One of my favorite tea personalities, Dr. Tea (Mark Ukra) has authored a book to help you leverage the power of tea to improve your diet. Make tea the main ingredient in your life. For book details visit www.ultimateteadiet.com.

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I first wrote about Choice Organic Teas in February of this year in a blogment on marTEA.com. A story about their efforts to donate to Save The Himalayan Kingdom caught my attention. Tea is often referred to as the second most consumed beverage in the world – second only to water. As I’ve started my journey into the tea industry, I often read of the impoverished conditions that tea workers live in. I read about the economic struggles that tea farmers face due to the lack of money to modernize their facilities and processes. With all the hardship that faces those closest to the actual product, the industry boasts major growth with billions of dollars in revenue. So why is it that the second most consumed beverage in the world is surrounded by these troubles? Well, many of those reasons are debatable. However, tea companies like Choice Organic Teas are trying to make a difference and doing something to make life better for those closest to the product.

I like how Choice Organic Teas are not only supporting Fair Trade, but they are also selling environmentally friendly organic products. Now, to take it one step farther, they have chosen to support a cause that they feel is worthy of attention (Save The Himalayan Kingdom). With each purchase of a box of Himalaya Green Tea, ten cents will go toward Save The Himalayan Kingdom. Nepal and its surrounding mountains are natural phenomenons that challenge the imagination of mankind to ponder its mass and beauty. Nepal is located in South Asia. If you look on a map, you’ll notice that Nepal borders China (north) and it is surrounded by India (south, east, west). It’s easy to see why Nepal is a tea producing country. Now, the green tea I’m drinking today is a USDA certified organic bagged tea from the Kanchanjangha Tea Estate in Nepal. The tea inside the bag was finely cut. The organic Nepalese green tea was light and fresh. There was a slight bitterness about it that didn’t agree with my palate. I wasn’t impressed with the overall flavor, but it easily rivaled its competitors that offer similar products. That said, if you enjoy bagged teas and you are looking for a green tea to try, what a great company to support. I enjoyed some of their other teas that I’ll blog about in the near future.

• Visit Choice Organic Teas

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This is a good video to watch for those of you that are new to tea. If you are starting to gain interest in tea, Bigelow Tea is a great place to start.

• Visit Bigelow Tea

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A green tea energy drink – so exciting…not really. I’m trying a product by Arizona that is a “performance blend” ready-to-drink (RTD) canned beverage. AriZona is a major player in the RTD tea industry. However, this is easily the worst AriZona tea product I have ever tried. It comes in a 16 fluid ounce can. Unfortunately, since it’s in a can, I can’t seal it and put it back in the refrigerator. There’s no way I can finish a full can anyway due to its not so pleasing flavor. I could put it in another sealed container for storage, but it’s not worth it. The initial flavor is sickening sweet with a very bitter and dry aftertaste to it. That combination does nothing for me. The smell of the beverage is equally as bad as the flavor. I can’t taste anything that reminds me of green tea. The lightly carbonated tea just seems so unnatural to me. I have to stop drinking it now. I gave this tea a few tries before I blogged about it. I have read a few positive reviews of this beverage…maybe it’s just me.

This beverage is packed with sugar – 50g. At first I thought I misread the label…it clearly states 25g per 8 fl. oz serving. AriZona does its best to dress up the can, but the beverage itself needs a little work. Now, you may like this beverage. AriZona has many tea products to choose from – many that I do enjoy! I think this product reflects their efforts to meet a growing demand for green tea products. Unfortunately, this one just doesn’t agree with my taste buds.

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I hope your holiday season is going well.  I got a lot of tea related gifts for Christmas.  I can’t wait to try them and blog about it.

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What an elegant cup of green tea…it is very refreshing. From the Loin Peak Mountain in the Hang Zhou area of Zhejiang province to my cup in the U.S., this tea has traveled far and it delivered a fresh and delicate cup of green tea. For being a lighter green tea, the aftertaste is very lasting in a pleasing manner and it makes the tea even more enjoyable. Dragon Well is a very popular tea in China, and I can certainly see why. It has an inviting vegetal flavor with very light nutty and buttery hints to it. The dried tea leaves are non-fermented and the natural flavors of the tea are released when it steeps. Dragon Well is easily identified by the flat shape of the tea shoots. Make sure you use a cooler water temperature with this tea. I had a perfect cup after every steeping.

I highly recommend this tea for those of you looking for a higher quality green tea or someone looking for a true green tea experience. If you don’t like green tea or teas with a vegetal flavor, you may not want to try this tea. This tea is for the person seeking an authentic green tea experience. I could drink this tea all day!

Visit Just4Tea.com

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Is there an official tea day in the US? If not, there should be. If there is a National Tea Day in the US, send me an email or leave a comment. I’m thinking it could be a “holiday” that helps to boost awareness about tea and its many health benefits. From a sales and marketing perspective, it could help promote tea as the greatest beverage on earth – why aren’t you drinking it (not you, the people that don’t drink tea)?

There is an International Tea Day, it was on December 15th. Here’s some of their bulleted objectives for the special day.

• Organize a meeting or an event expressing solidarity with workers and small growers, who produce tea for us.

• Demand government policies that protect the interests of tea workers and small growers

• Demand for an International Commodity Agreement on Tea.

• Write to your MP and government asking for policies that safeguard the interest of the producers and consumers.

• Promote tea: Tea is a health drink

As you can see, the International Tea Day addresses many serious issues plaguing the tea industry.

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This is a must see for marTEA…

The film documentary follows tea-expert David Lee Hoffman to remote tea producing regions in China in search of the finest teas. Les Blank and Gina Leibrecht are credited as the directors of the film.

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