Archive for March, 2009
With all of the attention that global warming has been given lately (for good reason), the carbon footprint of goods and services has come to dominate the conversation of reducing the environmental impact of what we buy, eat and use in our daily lives. Because of this, we often forget about other environmental criteria worth considering, like global water consumption. According to the recent publication “The World’s Water, 2008-2009″ (by Peter Gleick, et al, www.waterfootprint.org), it turns out that tea has a much smaller “water footprint” than coffee, requiring as little as one-fifth to one-tenth as much water!
This substantial difference is due in large part to the incredible thirst of the coffee tree in producing the cherries that coffee is made from, compared to the relatively water-efficient tea bush. In fact, among all agricultural products, coffee is responsible for the greatest amount of “virtual” movement of water across the globe (from growing areas to consumption areas) tied up in the form of coffee beans. So, save water… drink tea!!!
March 18 2009 | Sustainability | 2 Comments »
Drinking at least three cups of green or black tea a day can significantly reduce the risk of stroke, a new UCLA study has found. And the more you drink, the better your odds of staving off a stroke. The study results, published in the online edition of Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association, were presented Feb. 19 at the American Heart Association’s annual International Stroke Conference in San Diego, California.
The UCLA researchers conducted an evidence-based review of all human observational studies on stroke and tea consumption found in the PubMed and Web of Science archives. They found nine studies describing 4,378 strokes among nearly 195,000 individuals, according to lead author Lenore Arab, a professor of medicine in the division of general internal medicine and health services research at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
“What we saw was that there was a consistency of effect of appreciable magnitude,” said Arab, who is also a professor of biological chemistry. “By drinking three cups of tea a day, the risk of a stroke was reduced by 21 percent. It didn’t matter if it was green or black tea.” And extrapolating from the data, the effect appears to be linear, Arab said. For instance, if one drinks three cups a day, the risk falls by 21 percent; follow that with another three cups and the risk drops another 21 percent. continue reading »
March 18 2009 | Tea and Health | 3 Comments »
Can refer both to the newest growth of buds and young leaf shoots that appears at the tip of each branch of the tea bush, as well as the particular time of harvest during the growing season. Several successive harvests can occur throughout the growing season, each happening when the latest “flush” of leaves emerge fom the tea bushes. Thus, the first harvest of the season is generally referred to as the “first flush,” and once the tea bushes have regrown a new flush of leaves, they are ready for the “second flush” harvest, and so on. Oftentimes, the different flushes throughout the growing season can exhibit variations in appearance, flavor and aroma. This is particularly the case when comparing a first flush Darjeeling tea to a second flush Darjeeling tea.
March 18 2009 | Tea Terms | No Comments »
We receive questions on a daily basis regarding the caffeine content of tea. It’s probably one of the hottest topics we’re asked about. Recently, a customer asked why we didn’t carry a decaffeinated Genmaicha Green Tea, to which I offered the following explanation:
Decaffeinating teas requires costly equipment and substantial amounts of energy, which typically make it cost-ineffective to decaffeinate small batches of specialty teas. Only the most main-stream varieties are generally considered for decaffeination – usually versatile black and green teas that can be sold “as is” or blended in some fashion to create products like Decaf. English Breakfast, Decaf. Earl Grey, etc. You’ll almost never see a decaffeinated version of a limited-production premium tea, like our Jade Oolong, Silver Needle White, or Gyokuro Green. These products are already rather expensive and have a limited market demand, so creating a more expensive decaffeinated version to serve an even smaller group of customers doesn’t make sense for the tea manufacturer.
After offering this explanation, I was reminded of a way for caffeine-conscious tea lovers to sidestep the limited availability of premium decaffeinated teas. If you just HAVE to have a particular variety of tea, and you’re not able to find a decaffeinated version, consider using our “easy at-home decaffeination method.” continue reading »
March 18 2009 | Tea and Health and Tea Facts and Tea Preparation | 8 Comments »