Latest Posts
Need to Know News
India Considers Tough Import Restrictions for Nepal Tea | India and Nepal both Want Review and Revisions of 1950 Friendship Treaty
| IMF Bailout Talks with Sri Lanka to Resume | Kenya’s Ag Minister Reverses the Government’s Position Favoring Mechanization | Plus Aasha Bhandari describes how Asian enthusiasm for golden tips powered Nepalese tea producers through the pandemic.
The French Finish
Any downturn is going to have an impact, right? As far as changing strategy, it’s more about how you deliver your product and whether customers want that to be in store, or just delivered. I don’t know that it will change my strategy much, because my approach is all about educating customers.
Need to Know News
Generation Z and Leisurely Tea | Survey: Gen Z Describes Post-COVID Yearning for Quieter Activities | Retail Frontline Workers in the UK, US, France and Canada Exhausted and Underappreciated | India’s Tea Employment Plateau | PLUS Emilie Jackson, founder of Emilie’s French Teas in Kansas City, Missouri, discusses the ongoing evolution of specialty retail at independent shops and tearooms.
Need to Know News
Bypassing Sanctions is Benefitting India’s Tea Industry | Indian Exports to the Russian Federation in April were up 19% | Reinvention is Routine at Starbucks | South Africa Rooibos Industry Makes First Payout to Indigenous Communities
| PLUS Niraj de Mel, Sri Lanka’s newly appointed tea board chair, is rallying tea stakeholders in the face of formidable challenges.
Q|A Niraj de Mel
Newly appointed Sri Lanka Tea Board Chair Niraj de Mel is rallying tea stakeholders – growers, manufacturers, producers, brokers, and exporters – in the face of formidable challenges.
Need to Know News
The Tea Industry’s Critical Role as Sri Lanka’s Reliable Source of Foreign Cash | India’s Monsoon Rainfall Exceed 2021 Year-to
-Date Totals | Vancouver Hosts Canada’s Biggest Bubble Tea Festival July 22-23 | PLUS More than a Medal, the 5th Edition of the Teas of the World International Contest is Underway.
AVPA: More than a Medal
During the past five years, AVPA has elevated the status of tea producers large and small, not only on the global stage but most importantly in their local markets. The deadline to enter the 5th Teas of the World International Contest is Aug. 1, 2022.
Need to Know News
Ekaterra Names New Management Team | Nathalie Roos is Now CEO of the World’s Largest Tea Company | Coca-cola Launches a Bottled Herbal Tea Line in China | A Tea-Scented Perfume Wins Prestigious Art and Olfaction (A+OA) Award | PLUS Tea Book Club founder Kyle Whittington reviews The Teabowl: East and West, by ceramic artist and curator Dr. Bonnie Kemske.
Need to Know News
China Eases Travel Restrictions | Mandatory Quarantine Reduced to 7 Days | Sri Lanka Crisis Worsens
| Sustainability Survey Reveals the Tea Industry’s Cautious Optimism | PLUS Tea estate managers photograph wildlife to reduce human-animal conflict.
Need to Know News
Retailers Brace for Recession | Indicators Signal a Global Downturn is Already Pressuring Retail | Kenya Tea Prices Rebound, Smallholders Anticipate Big July Bonus | Pakistan Asks Citizens to Cut Back on Tea | PLUS Millennia Tea in New Brunswick, Canada, sells raw tea leaves as food.
Farm to Freezer Tea
Millennia Tea sells frozen fresh, pure tea. The leaves are washed and flash-frozen within hours of being picked.
Need to Know News
Bottled Tea is Bouncing Back | Ready-to-drink teas in the US grew to $8 billion in 2021 | Honest Tea Co-Founder Seth Goldman Will Launch a Rival Tea Brand | Tea Parcels Contribute to Record Carrier Volume | PLUS Suzette Hammond, founder of Being Tea, describes an expanded eight-month course on how to become a brilliant tea educator.
Teaching Tea Teachers
Being Tea’s eight-month teacher training program helps tea professionals educate others on how to share their knowledge of tea.
Need to Know News
India Cracks Down on Teas that Fail Food Safety Standard | Tea Bushes Globally are Taking a Beating this Spring Due to Climate Change
| UK Tea Academy Announces “The Leafies” a Whole Leaf Tea Competition | PLUS Tea Journey magazine announces a new portal for tea professionals and enthusiasts and surveys readers on their needs and preferences.
Good Earth Tea Revival
The Good Earth brand was founded in 1972 by a Santa Cruz-based herbal tea company that supplied tea to a local restaurant that expanded into a chain of 50 franchises. The brand experimented with herbal blends during its first two decades, producing more than 40 varieties. To celebrate its 50th anniversary the brand is relaunching two of its legacy teas.
Need to Know News
Coca-Cola Discontinues the Iconic Honest Tea Brand | UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization says that Embracing Sustainable Agriculture is Essential for Tea Smallholders | Starbucks Exits the Russian Market after 15 years | PLUS Tea Horse founders Denise Atkinson and Marc Bohémier introduce their North American version of genmaicha
North American Roasted Wild Rice Tea
Our roasted manoomincha honors Asian peoples, like the Korean, Japanese, and Chinese, who roast barley and create boricha or mugicha. They were our inspiration. Our teas fuse the east with the west, western Indigenous peoples with Indigenous peoples from the east. – Marc Bohémier
Need to Know News
UN FAO Hosts International Tea Day Webcast | Tea Day Sofa Summit | Global Instability is Suppressing East African Tea Prices | PLUS Sneha Balasubramaniam, Head of Marketing and Innovation at Tata Consumer Products, explains why Good Earth is celebrating its 50th Anniversary with the revival of two beloved teas.
Need to Know News
China tea value increased by $4.4 billion to $43.2 billion in 2021
| International Tea Day is May 21
| Sofa Summit is May 23
| PLUS Yunomi.Life founder Ian Chun discusses Japan’s resurgent tea export market and the remarkable story of the record-setting two-million-yen hand-rolled green tea.
Need to Know News
India Resumes Tea Shipments to the Russian Federation | Trade Seeks to Bypass US and EU Sanctions | COVID Surge Makes Tea Packing Unpredictable | Special Report: Beyond Tea Cuisine PLUS Tea Retail Powers Perception | South Asia Editor and Producer Aravinda Anantharaman concludes a two-part series on Realigning the Marketing of Indian Tea
Tea Retail Powers Perception
Retail must do the heavy lifting in realigning the marketing of Indian tea. While online transactions are more common now than in past years, neighborhood kirana stores are the most common place Indians purchase packaged tea, accounting for 70% of sales. Only 7% of tea is sold at tea shops that specialize in loose leaf offerings.
India: What has Changed?
When you look back, let’s say 30, 40 years, what has changed in the tea market? That’s the question we need to ask. The image of tea has not changed at all. And that, I think, is the basis of many problems. – Jagjeet Kandal, IDH
Need to Know News
Episode 66: Health Symposium Reveals a Plethora of Science-based Tea Benefits Tea News for the week ending Apr. 29 |Continue Reading
UK Tea Academy
Co-founder Jane Pettigrew describes the remarkable evolution of the UK Tea Academy into an innovative global tea education resource that has emerged from the chaos of COVID-19.
Need to Know News
Snarls in Logistics and Cool Weather Combine to Slow China’s Early Tea Harvest
Need to Know News
The Heightened Urgency of Earth Day 2022
Ukraine’s Cold Weather Tea
Rising temperatures threaten tea yields and force growers to consider planting “upslope” at higher elevations where cooler temperatures prevail. Unfortunately, subtropical tea cultivars perish in a hard frost, expected above 7,500 feet. At Ukraine’s Zhornyna tea farm Maksym Malygin is successfully growing plants under forest cover that have survived heavy snow during prolonged winters at temperatures 26 below zero Celsius.
Q|A Ranjit Chaliha
Recirculating heated exhaust conserves energy and helps to eliminate inconsistencies in drying that lower tea quality. In this installment of Frugal Innovations, Ranjit Chaliha describes Varun, a device named after the Hindu God of Wind that continuously monitors ambient air conditions in real-time and electronically computes the ideal inlet air temperature to reduce energy costs enough to pay for itself.
Protecting Sri Lanka’s 150-year-old Brand
In 2021, Sri Lanka launched a ₹4.5 billion global promotion to increase the export volume and value of Ceylon tea, a billion dollar brand. The campaign targets 12 markets, including the UK, EU, Asia, and North America. In parallel, the board is pursuing a Protected Geographical Indication by the European Union.
World Tea Conference + Expo 2022
Attendees conveyed unique zeal as the largest of North America’s tea shows ushered in the return of in-person event marketing during its 20th anniversary gathering in Las Vegas.
Boba as a Gateway to Tea
“People sometimes say boba is a fad. I’m like, well, how is it a fad if two billion people drink milk tea, or have tapioca every day?” asks Boba Guys CEO Andrew Chau. Chau explains how relentless attention to quality elevated a simple mix of milk tea and tapioca to a $3 billion global segment that is enticing a generation of non-tea drinkers to give tea a try.
Tea at the Top of the World
The Guinness Book of World Records has certified a May 2021 tea break on Mt. Everest as the highest tea party in history. Tea was interwoven into life on an Everest expedition, says climber Andrew Hughes.
The Rise of India’s New Tea Lands
India no longer requires permits to grow tea, a policy decision likely to open many new tea-growing regions. Grower Rajiv Lochan foresaw that change and began acquiring land along the Doke River in Bihar beginning in 1998. His marketing mastery and tireless promotion since then has literally put Bihar on the official map of India’s tea-growing regions.
Q|A Ian Gibbs
International Tea Committee Chairman Ian Gibbs describes the immediate and potentially long-term impacts on the global tea trade stemming from the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.
Sri Lanka Responds to Tea Market Turmoil
Anil Cooke, managing director and CEO of Asia Siyaka Commodities, one of Sri Lanka’s top tea brokerages, shares insights amid a fast-changing Ukrainian crisis that has halted shipments to Russia and disturbed global harmony in tea.
A Taste of Modern Tea
Tea taster extraordinaire Mike Bunston recently visited the Tea History Collection in Banbury, Oxfordshire, to videotape a tasting of modern teas including milk tea, a Jasmine-mango fruit tea, and his first taste of bubble tea. Charlie Shortt, co-founder of the Tea History Collection organized the tasting and narrates this exchange.
A Living Wage Roadmap
A sustainable future in tea depends on a shared responsibility among stakeholders to assure living wages (for workers) and a living income for smallholders.
BRU Debuts at CES
BRU co-founder Bogdan Krinitchko describes the Consumer Electronics Show debut of the award-winning specialty tea maker that launched on Kickstarter in November. The IoT device will be on display March 5-7 at the Inspired Home Show in Chicago.
Consumer Identity and Popular Beverages
From the start of the colonial period in the Americas in the 16th century, commercialization attempts were made to position yerba matte, yaupon, and guayusa as caffeinated drinks that could compete on the world stage with coffee and tea.
First Tea Culture Week in Brazil
Tea Culture Week, scheduled for August 1-7, 2022, will feature online and in-person activities across the country. Retailers, marketers, tea educators, and volunteer enthusiasts have been planning the event for months.
New Protocols to Evaluate Specialty Tea
International Specialty Tea Association spokesperson Andrew McNeill announced new evaluation standards that provide a framework for the evaluation of specialty tea. He says the new protocols “give some shape to the premium tea products that producers are making tea and, increasingly, what consumers are buying.”
Small Scale Mechanization
The Great Mississippi Tea Company is pioneering modern cultivation, tea science, employment standards, and small-scale mechanization of the harvest for producers in developed countries where the high cost of labor and land has discouraged growers.
New Role for Tea Board
A bill to promote and further develop India’s industry will, “enable the functioning of a modern Tea Promotion and Development Board and for matters connected therewith.”
Tea as Medicine
The Global Tea Initiative Colloquium was hosted by the University of California, Davis on Jan. 13, 2022 | This year’s topic is Tea and Beyond: Bridging Science and Culture, Time and Space. Tea Biz brings you a recap of the keynote address on “The Popularization of Food as Medicine and Its Impact on Tea” presented by Dr. Nada Milosavljevic.
Tea in Foodservice is Recuperating
Two years of COVID reset tea consumption at restaurants and cafés, initially reinforcing traditional expectations of comfort and warmth but evolving to permanently disrupt delivery, takeaway, menu choices, and celebratory occasions with tea.
Mechanical Harvesting
Given the cost and shortage of labor and the growing demand for tea, mechanization is here to stay. Virtually all crops are being mechanically harvested now. There’s no other way that you can make commodity tea commercially viable, says Teacraft founder Nigel Melican.
Frugal Innovation
Objective data changes the conversation in the factory from vague concepts to thresholds and parameters. It makes operations scientific so that processes can improve, explains Shekib Ahmed of Koliabur Tea Estate.
Frugal Innovation
Practical, economical solutions to some of the tea industry’s most vexing challenges.
Resilient & Resourceful: Evy Chen
This is hands down the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Everything I’ve established in the past 10 years gone, products gone, clients gone, people gone. I practically had to rebuild a company with not much money during COVID.
The Timeless Taste of Tea
East Forged teas are cold brewed from organic whole leaf green, black, and white teas. The tea is then enhanced with no-sugar-added juices from natural fruit. A burst of carbon dioxide makes it fizz and a dose of nitrogen gives the tea texture and a creamy head.
India Initiates Tea Industry Reforms
India’s highest levels of government are reforming the basic structure of agriculture. The intent is to loosen regulations on pricing and storage and to permit direct sales of produce. These rules have protected India’s farmers from the free market for decades. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called the reforms a “watershed moment” for Indian agriculture.
Q|A Prabhat Bezboruah
India’s government is going to revamp the Tea Act. It’s going to be a wholesale revamp. The role of the Tea Board is also going to be redefined. That’s a work in progress and it’s already happening. Even the Plantation Labor Act is going to get subsumed once the code on wages and the occupational safety and health hazards act are implemented.
Tea Biz Podcast | Episode 42
Tea News for the Week of Nov. 5 – A New Theory on How Green Tea Promotes Longevity | The Bubble Tea Business is Frothing Globally | Assam Smallholder Collective Debuts Equifarm Tea Brand | PLUS AVPA Gold Medalists Discuss their Winning Teas and SAMA Tea CEO Michael Parisi on how he used AI to help formulate new adaptogenic blends
Grassroots Tea
Tea entrepreneurs organize into collectives and supply raw leaf to mini factories operated by local Tea Producer Companies owned by growers.
The Cost of Producing Specialty Tea
Is manufacturing specialty tea worth the effort? “Frequently it probably isn’t considering the amount that growers need to invest from a financial and human resources perspective to make the very best teas,” says tea wholesaler Will Battle.
Mechanical Tea Harvesting
Mechanical harvesting is required today because we cannot complete plucking rounds frequently enough by hand. We need mechanical harvesting in addition to hand plucking, not to replace hand plucking.
Puer Tea, Ancient Caravans and Urban Chic
By Jinghong Zhang
A Medicinal Tea from the Sea
Hiroshi Takatoh, CEO, founder, and blender at Japan-based Teatis Tea is exploring, with his team of food scientists and doctors, tea formulations to assist diabetics and pre-diabetics control their blood-sugar levels.
Jolene’s Tea House
In the Canadian Rockies tea houses are unique to Canadian culture. The tea houses were built by Swiss guides to be a refuge for hikers and explorers travelling and enjoying the majestic countryside. They are a part of history in Banff.
Tea Biz Podcast | Episode 37
Tea News for the Week of Oct. 1 | Kenya Exports Saturate Black Tea Market | COVID Depresses Japanese Tea Business in Unique Ways | Unilever is Recognized by the World Benchmarking Alliance as the Top Food and Agriculture Benchmark
| PLUS Mohit Agarwal, Managing Director at the Asia Tea Group, explains the advantages of organic tea farming at scale.
Organic Tea Production at Scale
With 6,325 acres under tea, Mozambique’s Cha de Magoma is the world’s largest bio-organic tea garden and its Monte Metilile brand is a success story that demonstrates the many advantages of scale in producing great-tasting, high-quality, clean teas.
Q|A John Snell
Unlike much of Africa’s tea growing regions, Mozambique has true seasonality with an off season that enables tea bushes to produce the right concentration of phenolics essential in making great specialty tea.
Tea Biz Podcast | Episode 36
Tea News for the Week of Sept. 24 | Retail Sales Forecast Happy Holidays
| Restaurant Reticence is Declining
| A Restructured DAVIDsTEA Expands into Pharmacies | PLUS Folklore Tea co-founders in Guwahati, Assam discuss how they engage customers at an unusual level of intimacy
Folklore Tea
The founders of Folklore Tea in Assam work with villagers to increase their awareness about tea as they introduce customers to those who made the tea, how the leaf was processed, the cultural ethos, and terroir.
Tea Biz Podcast | Episode 35
Tea News for the Week of Sept. 17 | Bids Top $4 Billion for Unilever Tea Portfolio | India May Halt Imports of Nepal Tea | Sales of Herbal
Supplements in US Exceed $10 Billion | PLUS The Physics of Black Tea Film | and the Rainforest Alliance’s Madhuri Nanda on the evolution of sustainable farming to more holistic regenerative agriculture.
The Physics of Black Tea Film
Researchers once thought tea film was due to waxy substances in leaves released during steeping. That is not the case. The delicate film is an interfacial interaction of air, tea polyphenols, and calcium carbonate ions in water.
Q|A Madhuri Nanda
Sustainable farming practices ensure no negative impact. The focus in regenerative agriculture is making the system better by adopting an ecosystem approach to enhance biodiversity and improve soil health.
Tea Biz Podcast | Episode 34
Sri Lanka Tea Yields Feared to Decline | McLeod Russel Settlement Resolves Insolvency | Bangladesh Tea Sector Returns to Pre-Pandemic Production Levels | PLUS A chat with the Rare Tea Lady on obligations to origin | and Denys Shortt on digitizing the Tea History Collection
Bangladesh Tea Rebounds
The tea sector in Bangladesh is expected to return to near pre-pandemic production levels after setbacks in 2020.
Q|A Henrietta Lovell
Henrietta Lovell defines good tea as a beverage that tastes amazing and benefits both the people who craft tea and those who drink it.
Tea Biz Podcast | Episode 33
Timely Tea Delivery Faces Troubled Waters | Tea is Thriving in the Convenience Channel | Iran Tea Production is Up 25 Percent | Plus Unilever publishes four principles of regenerative agriculture and Burmese laphet’s expanding presence in tea leaf cuisine.
Regenerative Agriculture
Can a world that has already eroded a third of the planet’s soils feed a population of 10 billion without intensive agricultural practices that rely on heavy inputs of fertilizer, herbicides, and pesticides that sustain monoculture farming?
Tea Leaf Cuisine
Fermented tea leaf, known as laphet, is used to make a Burmese salad called laphet thoke or mixed with rice.
Tea Biz Podcast | Episode 32
Afghan Tea Market Concerns as Taliban Conquers Kabul | Foodservice Recovery Rates Vary Widely by Sector | Researchers Confirm Heart Healthy Aspects of Tea | PLUS Anshuman Kanoria new owner of Jungpana and Goomtee estates on India’s unrealized potential in tea.
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane
By Lisa See
Q|A Anshuman Kanoria
The Indian tea market has potential, there is no doubt about it. I think the pandemic has given an opportunity as well. We need to somehow combine the platform of health, great taste, and a lifestyle and build that story around tea.
A Gastronomic Tea Contest
Deadline for entries is Sept. 15
Tea Biz Podcast | Episode 31
Delta Delivers Foodservice Setback | Why are Tea Tariffs Still in Place? | Tea Marathon is a Victory for Japanese Growers | PLUS AVPA’s 4th Annual Teas of the World Competition.
Victory for Japanese Tea Marathon
As athletes from around the world competed in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, tea lovers participated in an event of theirContinue Reading
India’s Tea Auction Mandate
Context and a perspective on the Indian government’s enforcement of regulations that curtail private tea sales.
Tea Biz Podcast | Episode 30
India’s Top Producer McLeod Russel Faces Bankruptcy | Tea Authentication Standard Chemically Verifies Origins | Soggy Soil Keeps Terracotta Kulhads in Short Supply | PLUS Ito En’s Rona Tison on why tea is the ideal base for function-enhancing blends and Lisa Boalt Richardson describes the World Tea Academy’s newest certification.
Natural Tea Energy
Cross category tea blends bridge traditional retail categories such as energy and refreshment; and have successfully carved out space on the shelf next to functional beverages as low-sugar organic, clean label alternatives to fortified waters and juice.
Is Tea Divisible?
Is there a dividing line that separates the enormous varieties and styles of tea into commodity and specialty or is tea quality best viewed as a continuum?
Tea Biz Podcast | Episode 28
Tea Industry News for the week ending July 30 – Research Reveals that Children Benefit from Drinking Tea | A New Definition for Specialty Tea Gets Refined | Unilever’s Tea Brand Divestiture is on Pace | PLUS Rising Temperatures Torture Tea
The Life of Tea
By Michael Freeman and Timothy d’Offay
Tea Biz Podcast | Episode 27
Tea Industry News for the week ending July 23 – New Criteria Proposed for Differentiating Specialty Tea | Walmart Tea is now 100% Rainforest Alliance Certified Sustainable | Kenya Sets KTDA Tea Auction Price Minimums | PLUS David Veal explains how the European Speciality Tea Association arrived at a new definition of specialty tea and why it will prove helpful and Aravinda Anantharaman takes us on a virtual tour of a northern India tea café with heart.
Beijing International Tea Expo 2021 Postponed
Organized by the China Tea Marketing Association, programming is closely tied to select tea origins. The 10th edition is Aug. 27-30 at the Beijing Exhibition Center.
Defining Specialty Tea
David Veal, Executive Director of the European Speciality Tea Association, explains the association’s new approach to differentiating specialty tea and why it will prove helpful.
La Gravitea Café
This northern India café offers a large selection of specialty teas, but what makes it special is that the staff of 10 is entirely hearing-impaired.
Tea Biz Podcast | Episode 26
Tea Industry News for the week ending July 16 – Darjeeling Experiences a Severe Downturn | Researchers Discover Expanded Role for Microbes in Tea Making
| Oxfam India Defines Living Wage for Assam Tea Workers | PLUS Carmién Tea founder Mientjie Mouton on the EU’s decision to commercially protect rooibos and word from the nine women growers of the Tea Gardens of Scotland on how short summers and cold winters contribute to the unique flavor of Scottish tea.
Rooibos Revived
Q|A with Mientjie Mouton founder Carmién Rooibos Tea
A Rare Find
The image at right is of a pyramid-shaped folding display poster circa 1880. When opened flat, there are brief descriptions of tea occasions. When folded into a three-dimensional pyramid, the sides read, “The Secret of a Really Good Cup of Tea is Quality as supplied by the Tea Planters & Importers Co., London.”
Tea Biz Podcast | Episode 24
Tea Industry News for the week ending July 2 – Logistics Companies Invest to Right the Ship | Newly Elected KTDA Board Ousts Executives | Hain Celestial Streamlines Tea Selections | PLUS Alicia Gentili on the challenges of establishing a new tea garden in the English Channel and Dorje Tea targets India’s domestic market in an attempt to revive Darjeeling’s Selim Hill.
Reviving Darjeeling
To Revive Darjeeling, New Dorje Tea Brand Appeals to Domestic Consumers
Tea Biz Podcast | Episode 23
Tea Industry News for the week ending June 25 – Sri Lanka’s Clean Tea Ambitions | COVID’s Toll on India’s Tea Garden Workers | Tea Day Auction Yields Record Prices | Nayuki’s Lucrative IPO | PLUS Maria Uspenski describes the benefits of adaptogens and Rishi Tea’s Jeff Champeau says that marketing seasonality is a great way to introduce craft-brewed tea into our lives.
India’s Cloud Auction Option
The cloud-based e-Marketplace at Jorhat is accessible to tea buyers around the world.
Q|A Jeff Champeau
Jeff Champeau, vice president of business development at Rishi Tea & Botanicals in Milwaukee, Wis., explains that marketing seasonality is a great way to introduce craft-brewed tea into our lives.
Adaptogens and Tea
Maria Uspenski, founder of The Tea Spot. in Boulder, Colo., discusses the benefits of herbal adaptogens and tea.
COVID’s Toll
Rural India was largely spared during the first wave of COVID infections but a second wave this spring was far more devastating
Tea Biz Podcast | Episode 22
Tea Industry News for the week ending June 18 – Cold Brew is Trending for Iced Tea Month | DAVIDsTEA in Canada Settles its Debts | Kenya Exports Surge but Auction Prices Remain Low | PLUS Smith Teamaker’s Ravi Kroesen explains new plant-based café concept and Amy Dubin-Nath on Indian specialty teas.
Q|A Ravi Kroesen
Teamaker Ravi Kroesen introduces a plant-based café concept with a locally sourced menu of snacks, bowls, lattes and iced concoctions that demonstrate how tea and food can live in harmony from leaf to cup to plate.
Q|A Amy Dubin-Nath
Amy Dubin-Nath sees a bright future for the rich array of specialty whole leaf teas originating in India but the process will be gradual, she predicts, following a path similar to fine wine.
INFUSED Adventures in Tea
By Henrietta Lovell
Tea Biz Podcast | Episode 21
Tea Industry News for the week ending June 11- Food Inflation Dampens Enthusiasm Over Rising Tea Prices | India’s Tea Industry Under Duress | and the European Union Grants Rooibos GI Protection | PLUS Jan Holzapfel, owner of 198-year-old Ronnefeldt Tea on sustainable wholesale and Kyle Whittington reviews INFUSED Adventures in Tea by Henrietta Lovell
Q|A Jan Holzapfel
Sustainable best practices at tea gardens are well established, the rest of the supply chain offers significant opportunities to protect the environment and conserve resources.
Japanese Tea Marathon
The Japan Tea Marathon is a series of live online events featuring teas from 15 of Japan’s tea producing regions. Zoom sessions begin July 23 and are held twice daily, concluding Aug. 8. Two hundred competing brewers and 1000 regular admissions give the entire world of tea an opportunity to cheer their favorite to victory.
The Charm of Vancouver’s Chinatown
Jessica Natale Woollard takes listeners on an audio trip to both Treasure Green and the Chinese Tea Shop in Vancouver, British Columbia’s historic Chinatown.
Tea Biz Podcast | Episode 20
Tea Industry News for the week ending June 4. – Pandemic Powers Organic Sales | Tea Cafes Cautiously Re-opening | Tata Expands Direct-to-Customer Range | Buyers Spend Big at Chinese International Tea Expo | PLUS Simona Suzuki on the Japan Tea Marathon and Jessica Natale Woollard walks listeners through Vancouver’s Chinatown.
Pandemic Powers Organic Sales
Import values for organic green tea spiked in 2020
China International Tea Expo
Live tea expositions, seminars, and tradeshows are returning with vigor in China. The five-day China International Tea Expo that opened in Hangzhou May 21 drew a crowd of 152,000 mainly domestic tea buyers. In aggregate they spent RMB6.4 billion purchasing 254 million tons of tea, a 14% increase compared to the previous event.
Tea Biz Podcast | Episode 19
Tea Industry News for the week of May 28 | Tea History Collection Unveiled in UK | Indian Commodities Logjam | THIRST Undertakes a Human Rights Analysis in Tea | A Series of Major Quakes Rattle Yunnan | PLUS HIMCOOP’s Aasha Bhandari on Nepal’s tea industry in transition and college sophomore William Liu explains why Ancient Tea Appeals to Young People.
Assessing Human Rights in Tea
THIRST The International Round Table for Sustainable Tea, is launching a three-year program to analyze the root causes of human rights breaches in the tea industry and come up with an action plan for how to solve them.
Why Ancient Tea Appeals to Young People
Founder William Liu says The World Tea Association redefines the tea experience through an interdisciplinary approach to expose the true leaf to a greater audience and community
Q|A Aasha Bhandari
Nepal has good quality tea, but we need to focus more on marketing, pricing, and our strategy to promote “Nepal Tea Quality from the Himalaya” in the international market.
Tea Biz Podcast | Episode 18
Tea Industry News for the week of May 21. | International Tea Day Celebrations | Assam Forbids Tea Workers to Isolate at Home | Nepal’s First Flush is Delayed | Kagoshima May Soon Outproduce Shizuoka | PLUS Eva Lee Shares Hawaii Harvest Update and author Chitrita Banerji Explains that Tea is Both Cultural and Personal
Hawaiian Tea Harvest Report
The tea plants throughout the state of Hawaii are expressing themselves considerably more this time of year than they have in the past, says Eva Lee, adding, “usually we would have begun harvesting in February or March for our first flush spring harvest.”
Q|A Steve Schwartz
Tea is a powerful conduit for health and wellness
Q|A Chitrita Banerji
Adapting to new foods is a transformative process
Tea Day Celebrations
Links and schedules to join virtual tea celebrations around the globe.
Internacional Dia del Té
Argentina’s Jornada Dia Internacional del Té BUENOS AIRES The State of Misiones, in cooperation with the government of Argentina andContinue Reading
Tea Biz Podcast | Episode 17
Tea news for the week ending May 14 | Kenya is Becoming Unbearably Hot for Tea | Brexit Disrupts UK Tea Trade | Colombo Tea Auction Transformed | PLUS The Tranquility of Tea with Jeff Fuchs and Steve Schwartz on tea as a conduit for health & wellness
Q|A Jeff Fuchs
The Tranquility of Tea
Tea Biz Podcast | Episode 16
Tea news for the week ending May 7 | Drought Eases in Assam | COVID Wave Sweeps Nepal | Are Tea Auctions Still Relevant? | Major Grocers to Offer Flash Frozen Tea Leaves | PLUS Sofa Summit Returns
The Story of Japanese Tea
By Tyas Sōsen
SofaSummit 2021
International Tea Day | May 21
Q|A Pranav Bhansali
How relevant are tea auctions today?
Marketing Organics with Humor
Why is organic stuck at 5% market share with plantings on only 1% of US acreage?
Vahdam Mobilizes COVID Fund
Vahdam India this week donated $50,000 to launch a fundraiser as part of #RiseTogetherForIndia, a COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund. DonationsContinue Reading
Tea Biz Podcast | Episode 14
Tea news for the week ending April 23 | Earth Day Takes on New Urgency | Restaurants are Rebounding | World Tea Expo Co-locates with The Nightclub & Bar Show | Bubble Tea Boba is Languishing at Sea | PLUS — Rediscovering 174 Year Old Tea and India’s Earth-Friendly Factory
Rediscovering 174-year-old Tea
Explore a prized collection of tea examined and catalogued for its organoleptic properties at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew.
India’s Earth-Friendly Tea Factory
Jalinga Tea Estate will finish constructing India’s first zero-emission tea factory in July.
Tea Biz Podcast | Episode 13
Tea news for the week ending April 16 | India Surpasses Brazil as the World’s COVID Hotspot | The Global Tea Initiative at UC Davis to Host Virtual Event | Tea Imports Spike in Pakistan | Tea Masters Cup Names Champions in Moscow | PLUS — Afternoon Tea Re-Imagined
The Many Teas of India
There are many teas from across India, with deep cultural affinities … and quite a far cry from chai.
Tea Biz Podcast | Episode 12
Tea news for the week ending April 9 | A Sparkling Future for Fizzy Tea | Bubble Tea Drinkers Froth Over Drinking Straw Ban | Vahdam Tea Partners with Goodricke Group | Starbucks Introduces Reusable Rent-a-Cup | PLUS — INDCOSERVE: Awakening a Sleeping Giant
A Tea Suited to Fine Dining
Copenhagen Sparkling Teas are elegant, contemporary, and interesting.
Q|A Supriya Sahu
In less than two years, Supriya Sahu turned a 55-year-old loss-making cooperative into a profitable venture with a new brand and new vigor.
Timely Tea Delivery
New harvest tea is on its way. Two hurdles remain. Transport is stretched to the breaking point as reinvigorated economies stir from pandemic weariness. The second hurdle is cost. Wholesalers, retailers, and importers that last year bore the weight of spiking prices must now make up for lost earnings.
Tea Biz Podcast | Episode 11
Tea news for the week ending April 2 | Suez Ship-jam Delays Tea Deliveries
| Tea Aisle Sales Stand Out in Grocery
| Tea Retail Realignment Underway | Camellia Sinensis Closes Emery Street Teahouse | PLUS: A maritime foundation in Scotland has a bold plan to restore the last of the clipper ships and race it from China to UK filled with tea.
Clipper Tea Races Reborn
A bold plan to restore the last of the clipper ships and race it from China to the UK filled with tea.
Tales of the Tea Trade
By Michelle and Rob Comins
Tea Biz Podcast | Episode 10
Tea news for the week ending March 26 | India High Court Reverses Tea Worker Wage Increase | Kenyan Tea Factory Elections Suspended | Study Finds Growers Adapting to Climate Change | PLUS: Certifications soothe the conscience, but do they deliver for the communities where workers reside?
Maruyama: 21st Century Japanese Tea Production
The foundation of Japan’s tea industry has been its incorporation of new technology.
Adapting to Climate Change
New study recommends motivational campaigns, demonstrations, training, and extension work to encourage growers large and small to adapt to climate change.
Tea Biz Podcast | Episode 9
Tea Industry News for the week of March 19. | US Restaurant Rescue Funds Total $28.6 Billion | EU Reviews Pesticide Rules | Tea Theaflavin Inhibits Coronavirus Replication | PLANT-AG is a $9 Billion Startup that Promises Field-to-Plate Traceability
Resilience: The Story of Kitaha Tea
Japan once produced copious black tea – enough to be exported. Kitaha Japanese black tea is reviving the country’s black tea tradition and in so doing passing the skills of monocha agriculture to future generations.
Tea Biz Podcast | Episode 8
Tea Industry News for the week of March 12. | First Flush Harvest Underway | Introducing Weekly Tea Price Report | Tea Relaxes Walls of Human Blood Vessels | Celebrating the Green with Matcha
Tea Biz Podcast | Episode 7
Tea Industry News for the week of March 5.| Brand Relevance in Chaotic Times | Nepal Announces Tea Traceability Project | The Danish Tea Association Merges with The European Speciality Tea Association
| YELP! Names a Tea House to its list of Top 100 Places to Eat in America
Tea Biz Podcast | Episode 6
Tea Industry News for the week of February 26
| Retail Sales Thawed in January
| Restaurant Reticence Persists
| Kenya’s Tea Export Earnings Surged in 2020
| Assam Increases Daily Wages by 30 pct for Tea Workers
Small Enterprise Marketing
No matter how compelling their brand story, growers rely on buyers sampling teas to seal the deal, but webinars that enable face-to-digital-face interaction and user engagement will likely continue long after the pandemic resides.
T. Kettle: A tour of Canada’s newest tea retail chain
T. Kettle founder Doug Putman, a turnaround investor recently opened 45 tea retail locations in nine Canadian provinces and six U.S. states.
Tea Biz Podcast | Episode 5
Tea Industry News for the week of February 19
| Sri Lanka Launches
Expansive Ceylon Tea Promotion | Green Tea Cancer-Fighting Breakthrough | Lipton IPO Likely in 2021 | Tea Tourism Stirs from Pandemic Induced Slumber
Tea Biz Podcast | Episode 4
Tea Industry News for the week of February 12
| Hard tea packs a punch
| India earmarks worker subsidies for women and children
| Beware of false claims, FDA warns companies to stop misleading consumers with products that claim to cure COVID-19
Tea Biz Podcast | Episode 3
Tea Industry News for the week of February 5
| Shipping container shortage threatens timely tea deliveries
| Kenya’s High Court has ruled against unions seeking to prevent mechanical harvesting of tea
| Bombs Away… Tea bombs encased in confectionary get rave reviews online
Tea Biz Podcast | Episode 2
Tea Industry News for the week of January 29
| DAVIDsTEA Turnaround
| Condition Specific Blends
| Canadian Tea Sales Slow
Reading the tea industry’s tea leaves for 2021
Tasseomancy offers enquirers the vantage of a personal seer and a glimpse of unseen days to come. Tea Biz asked Amy Taylor of The Art of Tea and Tasseomancy to do a reading for the tea industry on the eve of 2021.
Competition Tea
Tea competitions that “speak” for their respective markets are great for the industry.
Three tea merchants that know how to convert conventional tea drinkers into fans of premium specialty tea
Three tea merchants that know how to convert conventional tea drinkers into fans of premium specialty tea
Tea campaigns on Kickstarter
Students in Korea and Texas promote a new global value chain directly linking consumers to tea growers.
2020 International Virtual Tea Festival
The two-day virtual event features free and paid workshops and classes with real-time tastings “simulcast” into the homes of participants.
Nomad Tea Festival
Led by tea enthusiasts in Europe, the Nomad Tea Festival is an ambitious virtual event that brings together a diverse, talented, and very tech-savvy cadre of tea experts, educators, entertainers, and vendors.
| Tea sales accelerate in Canada | retailers cope with COVID
Tea Industry News for the week of Sept. 28 | By Dan Bolton | Tea Biz |
― Tea Sales Accelerate in Canada |
― Tea Retailers Cope with COVID | ― Delivery and Takeaway Boost Market Share
CDC: Restaurants are Risky
Tea Industry News for the week of Sept 9, 2020 | COVID Study Implicates Restaurants | Retail Stirrings: Billy Corgan Resurrects Madame ZuZu’s Tea Emporium | Unilever Divestiture Worries Plantation Workers
| Rising Prices | Drenched
Tea Industry News for the week of Aug 17 | By Dan Bolton | Tea Biz |
― Rising Tea Prices |
― Heavy Rainfall Wreaks Havoc |
― AVPA Entry Deadline Nears |
| Over the Cliff | Elemental Exam
Tea Industry News for the week of July 27 | By Dan Bolton | Tea Biz |
― Over the Cliff |
― World Tea Expo Goes Virtual | ― Made in America |
― DMCC Expansion Plans |
― Measuring Elements in Tea
| Drink Plants | Enshi Floods
Tea Industry News for the week of July 20 |
― Drink Plants |
― Tea Outlook Promising |
― New Teatulia Tea CEO |
― Enshi Floods |
― Bigelow Wellness |
| DAVIDsTEA Reorganizes
Tea Industry News for the Week of July 13
— DAVIDsTEA Restructures |
— US Retail Re-openings Stall |
— World Tea Expo Postponed Until 2021 |
— Samovar Tea Lounges Begin “Hibernation” |
— Kenya Court Halts Tea Reforms |
Retail Rebounds
Tea Industry News for the Week of June 15
— Retail is Rebounding |
— Breakfast: Deflated Daypart |
— Reopening: Milllennials Lead the Way |
— E-Commerce Sales of Specialty Tea Spike |
— India Extends Lockdown | Exports Declined in 2019
Europe’s invigorated speciality tea proponent
Reinvigorated European Speciality Tea Association seeks to be in the forefront of the continuing quest to improve standards, quality, knowledge, information interest, and enthusiasm for specialty tea.
Need to Know | Play the Health Card
Tea Industry News for the week of June 8
― Theaflavins Inhibit Virus Replication |
― Immunity is the Epicenter of Health Enhancing Foods |
― Water Works Wonders |
― Digesting Grubhub |
― Tea for the Front Line |
Need to Know| International Tea Day
Tea industry news for the week of May 25
— International Tea Day |
― Angela Lansbury as teapots |
— India COVID-19 Update |
― Matcha Growth |
Need to Know | Boba Delivery
Tea industry news for the week of May 18.
― Boba Tea Tops Beverage Delivery Lists |
― East Africa Update |
― Turkish Tea Harvest |
― Robotic Waitstaff Serves Tea |
― Nepal Asks India to Resume Tea Imports |
Need to Know | Export Values Declined in 2019
Tea Industry News for the Week of May 11.
— Tea & Tariffs |
— Export Value of Tea Declined in 2019 |
— U.S. Consumers Remain Wary of Reopening |
— Tea is Piling up |
— Attend the SofaSummit on International Tea Day |
Need to Know | Ominous Fiscal Impact
Tea Industry News for the Week of May 4.
— Ominous Fiscal Impact
— Online Grocery Orders Up 37%
— Tea Supply Not a Grave Concern
— Post Offices on the Front Line
— Seattle Caps Delivery Commissions
Need to Know | Pandemic
Tea Industry News for the week of April 27
– The Pandemic’s Impact on Specialty Tea
– Starbucks Reports 60-70% Decline in US Sales
– McKinsey & Co.: Consumers Are Readily Abandoning Brands
– Sri Lanka: March Tea Exports Drop by Half
– Retail Innovations: Samovar Tea Lounge Offers Free Meal Monday.
Tea Shop Closings
A running list of permanent tearoom and tea merchant closures in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States, and UK.
Need to Know | Changing Consumer Behavior
Tea industry news for the week of April 20
- Monitoring Consumer Behavior
- Record Prices at Colombo’s Digital Auction
- Kenya May Ban Direct Tea Sales
- Physical Distancing on 1,500 Acres in Assam
- Private Investors Back Millennia Flash-Frozen Tea
Need to Know | Grocery Sales Spike
Tea sales in grocery spiked as consumers rushed to stock up ahead of lockdowns in the US, Canada, and the UK. During the last week
Retail Impact of COVID-19 is Devastating for Tea and Coffee Shops in China and Italy
Statistics compiled from a survey of retailers following China’s unprecedented lockdown of 700 million people reveal that while international chainsContinue Reading
Coronavirus Presents Logistical Challenges for China's Tea Harvest
Setbacks are not due to illness or deaths of tea garden workers; it is the result of a national effort to limit travel, close factories, ban public gatherings and shutdown bus, train, air, and subways to prevent the virus from spreading.
Darjeeling Silence is Deafening
Internet service in the Darjeeling Hills was disabled June 19 and service providers remain under orders not to allow onlineContinue Reading
Never at a loss for words…
Tea Journey Magazine was funded at dawn by more than 560 backers who contributed $128,000 during the past 60 days…Continue Reading
How many people support Tea Journey…
It’s an astronomical, gratifying, amazingly large number of people around the globe. Backers contributed more than $10,000 in the last 10 days of May to successfully fund the magazine with more than $128,000 in donations.
Tea Journey: A Kickstarter “Project We Love”
Badges for Projects We Love The Kickstarter Blog · To date, there have been more than 280,000 creative projects onContinue Reading
Friends in Tea
Last week donors pledged $15,000 to bring Tea Journey to life. As you read this note our total paid subscriptions willContinue Reading
Tea Journey
There are 30 days left in the campaign. Our goal is 1,000 paid subscribers. Those who donate receive amazing gifts of tea, tea experiences of a lifetime and teaware. Choose from hundreds of rewards valued at $95,000.
Locating the Richest Tea Retailers
Location data is critical to retail success and essential to expansion planning. Market research firm AggData offers a revealing toolContinue Reading
China’s One Belt, One Road – Need to Know
China is making its biggest splash in tea in modern times this summer at Expo Milano 2015 the world’s largestContinue Reading
