially practical to test for all. Given that many are exotic, a short list might suffice, but neither the US or Canada established MRLs for many of the common pesticides used in tea. This is because regulatory bodies in both countries give priority to pesticides used within their boundaries. Since little tea is grown by either nation, establishing MRLs for these pesticides is not a priority (or likely to suddenly become a priority). Until they are researched and listed, the US assigns a 1 part per billion “default” threshold.
As a result, McIntosh listed 26 pesticides commonly found in tea for which no MRLs exist. In each instance the European Union has tested these products and determined a maximum residue level. In many cases this threshold of safety is well above the 1ppb default used by the US.
McIntosh offered some constructive suggestions beginning with a database of global pesticide suppliers. This will help identify firms engaged in producing suspect chemicals. Reputable firms should have no concerns as they are regulated in the countries in which they operate.
Evaluate risk within the country of origin/use that takes into consideration combinations of pesticides used by farmers and impact on nearby crops.
Consider regulations (many countries either do not have or do not enforce regulations)
Establish specifications/acceptable limits (maximum safe residues clearly establish whether illegal, non-approved and unsafe combinations of pesticides are present)
Implement routine testing programs universally with extensive baseline testing at the onset and less rigorous examination as these chemicals are proven safe)
View trends over time
Maintain a monitoring program
Next week I’ll go into greater depth using India’s new Plant Protection Formulations (PPF) rules and the Plant Protection Code (adopted but with enforcement postponed until January 2015).
Gebely Joins David Lee Hoffman
Tony Gebely, a social media favorite in the tea community; promising author and successful online retailer has joined Pu-erh expert David Lee Hoffman, founder of the The Phoenix Collection.
Tony Gebely
Gebely, the founder of Chicago Tea Garden, has 10 years of digital marketing and web development experience as well as a cornucopia of tea knowledge. He will work alongside Hoffman and his assistant Jeannie Freudenberger to first learn all aspects of the business including sourcing, fulfillment, tea tastings, and marketing.
“I am excited to have Tony join our team as he brings to the table the skills necessary to bring tea to the next generation” said Hoffman, “and he aligns well with the philosophy that I began my tea venture with a quarter of a century ago.”
“I’m excited to work side-by-side with such an esteemed pioneer in the American tea industry. David simply has the best Chinese teas and I could not be more proud to work with him to bring them to the burgeoning tea market” said Gebely.
The Phoenix Collection is a wholesale tea company founded in 2009. Hoffman, who has been called the “The Indiana Jones of Tea,” owned and operated Silk Road Teas which he started in 1990. He sold the business in 2004 but retained his vast inventory of Pu-erh teas which are now offered through The Phoenix Collection. Hoffman was also the subject of a feature-length documentary All In This Tea by Les Blank and Gina Leibrecht. Hoffman has shared his discoveries and techniques online and in YouTube videos with some success. Look for Gebely to supercharge the company’s online presence.
Gebely and his new bride Katie just moved to the Bay Area. His new book is due next year.
Every single single-cup manufacturer I spoke to at the North American Tea Conference confirmed that sales of tea in both licensed K-Cups and compatible non-licensed capsules are booming. As noted in last week’s post, Package Facts estimates capsules will account for 10% of sales in the bagged/loose category. Paul Higgins, Jr. at Higgins & Burke, Ron Sadler at Twinings North America, Harney & Sons, RC Bigelow, Keith Hutjens, the tea sourcing director at Starbucks and Jeff Allard, director of product development at Snapple, all praised the format as an opportunity for innovation and a means of enticing new tea drinkers.
IRI Worldwide, a market research firm based in Chicago (www.iriworldwide.com), tallies sales in major retail channels such as drug stores, grocery and department stores like Target, Wal-Mart and Bed, Bath & Beyond. During the 52 weeks ending July 13, sales of loose leaf and bagged tea were up 6.2% in grocery stores to $818 million. Drug stores showed a 13.6% gain to $25 million and multi-outlet chain locations reported an amazing $1.3 billion in tea sales, up 7%. A decade ago grocery stores and supermarkets were the dominate sales channel. Very little tea was sold in drug stores. IRI does not break out sales by format so it is not possible to identify precisely how much of these category gains are from K-Cup sales, but it seems likely that most of the bump in multi-channel and drug is from capsule sales, typically big brands. Another clue is that the big jump in sales occurred after Lipton, Twinings, Celestial Seasonings, Snapple and Bigelow began selling K-Cups. Several report earning more than $20 million annually in K-Cup sales. Another indication: sales of instant tea (typically in jars) is plummeting. In drug stores category sales fell 31%; in multi-outlet stores sales of instant tea are down 9.3% and in drug stores sales of instant are down 8.9%.
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Tea Biz serves a core audience of beverage professionals in the belief that insightful journalism informs business decision-making. Tea Biz reports what matters along the entire supply chain, emphasizing trustworthy sources and sound market research while discarding fluff and ignoring puffery.
Tea Biz posts are available to use in your company newsletter or website. Purchase reprint and distribution rights for single articles or commission original content. Click here for details.
Image property of Sydney Living Museum and Kettle Town
Australia’s Kettle Town tea company made it’s debut last December as a small specialty tea company that developed some unique blends for pairing with dessert. It is unlikely that anyone would have predicted that seven months later they would be getting international attention for introducing a red ant tea.
Kettle Town was founded by Vincent Maneno and Lily Wang. Maneno became enamored with tea when he and his brother launched into a challenge to abstain from alcohol for one year. Wang, who loves to bake, instantly fell in love with the flavors and forms of tea and the ways that they could pair with sweet treats.
They began with a small number of blends. One combined blueberry and almond with black tea and another used vanilla, black tea and peppermint. Then Maneno met Skye Blackburn of The Edible Bug. Blackburn, who has degrees in entomology and food science, is passionate about the ways that insects could be farmed as protein replacements for traditional meats. Her online shop boasts a range of frozen and roasted bugs for snacking including silkworms, crickets and scorpions. Blackburn asked Maneno and Wang to take a chance on some ants.
She shipped them a vial of dehydrated ants and when Maneno and wang put them in water they were struck by the tart, citrusy flavor that emerged. The result was a blend called Strawberry Ant Hills. It combines black tea with the dehydrated ants, raspberry leaves and some flavoring. Kettle Town describes the tea as having flavors of “sweet strawberry with a smokey citrus tang.”
What tea professionals need to start the week of July 14, 2014 —
A wok through the new Panda Express tea bar… Amazing Race Canada contenders serve afternoon tea at the Fairmont Empress… Ito En brings first flush shincha to market in bottles and a British restaurant offers Da Hong Pao for $300 a pot.
Panda Express Tea Bar
Fast-serve Asian restaurants often scrimp on their tea selection but Panda Express is experimenting with a concept likely to turn some heads.
The 30-year-old family restaurant’s 1,657 company-owned locations in the US and in Canada are may roll out a hot tea and boba drinks menu nationwide that could prove popular with young tea drinkers. The modernization of the firm’s menu is under the direction of Andrea Cherng, daughter of founders Andrew and Peggy Cherng.
Andrea told the Los Angeles Times the restaurant chain hopes to attract millennials with a customized menu.
The company’s innovation store that opened last week in Pasadena, Calif. boasted an attractive and well-stocked tea bar. Tea is an important addition to the restaurants, according to Cherng. “Panda is in a position to bring things like boba to people that may have never heard of it,” said Cherng.
“We had a grand tea master from Taiwan come and design the teas,” said Cherng. “He spent two weeks with us perfecting them.”
The tea bar in the innovation store serves cake and pastries from a local baker but will soon start producing its own items. In the remodeled dining area customers can order orange chicken burritos and bacon and Shiitake Kale Chicken Breast which are also available at their stores nationally.
Executive Chef Andy Kao promises “menu choices that will fuel your body and feed your soul.”
In May he introduced thick cuts of applewood smoked bacon to the Orange Chicken staple. In Pasadena diners can “choose from a selection of sauces that include green onion with ginger, reminiscent of a Hainan chicken sauce, and a fiery red chile Sambal paste. You can also add pickled cucumbers, green papaya slaw, crispy wontons, crispy shallots and crushed peanuts,” reports Daily Dish reporter Jenn Harris.
In Pasadena lines formed for the scallion pancake orange chicken wraps, salads and boba. Bases include salad, scallion pancake wrap, rice and chow mein. Mains include orange chicken, Beijing beef, honey walnut shrimp, kung pao chicken breast, broccoli, string beans, grilled veggies, stir-fry chicken breast or Angus steak with vegetables, or grilled chicken or steak. All of the stir-fries are made to order in giant woks.
Items come in a large size, which includes two mains and a base for $7, or small, with one main and a base for $5.80. Panda Express is the fastest growing Chinese restaurant concept in America.
Television producers know that afternoon tea is “in” and so this week’s Amazing Race Canada made a stop at the Fairmont Empress in British Columbia into a formidable challenge.
Winnipeg’s Cormac Foster was stymied at the task of reciting the Afternoon Tea menu verbatim. Selections included roasted bone-in ham with tarragon dijonnaise and a cucumber and ginger mascarpone on butter brioche. His mother and partner Nichole watched the 19-year-old stumble through 10 attempts before advancing to the next challenge.
The event pits 11 pairs on a cross-country tour with a $250,000 prize to the winners, round-trip tickets on Air Canada and a pair of Chevy Silverado pickup trucks with gas for life from Petro-Canada.
Source: The Canadian Press
First Flush Bottled Shincha
Ito En has introduced for a limited time a ready-to-drink first flush shincha green tea.
In Japanese, “shin” means new and “cha” means tea. Shincha’s singular character derives from its harvest starting in early April, when young green tea leaves contain naturally higher concentrations of nutrients and vibrant flavors, the result of wintertime dormancy. Fresh Shincha leaves are distinct from latter-harvested green teas, with a subtle sweetness attributed to a higher content of the amino acid L-theanine and a lower caffeine content. The rich and vividly green tea leaves are not only fragrant and fresh in taste, but higher in Vitamin C and catechin antioxidants than regular green tea.
“Americans’ evolved palates are appreciating the flavor nuances among green teas, making this the optimal time to introduce Shincha in a modern and convenient way,” says Rona Tison, senior vice president of Corporate Relations of ITO EN (North America). “Authentically brewed and bottled to preserve the young green tea’s essence, Oi Ocha’s Shincha is an experience like no other.”
“Shincha offers the ultimate tea experience for us Japanese,” says celebrity Chef Matsuhisa of Nobu Restaurants. “I am pleased that it has made its way to America as the fresh aroma and flavor is truly unmatched. Its smooth and clean finish truly complements the purity of our cuisine.”
Oi Ocha’s Shincha is available in 16.9 fl oz. BPA-free, recyclable bottles at select retailers.
London’s Royal China Club is offering a pot of Da Hong Pao for £180 ($300), according to the Daily Mail.
The tea was aged 80 years according to the restaurant spokesman who explained that Da Hong Pao dates to the Qing Dynasty where it was reserved for honored guests.
The tea is handmade from tender leaves, withered, tumbled, curled and baked in small batches over charcoal to create an aromatic infusion with distinctive dark cocoa notes, a toasted fruity flavor and a long smooth aftertaste that lingers for several minutes after consumed, said sommelier Peter Chan.
The Royal China Group restaurants are known for their dim sum and 18 types of artisan teas priced from $8 for service for two.
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Click here to listen to the inventors tell their story (15 min).
A 30-day Kickstarter campaign that ended last week received $362,679 from 6,248 backers. The team’s initial $20,000 goal was met May 4, the day it launched.
The students then decided to launch a Kickstarter campaign, recording video and publishing schematics. The Kickstarter was meant to bring this product into full production. They’re now working with an overseas manufacturer to produce the infuser in larger quantities and to reach a broader audience, according to Taylor.
The team collaborated with a handful of students from the onset, inventing a sustainably produced, practical invention. They said they wanted “something that stood out”
stores to $818 million. Drug stores showed a 13.6% gain to $25 million and multi-outlet chain locations reported an amazing $1.3 billion in tea sales, up 7%. A decade ago grocery stores and supermarkets were the dominate sales channel. Very little tea was sold in drug stores. IRI does not break out sales by format so it is not possible to identify precisely how much of these category gains 
are from K-Cup sales, but it seems likely that most of the bump in multi-channel and drug is from capsule sales, typically big brands. Another clue is that the big jump in sales occurred after Lipton, Twinings, Celestial Seasonings, Snapple and Bigelow began selling 
K-Cups. Several report earning more than $20 million annually in K-Cup sales. Another indication: sales of instant tea (typically in jars) is plummeting. In drug stores category sales fell 31%; in multi-outlet stores sales of instant tea are down 9.3% and in drug stores sales of instant are down 8.9%.
