Winners include:

Tea Ware Category Winner

1660 Tasting Cups, by 1660 London

These cups are each shaped to enhance the drinking experience of green, black and fragrant teas. The concept is similar to connoisseur glasses that help certain wines release their maximum potential.

Innovation Winner

Slim Steeper Cold Brew Tea Infuser by The Tea Spot

The eco-friendly Slim Steeper works with disposable water bottles and loose leaf teas to make fresh tea on-the-go. Cold brew and drink tea in just 10 minutes; add more water and resteep.

Tea as an Ingredient Winner (tie)

Swirl Green Tea – Cold-Brewed On The Go!, by Breezy Spring LLC

Swirl is a trendy new concept that combines premium green tea with convenience. It’s unique, slender tea bag goes into a water bottle for brewing anywhere.

Tea as an Ingredient Winner (tie)

Indie Tea’s arTEAsan Magic Mushroom Spice Rub, by Indie Tea

This delicious, organic blend of roasted yerba mate porcini mushroom is infused with gourmet salt and savory spices like cumin, fennel, coriander, garlic, onions and more.

Tea Accessory Winner (tie)

Tea Traveler Tasting Collection, by Teas Etc.

The popular Tea Traveler, by Tea’s Etc., revolutionized premium loose-leaf tea on the go, and it’s now available in a fashionable gift collection, featuring traveler size and pre-measured packets of premium loose leaf tea.

Tea Accessory Winner (tie)

Tea-Themed Greeting Card Line, by Love and Scandal Tea Company

This new greeting card line features vintage photo images, contemporary, traditional and sometimes cheeky warm wishes, along with a bagged tea samples from renowned tea vendors. Baked Goods Winner

Farmhouse English Biscuits, by Imported direct by Tri-Connect, Inc.

Farmhouse English Biscuits is a family-owned and operated bakery located in the northern countryside of England. Their biscuits are made with grandma’s original recipe, traditionally baked with the finest ingredients.

Publication Winner

The User’s Guide To Scone Making and Scone Mixes by Victorian House Scones, from The Tea House Times

This concise guide is complete with photos, detailing the how-tos of scone making in general as well as flavor creation.

Open Class Winner

Indie Tea Tee-Tins…Mad Party, by Indie Tea

These lively tins depict the famous Alice in Wonderland tea party and they include a “tea shirt.” The Tee-Tins tees are a sustainable line of tea-inspired apparel.

Packaging Winner

Convenience Packaging for Puer Teas, by Wild Tea Qi

The award-winning Puer Teas are now available in 100-percent recyclable, convenient packaging for single-serving ease – for tea on the go.

SOURCE 2012 World Tea Expo

The Denver-based kidney dialysis provider said that after two years as its CFO, Luis Borgen is returning to Boston to be closer to his family.

It said Davids Tea is a venture-capital backed company, but gave no further details.

Borgen was quoted in a DaVita news release as saying his two years at the company have been rewarding and his new job will take him back into retailing.

Jim Hilger, DaVita’s chief accounting officer, will serve as interim chief financial officer, effective immediately, the company said.

Hilger joined DaVita in 2005 and became chief accounting officer in 2010. He also served as acting chief financial officer in 2007 and 2008, DaVita said.

Dry eye syndrome involves malfunction of the rate of tear production, the quality of tears, and/or the rate of evaporate from the surface of the eye. Anyone can experience dry eye, though it is more common among women. Symptoms can include gritty, scratchy or burning sensations, excessive tearing, and/or production of stringy mucus.

The research team, by Reiko Arita, MD, PhD, was motivated by an earlier study that had shown a reduced risk for dry eye in caffeine users: 13 percent of users had the syndrome compared with nearly 17 percent of non-users. The team knew that caffeine was likely to stimulate tear glands, since it is known to increase other secretions, such as saliva and digestive juices. They also knew that people respond differently to caffeine, so they analyzed study participants’ DNA samples for two genetic variations that play important roles in caffeine metabolism. Tear production proved to be higher in study subjects who had the two genetic variations.

“If confirmed by other studies, our findings on caffeine should be useful in treating dry eye syndrome,” said Dr. Arita. “At this point, though, we would advise using it selectively for patients who are most sensitive to caffeine’s stimulating effects.”

The study subjects were divided into two groups: one received caffeine tablets in the first session and a placebo in the second session, while the order was reversed for the other group. Tear volume was measured within 45 minutes of consuming the tablets. All sessions took place between 10 a.m. and noon, a time of day when tear production is usually stable. No subjects knew whether they received caffeine or the placebo. All abstained from caffeine use for six days prior to each session and used no drugs during the sessions. To be eligible for the study subjects had to be free of high blood pressure, dry eye syndrome, allergies that affect the eye, glaucoma, and other eye diseases and conditions that can interfere with tear production. The study also found that tear drainage rates were not affected by caffeine.

Dry eye can be very uncomfortable and interfere with vision. It’s important to see an ophthalmologist if symptoms continue, since advanced cases can cause eye damage and permanent vision problems. Current treatment options range from simple warm compresses, eye washes and artificial tears to medications and tear drainage devices.

“Our Not Too Sweet Tea is the perfect option for people who like a smooth tea but are seeking out alternatives with less sugar,” said Seth Goldman, president and TeaEO of Honest Tea. “The organic and fair trade ingredients make it even more special.”

Not Too Sweet Tea joins the brand’s other USDA-certified organic and Fair Trade Certified™ bottled teas and will be available for a suggested retail price of $1.49 at national retail locations.

The Highland Consumer Fund will be joined in its financing round by Chip Wilson, the founder & former CEO of Lululemon Athletica. Their strategic investment in the business will be used to continue the company’s strong revenue gains and help fuel the growth of retail operations across North America. As part of this, DAVIDsTEA will establish a U.S. headquarters.

Herschel Segal will continue to serve as Chairman of DAVIDsTEA and will be joined on the Board by David Segal, Jane Silverstone Segal, Sarah Segal (now interim President) and Javier San Juan, President of L’Oreal Canada. In addition, Chip Wilson and Tom Stemberg, Managing General Partner at Highland and founder and former CEO of Staples, will also be joining the Board of Directors. “DAVIDsTEA offers a strong brand, exceptional products and compelling customer experience that is shared with many of the other top retailers that I’ve been fortunate to work with,” said Tom Stemberg. “Both Chip and I look forward to a strong partnership and sharing lessons learned.”

About DAVIDsTEA Founded in 2008, with the demand for tea on the rise, DAVIDsTEA has grown from one store in downtown Toronto to more than 75 retail outlets across North America. Headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, the company offers more than 150 varieties of teas, including traditional straight teas, as well as unique exclusive blends and limited edition seasonal collections; DAVIDsTEA passionately develops premium teas with ingredients sourced from around the world. The company is dedicated to community involvement, in addition to a commitment to sustainable practices. Follow DAVIDsTEA’s latest developments at facebook.com/davidstea and twitter.com/davidstea.

About The Highland Consumer Fund The Highland Consumer Fund specializes in consumer products, services and retail investment opportunities in growth-focused companies with proven business models operating in attractive markets. The Fund brings together an investment team with extensive experience founding, growing, operating and investing in successful consumer companies. It also offers companies a unique value proposition through the hands-on guidance and active involvement of its consumer domain experts. The Highland Consumer Fund has invested in and worked to create such firms as City Sports, Guitar Center, J.McLaughlin, Pharmaca Integrative Pharmacy and Pinkberry. For more information, visit Highland’s web site at www.hcp.com .

SOURCE DAVIDsTEA

Aristolochic acid is recognized by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as a powerful nephrotoxin and human carcinogen associated with chronic kidney disease and UUC. The dual toxicities and target tissues were originally revealed when a group of healthy Belgian women developed renal failure and UUC after ingesting Aristolochia herbs to lose weight. Other cases of aristolochic acid nephropathy (AAN) and UUC were subsequently reported worldwide.

Most recently, Dr. Grollman and colleagues proved AA to be the causative agent of endemic nephropathy in the Balkans, solving a 50-year-old medical mystery that pointed to the ingestion of Aristolochia clematitis, or birthwort, contained in wheat. The study results were reported recently in Kidney International.

Using their previous work in the Balkans as a guide, Dr. Grollman and colleagues looked toward other areas where Aristolochia might be consumed and in which there was a high incidence of kidney disease and UUC. Taiwan appeared to demonstrate exactly that connection.

“We believe our latest research highlights the importance of a long-overlooked disease that affects many individuals in Taiwan, and, by extension, in China and other countries worldwide, where Aristolochia herbal remedies traditionally have been used for medicinal purposes,” says Dr. Grollman.

An analysis of National Health Insurance data in Taiwan between 1997 and 2003 indicates the widespread use of AA in herbal medications. Based on a 200,000 person random sample of the entire insured population of Taiwan, the data reveals that approximately one-third of those prescribed medicines consumed herbs containing, or likely to contain, AA.

Marc De Broe, University of Antwerp, an investigator not associated with the study says, “From a group of fewer than 200 patients in Belgium, and a geographically confined rural population in the Balkans, the circle of cancer risk due to AA exposure has now grown to potentially global proportions.”

In “Aristolochic acid-associated urothelial carcinoma in Taiwan,” Dr. Grollman and colleagues describe extracting DNA from tumors of 151 UUC patients. Twenty-five patients with renal cell carcinomas served as the control group. The researchers detected a metabolite of AA bound to DNA (aristolactam(AL)-DNA adducts) in the kidney cortex of 83 percent of the UUC patients.

According to Dr. Grollman, the AL-DNA adducts, formed by the reaction of AA and DNA, cause alterations in the properties of genomic DNA. This DNA-altering process is a crucial step in the development of cancer.

Additionally, alterations of TP53, a gene associated with many forms of cancer, were detected in a majority of the UUC patients. A total of 113 TP53 “signature” mutations were detected in 84 (55.6%) of the 151 patients.

Dr. Grollman explains that these findings from their molecular epidemiologic study in Taiwan clearly illustrate that the presence of AL-DNA in the kidney cortex, together with the specific mutations in tumor tissue, are biomarkers of exposure to AA.

“The findings provide a solid foundation for public health officials to develop strategies designed to eliminate aristolochic acid nephropathy and related upper urinary tract cancer,” emphasizes Dr. Grollman.

Collaborators on the study and co-authors include: Kathleen G. Dickman, Masaaki Moriya, and Viktoriya S. Sidorenko, of the Department of Pharmacological Sciences, Stony Brook University School of Medicine; Chung-Hsin Chen and Yeong-Shiau Pu, Department of Urology, National Taiwan University Hospital; Jiri Zavadil, Department of Pathology, Cancer Institute and Center for Health Informatics and Bioinformatics, New York University Langone Medical Center; Karen L. Edwards, Department of Epidemiology, Institute for Public Health Genetics, University of Washington; Dmitri V. Gnatenko, Department of Medicine, Stony Brook University School of Medicine; Lin Wu, Roche Molecular Systems; Robert T. Turesky, Division of Environmental Health Sciences, N.Y. State Department of Health; and Xue-Ru Wu, Departments of Urology and Pathology, NYU School of Medicine and Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

Their research was supported by grants from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and the Zickler Family Foundation.

• Tea Master Hyo-am (효암 선생님), 
• Brother Anthony of the Taize Comunity (안선재), 
• Professor Pak of Inje University (박재섭), 
• and former Curator Steven Owyoung of the Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery & Harvard’s Fogg Art Musium,at Penn State University in a series of disscussions, presentations, and tea ceremony trainings from April 4th – 7th.

Wednesday, April 4th

• Presented by Brother Anthony
• An informative lecture on the history of tea in Korea and its cultural significance.
• Presented with free Korean tea.
• Questions and discussion following
• Facebook Event here

Thursday, April 5th

• Presented by Steven D. Owyoung
• A lecture on the history of tea in China, with references to Korea.
• Free Korean tea
• Facebook Event here

Boku Super Matcha Green Tea

Artificial “energy” drinks and snacks laden with sugar, stimulants and fillers face competition as consumers reach for healthier, natural alternatives. With recent studies pointing to the antioxidants in green tea as key in helping prevent cell damage that can lead to a wide variety of diseases, researchers are proving green tea’s positive effect on a wide range of health problems. Lynn Rolle, Boku Super Food CEO, predicts as American consumers become more pro-active about their health, Matcha green tea will become the “go-to” energy drink and first line of defense to power immunity and fight sickness.

“We’ve created the first-ever Matcha green tea proprietary blend, which maximizes functional ingredients like calming amino acids and powerful antioxidants, while also emphasizing Matcha’s rich, unique and satisfying flavors; the result is a delicious, powerfully functional tea that naturally optimizes energy levels without typical caffeine jitters. Matcha also stabilizes blood sugar levels and offers many other amazing health benefits,” says Rolle.

Long the secret weapon of the Samari, Ninjas and meditating Buddhist Monks, Matcha green tea is the finest tea in the world. Translated as powdered green tea — “ma” meaning powder, and “cha” meaning tea in Japanese, it is produced from shaded tea bushes and meticulously picked for the finest leaves. After drying, the entire leaf is ground with a special granite wheel, to form a fine, jade-green powder that’s added to hot water for drinking. Since the whole tea leaf is ingested, a higher potency of healthy amino acids, catechins, antioxidants and chlorophyll is delivered compared to teabags only steeped in water. Unlike acidic coffee, Matcha green tea is alkalinizing and contains anti-bacterial properties that freshen breath and help prevent tooth decay.

What makes proprietary Super Matcha Green Tea Super?

Matcha Green Tea has over 500% more antioxidants than goji berries by weight. It’s one of the highest ORAC-value superfoods known to man.

Matcha Green Tea has roughly 10 times the nutritional potency of brewed green tea.

Matcha Green Tea is well known to boost mood, enhance concentration and improve cognitive function.

Matcha Green Tea is made using the “whole leaf” of the plant, so it’s higher in chlorophyll, minerals and phytonutrients than teas only steeped in water.

Matcha Green Tea is a healthy caffeine replacement for coffee.

Matcha Green Tea is slowly stone-ground at very low temperatures. This helps leave its rich phytonutrients intact.

For more information about Boku Super Matcha Green Tea, visit www.bokugreentea.com .

Rishi Tea took home the most awards with a total of six first-place wins, two second-place wins and six third-place wins. QTrade Teas & Herbs followed with four first-place wins, one second place win and five third-place wins.

In addition to Rishi Tea and QTrade Teas & Herbs, other tea companies that took a prestigious first-place title include: Alvin’s of San Francisco; Florapharm Tea-USA LP; KIMICHA TEA; Naivetea; Newby Teas of London; Rare Tea Cellar Inc.; Silk Road Teas; Sipping Streams Tea Company; and Yogic Chai.

Companies that entered the competition for the first time and received honors – either a first, second or third place award – include: Alvin’s; KIMICHA TEA; Newby Teas of London; Silk Road Teas; Black Tusk Trading; Tazo Teas; Hankook Tea; and Zuri Tea.

A total of 50 companies competed in the North American Tea Championship with a record 230 tea entries (the previous record for an evaluation was 217 different teas in 2010). The Flavored Rooibos category had 35 entries – the largest number of entries in any one category, indicating the popularity of that tea in the marketplace.

“This year’s winners are outstanding,” said North American Tea Championship Judge Lydia Kung, a tea buyer and expert with Eastrise Trading Corp. “Congratulations to all of the award recipients. Overall, they were an excellent range of teas to judge, especially in the classifications of Oolong, Rooibos, Breakfast Blends, Jasmine and Assams. After the competition was completed, the judges compared notes, and we found that all of our scores were extremely close, which confirms the judging process works. It’s a testament to the carefulness and deliberateness of the NATC scoring procedure, and all of the winners can take pride in knowing that they’re of the highest quality. Indeed, the Championship and the champions set an excellent benchmark, and it encourages other teas in the North American marketplace to rise up to these high standards.”

North American Tea Championship winners (company, tea and category) include:

• Alvin’s of San Francisco (www.alvinsofsf.com), Royal Tea, Earl Grey
• Florapharm Tea-USA LP (www.florapharmteausa.com), Snow Flake, Flavored Black Tea
• KIMICHA TEA (www.kimicha.com), Jin Jun Mei, Black Tea
• Naivetea (www.naivetea.com), Strawberry Oolong, Flavored Oolong Tea
• Newby Teas of London (www.newbyteas.com), Rare Assam, Assam
• Newby Teas of London (www.newbyteas.com), Rooibos Orange Pyramid Infuser, Flavored Rooibos Blends
• QTrade Teas & Herbs (www.qtradeteas.com), Heirloom Oolong, Aged/Baked Oolong Tea
• QTrade Teas & Herbs, Special Breakfast Blend, Breakfast Blend
• QTrade Teas & Herbs, Naked Oolong, Blended Oolong Tea
• QTrade Teas & Herbs, Darjeeling Extra Special, Darjeeling
• Rare Tea Cellar Inc. (www.rareteacellar.com), 2010 Emperor’s Aged Keemun, Keemun
• Rishi Tea (www.rishi-tea.com), Eastern Beauty (Bai Hao Premium), BaiHao/Oriental Beauty
• Rishi Tea, Sakura Black, Blended Black Tea
• Rishi Tea, Dong Pian, Green Oolong Tea
• Rishi Tea, Jasmine Yin Hao (Organic/Fair Trade), Jasmine
• Rishi Tea, Jasmine Pearl Lot B (Organic), Jasmine
• Rishi Tea, Ancient Golden Buds (Organic/Fair Trade), Yunnan
• Silk Road Teas (www.silkroadteas.com), Plum Fragrance, Dark Oolong Tea
• Sipping Streams Tea Company (www.sippingstreams.com), Assam CTC, Black Tea-CTC
• Yogic Chai (www.yogicchai.com), Original Masala Chai, Chai

A complete list of first-, second- and third-place winners of the North American Tea Championship is available atwww.teachampionship.com. Honorees will be featured at the North American Tea Championship Winners Tasting Circle at World Tea Expo (www.WorldTeaExpo.com), June 1 – 3, 2012 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nev.

Winners Talk About the NATCBethan Thomas, marketing manager at Newby Teas of London, which won first-place in the Assam and Flavored Rooibos Blends categories, said, “The North American Tea Championship is very well known in the tea industry, and we were keen to participate this year for the first time, especially as we further expand our business from Europe, Asia and the Middle East into the North American Market. In fact, there’s no other comparable tea competition in any other region, so NATC is extremely valuable to the industry in terms of its high standards, engaging proper professionals to taste the teas and recognizing the very best teas.”

Newby Teas launched seven years ago and has been building a presence ever since. Thomas added, “Our teas have won in various food competitions, but the North American Tea Championship is the real deal in terms of evaluating quality tea. The NATC takes the right approach, and the judges have the correct skill-set and attitude. It sounds funny to say, but with other events, we’ve actually won too many awards, which lead us to believe that the judging in those challenges was not up to par. That’s not the case here. The judges are seasoned cuppers, and they represent the peak of the industry. On the whole, this win will help us in North America. It’s not easy to break into a big market like this, so we’ll use this win to open doors, build a presence and gain new business. We put a lot of effort into our products, using the right materials as well as packaging for freshness, so it’s nice to have all that hard work recognized.”

Yogic Chai Co-founder Ricardo Dacosta, who started his business in 2008 and won first-place in the North American Tea Championship Chai category in 2011 and at the recent 2012 competition, said, “For a small company like ours, it’s very exciting to be able to participate and win at the NATC. We undoubtedly created a masterpiece chai blend, but we don’t have the necessary capital to generate a lot of exposure for the tea. Participating in a legit, high-profile industry event like this helps us tremendously. It gives us credibility, and it’s proof that all of our efforts – bringing the authentic flavors of Indian masala chai to the United States – have paid off. There is no other way to get this kind of professional recognition for quality tea – the North American Tea Championship is it. Certainly, any company can say they’re the best, but the only way to prove it is through the NATC. And now, we have validation that we’re the best when it comes to chai teas.”

As a result of Yogic Chai’s 2011 NATC win in the Chai category, they generated numerous new business orders, including a deal with Foodzie.com, which delivers monthly tasting-boxes and exclusive small-batch products. “This year, we’re excited about the possibility of more new business because of our 2012 NATC award,” noted Dacosta.

KIMICHA TEA’s owner, Kimiko Uriu, who started her own brand in 2011, said, “It’s great to get a lot of positive feedback from customers about your tea, but being honored by industry experts brings it to a whole new level. A competition like the North American Tea Championship not only gives us recognition for winning first-place in the Black Tea Category for our Jin Jun Mei, but also acknowledges our ability to source the finest teas. We have invested a lot of time and resources into building close relationships with tea producers and selecting a range of teas that is rare, exciting and, at the same time, a great value for our customers. As a result, we have grown rapidly since our launch and have a strong customer base in Canada. We hope that this NATC win opens new doors. This was the only tea we entered into the competition and, given the results, we are excited to enter more of our teas next year.”

QTrade Marketing Coordinator Joshua Rigsby, whose company won in the categories of Aged/Baked Oolong Tea, Breakfast Blend, Blended Oolong Tea and Darjeeling, said, “We appreciate how the Championship recognizes and elevates quality teas in the marketplace, and we’re glad to have the opportunity to showcase our offerings in the competition. NATC raises the bar and creates heightened expectations for excellent teas in North America. The event features some of the finest leaves in the world, and the judging is spectacular. NATC judges categorically know how to recognize the best qualities in supreme teas.”

Rigsby – whose business has participated in the North American Tea Championship since its inception in 2008 – continued, “Overall, the NATC and the awards help our business in terms of exposure. We don’t have a brand in the market because we’re an import company, so the Championship generates increased awareness of our experience and ability to sell top quality premium teas and blends. We thank World Tea Media for organizing NATC, and we congratulate the other high-quality winners and companies that participated.”

About the North American Tea Championship

At the North American Tea Championship, tea submissions were evaluated blind and through organoleptic analysis of the following characteristics: dry leaf, brewed color, brewed aroma, brewed flavor, brewed mouth-feel and brewed harmony. An overall numerical value on a 100-point scale was then calculated based on the ratings of each characteristic above. Winners were determined by rank. The next North American Tea Championship will be held in May 2012 in Montebello, Calif. at the Wilbur Curtis headquarters, for an evaluation of iced teas. Entries will be accepted in April. To inquire about entering the competition, e-mail liz@teachampionship.com.

North American Tea Championship is produced by World Tea Media, a division of F+W Media, Inc., which also produces World Tea Expo, World Tea East and World Tea News. Until 2010, the North American Tea Championship was called World Tea Championship, and it was held in-conjunction with World Tea Expo. Today, it is an independent event, judged by professional cuppers, that evaluates premium teas from around the world that are sold in North America. The annual Championship is made up of two classes: Hot Tea and Iced Tea. Each class consists of its own categories and judging panel. The Hot Tea Class is evaluated twice a year: February for fall teas and July for spring teas. The Iced Tea Class is evaluated once a year in May. Winners of the Tea Championship are announced after each respective evaluation. For more information, visit www.TeaChampionship.com.

About World Tea Media

World Tea Media, a division of F+W Media Inc., is an integrated media company dedicated to providing business solutions to the global tea industry. Events include the annual World Tea Expo, the largest and most prominent event for the industry, and World Tea East, the regional event for the northeast, mid-Atlantic and southeast United States. World Tea Media also produces the North American Tea Championship andWorld Tea News. The North American Tea Championship is the only professional and independent competition that distinguishes the highest quality and best tasting teas commercially available in the North American marketplace. World Tea News is an online portal that offers in-depth news, features and business insight for the global tea industry. World Tea Media is headquartered in Las Vegas, Nev. www.worldteamedia.com