SustainabiliTEA

COOKING WITH TEA RECIPE: Burmese Tea Leaf Salad or Lahpet Thoke

Aubrey — Mon, 20 May 2013 19:54:11 +0000

We couldn’t be more excited to post this Cooking with Tea recipe created by Olivia May at From the Kitchen of Olivia. When the Arbor Teas team recently visited San Francisco we enjoyed an amazing Burmese Tea Salad at a small family restaurant named Pagan. We shared our adventure with Olivia who, inspired by her own Burmese Tea Salad adventures, created this recipe using Arbor Teas’ Organic Makaibari Estate Darjeeling Green Tea.

This recipe for a traditional Burmese fermented tea leaf salad (Lahpet Thoke pronounced “la-pay toe”) is an eclectic mix of flavors and textures. However, finding fermented tea leaves outside Burma and northern Thailand isn’t very easy. Luckily, this recipe includes directions to ferment your own tea leaves!

Check here for the full recipe for Burmese Tea Leaf Salad!

Arbor Teas Website is Award Winning!

Aubrey — Wed, 08 May 2013 17:28:36 +0000

We are delighted to announce that the Arbor Teas website (www.arborteas.com) is now an award-winning website!

ArborTeas.com won a 2013 Gold AVA Award honoring digital excellence for small business. AVA Awards is an international competition that recognizes outstanding work by creative professionals involved in the concept, direction, design and production of media that is part of the evolution of digital communication. AVA Awards are administered and judged by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP).

Congratulations to the team of designers at FWD Design that brought the Arbor Teas website to life!

Thank you!

Arbor Teas Annual Earth Day Sale – Monday, April 22, 2013

Aubrey — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 18:50:18 +0000

Our Annual Earth Day Sale is Monday, April 22!

Celebrate Earth Day with the Arbor Teas Annual Earth Day Sale. For one day only, we offer 15% off everything in our inventory – our largest sale of the year! To take advantage of the Earth Day Sale, place your order on the Arbor Teas website (www.arborteas.com) on April 22nd and input the following coupon code during checkout: EarthDay2013.

Earth Day Sale Details
Date: Monday, April 22, 2013
Time: Between 12:01 am EST and 11:59 pm PST
Sale: 15% off everything in our inventory!
Bonus: Free shipping for orders over $60
Coupon Code: EarthDay2013

The Earth Day Discount is available while supplies last. In the past, we have sold out of certain teas and teaware, so order early! We’re sorry, but the Earth Day discount cannot be applied to orders placed before April 22nd and cannot be applied to orders placed after April 22nd. The Earth Day discount cannot be combined with other coupons and cannot be applied toward shipping costs, however we are pleased to offer free shipping for orders over $60!

PS – Don’t forget Mother’s Day is right around the corner – now is a perfect time to treat that special mom in your life to something delicious and healthy!

COOKING WITH TEA RECIPE: Chamomile Hummus and Chamomile Vinaigrette Dressing

Aubrey — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 19:53:31 +0000

Arbor Teas customer Dimitra Anne was recently inspired by our Organic Chamomile to create two (2) new “cooking with tea” recipes! In fact, when her daughter sat down at the dinner table she exclaimed, “Mom, is there Chamomile in this!?”.

Dimitra created a wonderful Chamomile Vinaigrette Dressing that can be served over a lettuce salad or altered slightly to create a delicious tahini dressing for a shredded cabbage and carrot salad.

Dimitra recommends a salad of romaine, baby spinach, spring greens, cauliflower, red pepper, garbanzos, hemp and chia seeds, slivered almonds, goji berries, and dried fig slices.

Check here to view the full recipe for Chamomile Vinaigrette Dressing.

Dimitra also created a delightful Chamomile Hummus that can be served alone with bread, crackers, carrots, and cucumbers. Or served as a counterpart to vegetable fritters such as fried eggplant. She also recommends serving this fresh hummus with warm garbanzos. Yum!

Check here to view the full recipe for Chamomile Hummus.

Don’t forget to submit your own tea-inspired recipe to earn 100 rewards points at Arbor Teas!

Arbor Teas celebrates 6 years of partnership with Carbon Fund!

Aubrey — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 15:49:58 +0000

For the past six years, Arbor Teas has ”neutralized” its annual operational emissions and its product shipment emissions in partnership with Carbonfund.org. We are committed to making a positive impact on the environment and have taken many steps to reduce emissions by offering only organic teas, packaging our tea in backyard compostable packaging, and using renewable energy sources. However, our teas come from all corners of the world, so the shipping emissions are unavoidable. To mitigate these emissions, we have maintained a CarbonFree® Shipping program to offset the carbon footprint of annual product shipment emissions, and to offset all internal operational emissions, by supporting Carbonfund.org’s renewable energy, energy efficiency and reforestation projects.

Until technology allow us to eliminate carbon emissions entirely, we agree whole-heartedly with CarbonFund.org’s motto:

“Reduce what you can, offset what you can’t.”

Arbor Teas Mentioned in New Book – Rich Food, Poor Food

Aubrey — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 15:49:11 +0000

Arbor Teas was recently named in a new book, Rich Food, Poor Food, that strives to help shoppers locate the healthiest foods on the market.

Sold out at Barnes and Noble and reaching #18 on Amazon.com, this grocery store guide takes shoppers aisle by aisle, from the produce section to the pasta aisle, visiting every department in between, teaching its readers how to identify potentially problematic ingredients including synthetic hormones, pesticides and GMOs, as well as sharing tips on how to lock in a food’s nutritional value during preservation and preparation. Arbor Teas is listed as having some of the best products on the market today!

Browse the Arbor Teas selection of USDA organic certified loose leaf teas and tisanes!

Arbor Teas Holidays Hours 2012

Aubrey — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 20:34:26 +0000

Arbor Teas will be closed for the Holidays, Dec 24, 2012 – Jan 1, 2013.

We will continue to accept orders via arborteas.com, but no shipments will be made during this time. All orders placed during this time frame will be promptly shipped beginning January 2.

Free Delivery in Ann Arbor will resume on Friday, January 4.

Wishing Everyone a Very Merry Holiday and Happy New Year!

Arbor Teas Mentioned in SustainableBrands.com

Aubrey — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 20:07:09 +0000

As many of you know, starting on Earth Day 2010 Arbor Teas began to deliver its line of organic loose teas in 100% backyard compostable packaging! With the release of this next generation packaging, we at Arbor Teas advanced our environmental mission, continuing to lead the tea industry through our staunch commitment to sustainable business practices. For the first time ever, tea drinkers were able to compost their tea leaves AND tea packaging together in their home composting system!

Recently, our packaging was recognized in the article “Is That a Candy Bar Wrapper in My Tomato Garden?” on sustainablebrands.com. You may recognize the photo at the beginning of the article!

“Sustainable packaging gives the consumer yet another reason to choose one product over another…”
(Christopher Mitchell, sustainablebrands.com)

Thanks for choosing us!

NEW Tea-Infused Smoky Caramels & NEW Coconut Rooibos Truffle!

Aubrey — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 16:57:35 +0000

Tis the Season! Our gourmet Tea Infused Chocolate Truffles are back for the holidays! We have offered these tasty little treats during the holiday season for 4 years in a row, brought back each year by popular demand. This year we are mixing it up. We are replacing one of the previous truffles with a new Coconut Rooibos truffle. It is amazing!

Plus, NEW for 2012! Enjoy sweet and smoky artisan caramels. These handmade caramels are meticulously prepared in small batches by our very own Olivia May at From the Kitchen of Olivia. Olivia has been creating tea inspired recipes for the Arbor Teas Cooking with Tea section (and this blog!) for several years. This year, we FINALLY convinced Olivia to share her talent with all of us! For the holiday season only (Nov thru Dec), Olivia is re-creating her most popular recipe, Tea Infused Smoky Caramels. Olivia uses our Organic and Fair Trade Certified Lapsang Souchong Black Tea to create a smoky infusion for these caramels. Think buttery sweet smoke wrapped in one amazingly gooey and salty caramel. We’ve never tasted a caramel as good as this!

PS – Watch out, these caramels can be addictive!

COOKING WITH TEA RECIPE: Masala Chai Spiced Donuts

Aubrey — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 16:39:01 +0000

Olivia May at From the Kitchen of Olivia has done it again! She has created an amazing tea-inspired recipe for Arbor Teas that is perfect for the fall season – Masala Chai Spiced Donuts!

Olivia writes: “Choose your own adventure! This recipe is filled with decisions… Fried or Baked? Caffeinated or Not? Doughnuts or Donuts? When the weather turns cool, I like to make donuts. At least that’s how I’ve settled on spelling it. As for fried or baked? Well, that’s a texture preference. Personally, I like the cake-like quality of a fried cider donut more so than the doughy-ness of a glazed. The caffeine question is a bit more mood related. Arbor Teas’ organic Masala Chai Black Tea has more prominent notes of spicy cardamom and a kick from black pepper, while the naturally caffeine free Organic Masala Chai Rooibos has a flavor profile distinct with warm ginger. Indecisive? The Organic Decaf Masala Chai Black Tea is yet another option that probably doesn’t help break any ties. Here are two very different and customizable approaches to making chai-spiced donuts. Which do you prefer? Hope you enjoy this Cooking with Tea recipe From the Kitchen of Olivia! ”

Check here to view Olivia’s full recipe for Masala Chai Spiced Donuts!